Camp Ritchie ~ Day 2 ~ 2025

Ahh Wednesday, July 9th. My birthday eve and I am getting up at 5:15 in the morning to get ready for 6am rappelling.  We needed to be out at the rappelling area between 5:30 and 5:45 and I think I did a pretty good job because we wanted all the girls who signed up in harnesses and ready to go by 6am. In this photo, Ali is on the left, then Randy and then Camille. 

Camp Ritchie ~ Day 1 ~ 2025

Gotta love this sight, it means you're about halfway into camp I'd say. I stayed the night in Galt with a friend on Monday, picked up a fellow rappelling staff girl on Tuesday morning, July 8th, right on my route and in we drove to camp together. It was nice!

Alt Summit Recap ~ Day 3

Wheee, here we go with day 3 of Alt Summit! This was March 16th.

Alt Summit Recap ~ Day 2

 

At Alt, breakfast is from 8-9am. But as someone who doesn't really get up until around 8am, I had to push myself to get up around 7:30am so I could be out the door not too much after 8. The hotel I was at was a couple of miles from the Renaissance hotel and so I usually got to breakfast around 8:30 which isn't a lot of time considering I chatted a lot getting to know the ladies at my table each day.

Alt Summit Recap ~ Day 1

 

Alt Summit is a conference for entrepreneurs and creatives.  Ladies only - it was interesting to hardly hear no male voices for a few days. Being surrounded by inspiring women who run businesses, have products they sell, are coaches and more. I always feel like when I go that I am the only one who doesn't know what the heck I am doing with my life - everyone seems to put together. Despite that, the classes are always good, the crafts are fun and the networking is awesome.

Camp Ritchie girls camp - Day 2!

Happy Tuesday from Camp Ritchie! The day started off promising and then the weather took a turn for the worse...

Camp Ritchie girls camp - Day 1!

  

Day 1 of girls' camp was not the sight I expected to see. I knew there was snow up in the area still and since the Woodland stake is the first stake to open camp for the summer, I guess this kind of thing can happen? But I'm not sure how often it does. I've never seen snow like this up there in the almost summertime...

Mr. Rococo Snapshots

 

I am still so obsessed with this cutie of mine. Can you believe I've had him since 1994?! He's definitely getting up there in age (cockatiels can live 15-30 years) and I love spending as much time with him as I can. Recently he traveled with me and Tony to Utah for 3 weeks. He does so well in the car.

Back in Ridgecrest for a Moment

 

The sunset after dinner at Pita Fresh where I enjoyed 50% off my food for my birthday. 

Camp Ritchie ~ Monday!

 

Feeling like dreams do come true sometimes! Being invited back up to Camp Ritchie - where I've been camping with the LDS Woodland Stake since 1994 (?!) has definitely been a dream come true this summer. Thank goodness for my rappelling skills because I no doubt got invited back because of that.

Ward Girls Camp ~ Day 3

 

 The previous night, I made a bad mistake of hanging one of my solar lanterns in my teardrop so I could find it easily in the night. The teardrop was full of gnats when I got in for the night! I spent too long trying to kill them with wet wipes and finally fell asleep in exhaustion with my hat pulled down over my face, my shirt pulled up over my hat and wet wipes to cover my ears. Ugh. It was not fun. But check out this cool bridge from the parking lot into the tent area of camp. You can see my teardrop there, so small, in the middle of the photo.

My Experience at Touch of Disney

 

I figured I needed to blog about this event at California Adventure called Touch of Disney sooner than later so I didn't forget any details. My friend Mari and I were able to go together which I was really happy about! We had limited days we could go but Thursday worked best for our schedules so I picked Mari up by 9:30 and we started the drive. It takes about 3 hours to get to Anaheim from Ridgecrest.  We stayed busy chatting pretty much the whole way. We did eat some beef jerky and I had some Pringles chips but didn't want to spoil my appetite for all the good food in the park.

Death Valley Day Trip

On December 16th I drove to Barstow to the train station where I picked up 3 girls who were living in the USA , studying, all the way from Russia! Kate (kind of the leader for the group) found me on Couchsurfing a month or so in advance and that's how we got connected. I think we were all a little nervous but we soon warmed up to each other and after a bathroom break, we all got in my zippy car and headed out to Death Valley for the day.

Joshua Tree Tour Guide

We hosted 3 girls visiting and studying the USA from Russia. They live in Kansas and Kentucky I believe it was. They wanted to go to a couple National Parks while they were in Ridgecrest for a night so on their second day we went to Joshua Tree for the whole day. It was such a fun adventure!

Christmas House in Ridgecrest, CA

Tony & his wife live not too far away from us and do an amazing job decorating their yard as an interactive activity for families during the Christmas season. Keep reading to see some more of the ways they change their yard - it's a lot of work!

The Scenario Studio

The Scenerio Studio is located in Beverly Hills and my friend Heidi & I happened to be able to go check it out on our way to Disneyland. Pit stop - success! It's a really fun photo experience for selfies and group shots with 6 different backdrops. 

BlogHer Biz Event - LA

I finally made it off the waitlist (thank you Megan!) the day before this BlogHer event and so that changed mine and Tony's plans for the day and I ended up driving solo to L.A. One of my least favorite things to do but usually worth it.  The drive was not so bad until I got closer to Santa Monica.

What was worse? THE PARKING. The email from BlogHer gave 3 suggestions of parking garages but I struck out with a couple of them so I tried to find street parking. Had to send Tony some pictures because the signs are so confusing, at least to me. Luckily I had decided to message my friend Megan and she was arriving close to the same time I was and sent me the address for the parking garage she was parking in. PHEW! We were able to park and walk together to the event.

A WEEK at Disneyland?!

My sister and brother in law invited me to go to Disneyland with them a couple months ago but it meant upgrading my pass. I managed to work that out, Tony and I got home from a trip Saturday and I went to church Sunday morning, unpacked, repacked and drove to L.A. Sunday night. Phew. Such a turnaround!

We stayed at the Camelot Inn. It was good..and bad. Good because we were right across the street from the park. Bad because there is only valet parking and it is $15/car or $25 for the 2nd car. Youch. I guess that's the norm for hotels around Disneyland now sadly. Last time we met up at Disneyland, my sister and her family had an Airbnb by Downtown Disney and it was free to park in the spot I had there. So nice. I'd prefer to do Airbnb in the future only to save money on the parking. Anyways, good because we had a nice view of the fireworks at night if we weren't in the park. Housekeeping was nice. Pool was okay (3-1/2 ft. the whole way across) and the hot tub was tiny! But had fun there with my nieces a few nights later. Overall felt pretty safe and clean.

I have my Mouse4Life pin, ready to enter the park! 

Ready to start a fun fun day!

The waits in lines were honestly not bad. Very happy about that!

Our first day was mostly overcast and not too hot which I was grateful for.

My sister on the ride ahead of me

Gotta take a selfie on day 1 at the park

Everyone but Shawn rode the teacups later that day

Then we went over to Star Wars Land so everyone could ride Smuggler's Run. I dont care for the ride but I tried it again. I think I do best sitting in the back. I am not sure I want to try the front, maybe someday. The middle seats were boring last time only pressing one button but the back gives you a little more variety. I didn't appreciate one of the workers being rude to me though and telling me to hurry up and buckle in. That just made me want to go slow! I know you have a long line of people to get through but I had to buckle my 4 year old niece in. Who was going to do it if I didn't? Grr.

Some pictures in Star Wars Land.

Went back to the hotel for lunch after meeting Ariel and Cinderella and had some chill time.

  

I am not so much a fan of going on Star Tours anymore, sadly, made me feel sick last time! It's never done that before. So while I waited, I got pictures with Captain Hook and Tinkerbell.

  

Aubrey wanted to ride every ride with me. It was like this a few months ago when she saw me for the first time since she was 1'ish...so cute! Although I felt bad that my niece Hailey who is 10, barely got to do any rides with me. It was either all 3 of us or the only one Hailey and I could go on was the roller coaster in CA Adventure.

One of my favorite rides! It's a nice one to sit and rest your feet on and the wait in line is never very long.

Trying to take a selfie on the boat is not easy, esp when you don't have a selfie stick!

We got to eat at the Blue Bayou a couple days later.

Some Tiki Room fun! I haven't attended this performance for awhile. Another great place to sit and rest your feet. Plus it's nice and cool inside usually. Only complaint is limited seating outside before you go in but not too shabby.

Got this dole whip with mango and mandarain oranges and candied bacon (which tasted like regular bacon) and pocky sticks. Hailey was really excited to eat some.

You can find some yummy treats besides the regular Dole Whip booth at the Tropical Hideaway.

In the evening we got to go to Fantasmic!

  

It's so amazing how they can project the images on to...water? Like, whoever thought this up was pretty genius.

  

The show was SO well done. I haven't seen it ever, or else I just don't remember.

Ahh I just couldn't take my eyes way. 

Finale! Soo many of the Disney characters were on the Mark Twain boat. It was fun to wave back as they cruised by. Definitely a show worth catching if you haven't seen it or haven't seen it lately. Make sure you get tickets for it first thing in the morning because it does 'sell out'. They do 2 showtimes which is helpful, 9pm and 10:30pm.

As always, if you are looking for the best prices on tickets to Disneyland, use Get Away Today. (affiliate) They even price match! 

Stay tuned for what we did on day 2!