Seeking a Little Bit of Culture

In addition to exploring the sites within SAMO, we also enjoyed venturing a little farther afield on our days off. We became friends with Beth, who was also at SAMO for a short-time detail, and together we visited the Getty Center, the Huntington Library, and Santa Barbara. Tim and I also made a trip to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on our own.

The Getty Center was first on our agenda. Perched high above Los Angeles, the Getty offers an impressive art collection as well as expansive views of the city. We decided to take a tour of the architecture and the unusual gardens, which are a living work of art, and it was well worth it.

Getty Center

Sarah and Tim in the Central Garden at the Getty Center

The Huntington Library encompasses not only an immense research library, but also an art museum and botanical garden. Tim especially loves to visit libraries, so this was a perfect destination for us. I could have spent hours wandering through the gardens and admiring the flowering trees.

The Huntington

The Huntington Botanical Gardens

Tim at The Huntington

Santa Barbara was a bit farther afield, but we all wanted to visit the city. Tops on our list was Mission Santa Barbara, often referred to as the “Queen of the Missions.” We also visited two other historic sites in town, El Presidio de Santa Barbara and Casa de la Guerra, but we made time as well to explore the waterfront.

Mission Santa Barbara

Exploring Sites in Santa Barbara

Tim and I try to visit presidential libraries whenever we can, and Ronald Reagan’s was nearby. Although the libraries we’ve visited play up the importance and contributions of the featured president, this one seemed to be particularly over-the-top. Still, I’m glad we came.

Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

Exploring Our New Surroundings at SAMO

Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is the largest urban national park in the country, but it is not your typical national park. Instead, it’s a patchwork of many small parks, all within a stones’ throw of Los Angeles. Tim and I spent many of our days off exploring the park’s myriad historic and cultural sites and driving the gorgeous scenic highways.

One of the first places we visited was the 588-acre King Gillette Ranch, approached by a long, tree-lined alleé. The ranch features a Spanish Colonial Revival style mansion that was designed for razor magnate King C. Gillette in the 1920s by Wallace Neff, architect of California’s Golden Age. The park’s main visitor center is housed in the original ranch stables.

King Gillette Ranch

At the western end of the park is Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa. Here, one of the main attractions is the Satwiwa Native American Indian Cultural Center, and we enjoyed viewing the exhibits. A horse ranch for more than one hundred years, this land was once home to Chumash Indians who lived here for thousands of years.

Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa

We took a great ranger-led tour and hike at Paramount Ranch. Paramount Pictures began a long era of film production when it leased the ranch in 1927, and the ranch is the only site in the National Park System dedicated to interpreting American movies and television shows. Unfortunately, Paramount Ranch was a victim of the Woolsey Fire, which destroyed much of what was known as Western Town.

Paramount Ranch

Another site heavily damaged by the Woolsey Fire was the Peter Strauss Ranch. The ranch was named for Emmy Award-winning actor Peter Strauss, the last owner of the property, which was originally purchased in 1923 by Harry Miller. The historic ranch house, built in 1926, was destroyed by the fire. It was still interesting to poke around the site to discover the elements that remained.

Peter Strauss Ranch

Tim and I couldn’t visit this part of California without driving many of the most scenic highways. The Pacific Coast Highway was my favorite, but I also loved driving through the many canyons and along twisty Mulholland Highway.

Scenic Highways

Arriving at Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area

Before leaving Boulder City, Nevada, on New Year's Day, we decided to take time to visit Hoover Dam. We had previously taken the tour, so we just took a drive to check things out.

Hoover Dam

We could not arrive at Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (SAMO) until January 2, so we had planned to stay in Palmdale, California, on January 1. 

Knowing that we would be on the road on New Year’s Day, I had packed cans of black-eyed peas and collard greens. I figured we wouldn’t be able to find a restaurant serving a traditional Southern New Year’s Day dinner, so I came prepared. The canned foods left much to be desired, particularly the collard greens, but I wanted to make sure I had good luck for the New Year.

We arrived at SAMO the next morning and settled into our temporary home at LaKretz Field Station, a two-bedroom apartment with a large living/conference room where we would work. We met the staff and learned more about what we would be doing.

LaKretz Field Station - Our Temporary Home

SAMO’s museum storage facility had burned to the ground during the Woolsey Fire in 2018, resulting in the destruction of virtually the entire museum collection. It was a devastating loss. Our job was to complete the paperwork to deaccession or permanently remove the lost items from National Park Service ownership and custody. In other words, the items had to be “taken off the books.”

The Remains of the Museum Storage Facility

Off to California

Although Tim and I had not traveled since settling into our condo, we decided to look for a winter museum project at a national park with a climate much warmer than Colorado. In October 2019, we happened to see a possible opportunity at Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (SAMO) and made inquiries. The park was interested in our services, and we made plans to set out for California just after Christmas.

SAMO has no RV sites for volunteers, but we were offered a small apartment at the LaKretz Field Station, where we would be working. We would actually have a Malibu address for two months!

It felt a bit strange traveling to California by car, not by RV, plus staying in hotels, but we quickly adapted. The Kitty also adapted to traveling in the car. We had purchased a rooftop carrier for most of our things, and we gave her the entire back of the Subaru. Although she had her bed back there, she still ended up on my lap for most of the drive.

There was snow on the ground when we left Colorado on December 29, but the highway was clear. We had decided to take our time on this trip and stopped early in Grand Junction, Colorado, for our first night. We then continued to Cedar City, Utah, the next day. Although I’m not a huge fan of interstate driving, I-70 is one of the more scenic routes, and we enjoyed the views.

Colorado to Utah on I-70

The following day greeted us with bright blue skies as we made our way from Utah, through Arizona, and into Nevada.  The drive through the Virgin River Canyon was one of the highlights.

Utah to Arizona to Nevada on I-70

Although we were spending the night in Boulder City, Nevada, we exited the highway early to drive through Lake Mead National Recreation Area.  I try never to pass up visiting a national park unit, even if it’s only a drive-thru. 

Lake Mead National Recreation Area

We arrived in Boulder City in time to have lunch with the National Park Service Regional Curator, with whom we would be working at SAMO.  Blair is based in Boulder City, and we had planned our route so that we could meet her and learn about the project we would be working on.  It was a great meeting, and we felt much more prepared for the work ahead.

Holidays

Holiday time in Colorado wouldn’t be complete without a major snowstorm.  Snow, what’s snow?  We had almost forgotten what that was like since we always tried to avoid winter weather while RVing.  We reacquainted ourselves with the white stuff in late November but sat back while someone else did the shoveling.

Our RV, Covered with Snow

For the first time in many years, Tim and I spent the holidays with family.  We were invited to spend Thanksgiving with Tim’s brother Rex and his wife Linda, and we had a wonderful time. 

On Christmas day, we joined Rex, Linda, and Linda’s brother and sister-in-law, who have a second home in Estes Park.  Another fabulous dinner and great company. 

Sarah and Tim at Christmas

A Project for New River Gorge National River

When we decided to settle down, Tim agreed to continue to look for volunteer opportunities at national parks.  We had kept the RV primarily for that purpose, in fact.  While we were traveling full-time in the RV, we volunteered and/or had contracts at national park units throughout the United States.  Most of these projects involved working with museum collections.  In exchange for at least one of us volunteering 32 hours per week, we would receive a free RV site.  Our assignments had ranged from two weeks to two months in length.

In addition to travel, working at national parks has become my favorite activity and something that has given me purpose.  In a small way, it’s enabled us to give something back in retirement.  Plus, it gives us extended time in each park, allowing us to really get to know a park.

During the summer and early fall of 2019, we completed a museum project for New River Gorge National River (NERI).  We didn’t travel there, but worked remotely at home.  NERI had sent us boxes of archeological artifacts to photograph and rehouse.

We set up a small photo box on the desk and laid out each set of artifacts.  We photographed them and then rehoused them into new bags.  Kitty was always available to help us with the project.

Tim ang Kitty Hard at Work

Photographs of Archeological Artifacts

Adjusting to Life "Off-the-Road"

Tim attended his high school reunion in June and began volunteering twice a week at the Larimer Humane Society in August. 

I never quite found a niche for myself.  As someone once said, travel feeds my soul, and it’s probably my one and only hobby.  Although I’ve been stationary in the past, I’ve spent the vast majority of my retirement traveling.  I love the excitement of seeing new, and old, things and waking up to new adventures every day or so.  I’ve never developed other hobbies and have not yet found friends in Loveland.  Frankly, I was at a loss as to how I was going to spend my day.  I still haven’t quite figured it out.

I did enjoy having time to read at leisure once more, and it was fun to be able to spend time in libraries.  Although I still love my Kindle, I could now hold a real book in my hand.  Before the year was over, I had read 38 books.

I also occupied some of my time with cooking again.  I’m not sure how, but Tim discovered the MIND diet, a cross between the Mediterranean and DASH diets.  I quickly jumped on the bandwagon, learning everything about its guidelines and following it to the letter (I can be a bit compulsive about things from time to time!).  We purchased an Instant Pot and enjoyed experimenting with all that it could do.  We became believers!  For the first time in way too long, we began to eat a healthy diet, and I really enjoyed cooking.

Cooking with the MIND Diet

Our Kitty didn’t seem to have much trouble adjusting to life in the condo. Although she missed going outside to eat grass, she contented herself with fresh air on the balcony.  Still, her favorite spot continued to be Tim’s lap.

Kitty's Favorite Spot