This past weekend Cristy and I decided to get away for a few days so we loaded up the trailer and headed for Flying Flags RV Resort in Lodi, CA.  It’s located just off I-5 and Highway 12 just west of Lodi.  I wouldn’t really call it a resort.  The spaces were close together and there is no greenery… just rocks.  But it’s very clean and quiet so it made an ideal base for our weekend in Lodi.  We used our Passport America membership to effectively get 1/2 off the price for two days.  Very worth it.

We got to Flying Flags around 12 noon which is their check-in time.  The front desk staff quickly found my reservation and gave me all the info I needed as far as where our space was, WiFi passwords, pools, bathrooms, etc.  We found our space and within an hour were all set up, sitting in the dinette with the AC blowing full blast.  It was already quite warm outside by this time.

I was eager to try my new X-Chocks.  Even with our wheels chocked the trailer still rocked quite a bit whenever we would move around inside.  With the X-chocks in place the trailer was almost rock solid.  Very pleased with this latest purchase.

We channel surfed TV for a bit then decided it was nap time.  Yay!  My favorite time of day!  After napping we began looking for a place to have dinner.  Cristy already knew exactly where she wanted to eat: Thai Spices in Lodi.  VERY good Thai food there.  After dinner we headed back to the trailer and tried sitting under the awning to watch the sunset and enjoy the Delta breezes cooling down our hot valley.  UNFORTUNATELY the folks in the next space over decided to enjoy a nice LONG cigar.  It chased us back indoors where we had to close all the windows and turn the AC back on.  This was really the only downside to the whole trip.  Luckily they left the next morning.  But for the remainder of the evening we watched a movie I had downloaded onto my iPad and then called it a night.

The next morning I went out and sat under the awning and read a recent issue of General Aviation News – a rare treat.  I never get to just sit and read aviation news.  I did that partially to enjoy the cool morning and partially to just get out of the trailer so Cristy could sleep in.  When I heard her stirring within I went back inside and we had breakfast.  We decided we wanted to do some walking but not as long as our walk around Pinecrest Lake and looked around for a place to do that.  We decided to go to Lodi Lake Park which was just up the street from Thai Spices.

We parked on the south side of the lake first and then walked on the west shore of the lake ending up in a Masonic cemetery.  Many of the tombstones were very ornate (because… they’re Masons) and dated back to the early 1800’s.  We poked around in the cemetery for awhile until the “noseeums” started eating us up then we headed back towards the parking lot.  We stopped at a bench along the way and sat and watched a pack of kayakers enjoying the morning out on the lake.  Then we headed back to the parking lot and wanted to see what else the park had to offer.

The lake is actually a large lagoon connected to the Cosumnes River.  We looked at the park map and found a few more parking lots over near the river so we headed over there.  Just in time as it turns out because by this time the park was beginning to fill up with people having picnics and birthday parties.  We parked and then walked a nature trail that ran along the river then back through the riparian forest that grows along side the river.  We enjoyed the many interpretive signs along the trail.

By now it was 1pm and we were both getting hungry. HEY!  Thai Spices is just a mile up the road, let’s head there!  Good idea!   So after lunch at Thai Spices we headed back to the RV park for some more reading and napping.  But we also had something special to get ready for in Modesto.  Our daughter Angela was playing her music on the patio at church that evening.  This is an event our church puts on in the summer.  They invite member musicians to play music on their large patio and the church serves free hot dogs, or pizza, or snow cones or something.  It’s just a safe place for people to go, get something to eat, and hang out.  At any rate we really enjoyed Angela’s music.  Here is a small sample of what she did that night.

We really enjoyed listening to her.  Afterwards we headed back to the RV park for another movie and then bed.  At least this time we could open the windows because the cigar smokers were gone!

Sunday morning I woke up and did pretty much the same thing as Saturday morning.  After breakfast we watched church on their live Internet video stream, packed up, and headed back home.  All in all a great weekend getaway!