Now back to your normally scheduled blog already in progress. We have had people ask us why we return to California for the winter instead of staying in Missouri year-round. We spent the first few winters of Missouri home ownership in Missouri. This is what we experienced.
The snow and extreme cold put a serious damper on our ability to do outdoor activities and especially my golf game. Not that I am very good at golf, but I do enjoy being bad at it. And this is what the weather looks like in California during the winter.
And my golf game has improved slightly. In a golf tournament in December, I had my first “Closest to the Pin” award and finished in the top three for the first time as well.
So that is why we spend the winters in California. This time, we returned in time to host Thanksgiving. We hosted my mom, a few of her friends, my brother, our nephew and his girlfriend, and Garrett. Cindy made an outstanding meal, and everyone had a great time. During the first week of December, Cindy flew to Houston for the weekend to help Corrianne pick out a wedding dress. They had a great time and found a dress. When Cindy flew out on a Friday morning, the traffic was the usual, about an hour and 15 minutes each way. Not bad for a 45-mile drive in Los Angeles traffic. I went to pick up Cindy the following Monday evening, and the traffic conditions changed significantly. It took me one and a half hours to drive 33 miles and then the map program took me off of the highway onto city streets. Here is the map program once it took me off the highway.
Yes, you read that correctly. It was going to take me just over an hour to drive 12 miles. It took me just over two and a half hours to get there. And the drive home was not much better. To say I hate the traffic in Los Angeles is an extreme understatement. But I do like a lot of the food. A few days later, we went to dinner at Casa Vega with Todd and Edie.
Casa Vega is a family-owned Los Angeles landmark that that has been in business since 1956. They also decorate for the holidays. Here are the Christmas decorations that evening.
Not only is the place interesting, but the food was also pretty darn good too. The whole package is good enough for a link. Use it to have dinner at this landmark restaurant. For Christmas, Corrianne and Alex flew in. On Christmas morning, we opened presents. I received a bottle of Redwood Empire Emerald Giant Rye Whiskey from Todd. We all had to try it, and it was really good.
That evening, Cindy made her famous Yorkshire pudding, twice baked potatoes, and green beans. I made the delicious prime rib.
We had a great dinner and enjoyed the whole day. The day after Christmas, we drove Corrianne and Alex to the airport and continued south to Carlsbad for a short trip to end the year. We stayed at one of our Hilton Grand Vacation hotels, MarBrisa. We have stayed there once before and enjoyed it. We enjoyed this stay as well. We did several walks around the property, shopped at the nearby outlet stores, and had some great food. On our last day, we visited the Birch Aquarium at Scripps.
Our first stop was at the penguin exhibit where we able to see their feeding. They were really fun to watch.
There was a large seahorse tank that was interesting.
Here are pictures from some of the other displays.
There was an outside area with a great coastal view.
On the way out we saw a small research submarine.
This is a really enjoyable aquarium that you can see in its entirety in about 3-4 hours. Use the link below to plan your trip there. We returned home and on January 15, we stayed up until midnight to try and see the space capsule carrying the International Space Station astronauts streak through the sky on its way to San Diego. We have tried things like this in the past and rarely see anything worth having stayed up for. This would be different. We actually saw the capsule and it was amazing.
We were so excited to see it, we went in the house and on TV, watched them retrieve the capsule out of the ocean and remove the astronauts. It was a memorable experience.
Stay tuned for my next post when we return to St. Joseph, Missouri, via Roswell, New Mexico. Don’t get abducted by any aliens until then.
This post is about our return to St. Joseph to move into our new house.
My last post had us leaving Prescott, Arizona heading for the airport in Phoenix. First, we stopped at the Cracker Barrel just outside of the airport and had lunch. Next, we dropped off Sylvia at the airport so she could fly back to California. From there, we started our drive to St. Joseph. We made it to Albuquerque by dinner time, had a decent meal, and got some sleep. The next day we drove all day and arrived at our old St. Joseph house around 11 pm. After a good night’s sleep, we started to prepare for our move. We had five days until we picked up our moving van. Then we had two days to load it and sign our documents selling the house. We had to be completely out by that day as well. Since the new house didn’t close for another five days, we stayed with Scott and Heather before we were finally able to move into our new house. And there were a few group social events during all of that as well.
Our first group event while packing was “Voices of the Past.” The experience started at the Wyeth Tootle Mansion. This year’s event was about famous musicians from St. Joseph Missouri. At the mansion, we started with a quick tour, then had our first “ghost” speakers.
After our ghost speakers, we walked to the buses that took us to the Mount Mora Cemetery for the rest of the program. Bobby and Scott were still in their golf outfits and it was quite the scene.
L to R: Scott, Heather, Bobby
At the cemetery, we heard from several more famous musician ghosts. It was very well done, as usual.
We have attended this event in the past and will definitely do it again. They would earn a link, but the website is rarely updated so I will not waste your time. The next night, we drove to Atchinson, Kansas for “Shocktails.” Shocktails is put on by the City of Atchinson, Kansas, which is considered by many to be the most haunted city in Kansas. We arrived at the city’s Visitor Center and had a few very watered-down drinks. Then it was on to a trolley for our haunted houses tour.
L to R: Bobby, Machelle, Marie, DonL to R: Scott, Heather, Cindy, Me
The first house we visited allegedly has documented cases of paranormal activity.
The homeowner gave our group a talk about all of the paranormal activity at her house. She said the basement and third floor rooms had the most activity. She also told us she rents out rooms on the third floor via Airbnb, and many guests have had paranormal experiences.
After the talk, we were allowed to tour the house. The main floor looked pretty normal.
Next, I went to the basement with Cindy and Heather.
There was a creepy room in the basement with a red light, but no ghosts for us.
Once we went back to the trolley, Bobby told us he visited the third floor and heard footsteps when there was no one with him. Bobby does not make things up, so I know he heard something. Then another person on our trolley claimed to have captured paranormal activity in the basement and shared the picture with all of us.
Many people on our tour believed the picture contained a ghost. I thought it contained a double exposure of a hand and the creepy red room in the basement. From the outside, the second house we visited looked like a normal older house in need of a little work.
There was a sign in Latin near the entrance.
The phrase “inter mortem et memoriam amor loquitur” translates to “between life and memory, love speaks” in English. This phrase reflects the idea that love and memory are powerful forces that transcend death and time. That let me know this was going to be an interesting visit and I was not disappointed. The homeowner talked about all of the paranormal activity in the house and believed it came from two sources. One was the fact the house was a kind of orphanage in the past and she believed some of the children were abused and died there. This was based on the house having a secret room that you had to access via a secret passage that went over a staircase.
The window on the right was to that secret room. Creepy story and the stairway felt creepy as well. Here is a picture of the most haunted room in the house. It felt normal to me.
The homeowner said the second reason the house was so haunted is because she was sure there were dead bodies buried in the basement and front yard. They continually excavate the basement but have not found anything yet. A cadaver dog hit on the front yard indicating something dead was buried in the yard. They dug up that part of the yard, but nothing. They plan to continue digging in the basement and yard until they find something. The next house we stopped at was really interesting.
The homeowner had purchased the house when it was in rough condition and has spent the last several years fixing it up. Here are some pictures of the inside.
He really likes Halloween and decorates the whole house. He also decorates for Christmas as well. Here is the homeowner holding his pet crow during our “talk.”
The homeowner explained how his house was also haunted, but by friendly spirits. They often hear noises, have things moved around, and see aberrations, but they are not negative or scary. I never felt anything negative in the house while we visited so maybe Casper does live there. Our final stop was at the “Sally House,” the most haunted house in Kansas. The basic story is the house was owned by the town doctor, and he did medical procedures and surgeries in the house. Several people died and are believed to be haunting the house. The most famous is a girl Sally, who died on the kitchen table during a failed appendix surgery. We have visited this house twice, and it felt heavy and off both times. This time was no different. The first two times we visited, I went to the children’s room and found a Magic 8 Ball. Both times I asked it if the house was haunted and both times it gave an affirmative answer. Once again, I went straight to the children’s room.
I found the Magic 8 Ball and once again asked it if the house was haunted. Here was the answer this time.
Make up your own mind, but to me, the Sally House was the only house we visited that night that I would not spend the night in. The next day, Cindy and I picked up the moving truck and started to load it.
We were able to load everything except for the really heavy items like dressers, beds, and couches. On Monday, Bobby, Don, and Marie helped us load the heavy items and we were officially out of the house and officially guests at Casa De Culver. That night, the whole gang went to see Don, Scott, Bobby, and Machelle bowl in their bowling league.
I loved how this sign was over the lane they were assigned. It said it all.
Friday rolled around and we signed the papers for our new house. Here we are with our realtor, Kristen Wilds.
We really do love our agent. If you need an agent for either Missouri or Kansas, use the link at the bottom of this post and tell Kristen we sent you. After we signed our papers, we drove the moving truck to the new house and unloaded with the help of Scott, Bobby, Don, Marie, and most importantly two college kids we hired to do the heavy lifting. With everyone’s efforts, we finished unloading the truck in only an hour. We are lucky to have such great friends. Now a little about the move. In an earlier post I talked about how a tornado came a little too close for comfort and our old house did not have a basement. We decided we really needed a basement. A larger kitchen and space for entertaining would be a bonus. We were able to get all of that with our new house. There were a few things we needed done, several of them being electrical related. We had Garrett fly out and spend a week with us to see the new house, do some electrical work, and also do some sightseeing. A few days into Garrett’s stay, we took him to the Den to see their Halloween decorations and have a drink. Here are some of the decorations.
The Den is always a great visit. If you want to visit, just use the link at the end of this post. A few days later, we visited the Remington Nature Center. It only takes a few hours to see the whole thing, and it is worth the time.
Feel free to use the link at the end of this post for information on the Remington Nature Center. A few days after this, Garrett flew home. We really enjoyed his visit and appreciated his help with the home projects. Our first group activity was at Scott and Heather’s house where we carved pumpkins.
I didn’t take any notes and forgot who did which pumpkin, with the exception of #7. Cindy and I did that one. Regardless of who did what, there were some creative pumpkins by the end of the night. A few days later, we all returned to the Den for Halloween trivia night. Below is the host Bob Schultz with Heather seated to the right.
Above, left to right: Heather, Marie, Scott, Don, Bobby
At the beginning of November, we finally found a dining room table big enough to seat 10 people. After it was delivered and set up, we hosted a large dinner.
L to R: Scott, Heather, Don, Marie, Bobby, Machelle, Cindy, Lauren
Everyone had a great time and the new table worked out perfectly. A few days later, we returned to the Den for beverages and to see their Christmas decorations.
They always do a great job at the Den so be sure to visit when you are in town. The last thing we did before Cindy and I headed back to California, was a round of golf even though it was November and had cooled of significantly.
When the weather gets that cold, here is how you have to dress to golf.
Cold or not, the four golf musketeers had a great time. My next post will be about our return to California, with stops in Kansas, and two in Texas. Until then, stay warm!
