The vintage trailer show on the other hand is fun for all of us. The only gripe we have about it is that the event does not discount the entrance fees for children. 10 bucks a person, regardless of age. They will never appreciate the culture we try to bring into their lives. I just hope no one loses any art deco tumblers.

Just as we did last year, we will try to showcase each and every vintage trailer at the event. There are sure to be some stunning coaches on display and we hope to do them justice with our blog coverage.

If you are going to be at the event, feel free to come up and say hello. We will be the parents chasing down their kids who look like they could use a couple of Whiskey Sours. Or maybe just a Shirley Temple for the pregnant one.

over and out,
dan

Milica’s daughter, Anne, and her son-in-law Benoit, live about a hours drive away from Montfort-l’Amaury on the east side of Paris. Actually their farm is minutes away from Euro Disney which was tough to tell Ava that we are not going as we drove right by the entrance.

Once we got to the farm, she had already forgotten all about our missed opportunity with the mouse. The farm house they live in is nearly 200 years old and built by Benoit family with their own bare hands.

And finally, there are kids to play with. Anne and Benoit’s two beautiful daughters are just about the same age as Ava and Mila. So what if they speak different languages?

A swing is a swing anywhere in the world.

But apparently a French swing is a lot more fun.

I wonder if chasing each other around a yard is more fun if you don’t understand each other. I think it must be.

Just like all of our meals have been at Teta Milica’s house, it is not complete without cheese and wine. And the cheese and wine live up to all the hype that I have ever heard. It is amazing beyond belief.

Something worth mentioning is that Teta Milica speaks only slightly better English then we do French. Her husband on the other hand, speaks no English at all. What saves us is that there is a common denominator that both Marlene and Milica speak Croatian at roughly third grade level. It makes for very interesting conversations at the dinner table. At any given time, at least two of the three language can be heard simultaneously. Picture Milica telling Marlene in Croatian about something while she does her best to translate them in English to me and the girls while Milica does the same in French when we have something to share.

Here she reads the classic story of Cendrillon in French to these two girls. That, for you ignorant Americans, is Cinderella. Turns out Milica is also quite a thespian. Even in a foreign language, she was able to captivate Ava’s 4-year old attention span.

While the kids are occupied, we decided to take a little drive to the nearby town Coulommiers. If you are a cheese connoisseur, you might noticed that Coulommiers is also the name of a cheese similar to the popular Brie. That’s right, it comes from the farms right in this area.

Benoit’s farm however doesn’t produce any cheese nor does he have any animals. It is purely a crop farm that produces flax, wheat, corn and a handful of other green-leafed produce.

The town of Coulommiers is about a 10 minute drive from the farm and it is a very charming little town with hardly any tourism. Aside from the delicious cheese this region produces, it is also the town where André René Roussimoff is from. If that name doesn’t sound familiar, you might know him as André the Giant, the famous late WWF wrestler. AKA, that huge dude from The Princess Bride.

Benoit took us around town to see some local sights but I was actually here to buy some authentic French contraband.

I have a little bit of an obsessions with collecting knives and of course while I am here, I had to make sure I got a couple of the world famous Opinel knives. Even though Opinel knives are not made near this area of France, it is a very popular utility knife throughout the country. Like any red blooded American, I needed to buy the biggest one

Here is a shot of the bustling downtown Coulommiers. A regular French metropolis.

Right next to the bakery, we hit the jack pot: A cheese shop. The entire shop was dedicated to all kinds of cheeses. You have no idea of the overwhelming smell of cheese that bombards you as you walk into this shop.

Mila could smell it all the way back at the farm.

We got a little tour of how their little farm operates. Modern farming is nothing like how things were done back in the days. With today’s technology, one man can pretty much run the entire operation without much help.

Like this air cannon, every 15 minutes or so, it launches compressed gas down that barrel letting out a huge bang. Just the sound alone is enough to keep the birds from pestering the flax field. The United Scarecrow Union must not be a big fan of these things.

This time of the year, there apparently isn’t a whole lot of work being done inside the barn while the crop matures.

The giant empty space is just begging these kids to run around like headless chickens. Just stay away from the heavy farm equipment with the sharp cutting blades.

Our time at the farm is nearing an end. Benoit and Anne have been gracious hosts in sharing their home with us this afternoon.

Some menacing clouds are starting to roll in from the distance.

Time to head back to Montfort l’Amaury. There is a plate of cheese calling our names at the dinner table.

over and out,
dan

And this is my beautiful sister, Ava.

Any guesses to where we are today?

I will give you a hint. It starts with an “A”.

Next hint. Modern furniture and decor.

You still have no idea where we are?

Man, all these wrong guesses are making me hungry.

Should we tell them or keep them guessing? Ummm… KEEP THEM GUESSING!!!

There is an old school photo booth there.

It was a little broken but we didn’t mind.

There’s a large conference room there with a disco ball.

A perfect place to practice flying.

Oh and they have a ping pong table too.

With a pretty serious sign.

And yes…

… my big sister totally kicked my ass.

Still nothing?

So disappointing, people. So. Disappointing.

It’s the Ace Hotel. THE! ACE! HOTEL!

love,
mila

Over a year later, we are back again. This time, we are here for a full week at the height of snowbird season. Last time we were here, there was hardly anyone else at the park. This time, nearly every site is taken. We come to this part of California a lot mainly because we love the desert climate 3 seasons out of the year. You can probably figure out which season is not as desirable. The other reason why we are here is for the Vintage Trailer Show that is part of the Palm Springs Modernism Week 2011 happening on the following weekend. It is organized by R&B Events who put together last year’s inaugural Alumapalooza event at the Airstream factory in Jackson Center, Ohio. We were driving through Tennessee at the time and thought long and hard before deciding to not attend as it didn’t work well in our schedule. Being so close to our home, we couldn’t pass up this event at one of our favorite places in California. It doesn’t hurt that the ‘R’ from R&B Events is also our friend Rich from Airstream Life Magazine whom has been very gracious to us in so many ways.

Here is a little photo of Mila and Ava during our last trip here. Back in October of 2009, Mila weighed less than 10 lbs and had hardly any hair on her head. Her big sister Ava was not yet 3 years old and had never been to Disney World in Florida.

Flash forward 16 months, Mila now enjoys throwing rocks into lakes and visited more cities in the United States than most grown adults.

We spent a full week there which included a handful of sightseeing trips including the Living Desert, the Children’s Museum, as well as our favorite pizza parlor, Jake’s Pizza. Rather than documenting our visit chronologically, we decided that we would actually start with the most exciting part of our trip which happened at the end: The Vintage Trailer Show.

In the next several posts, we will try to showcase as many of the beautiful vintage trailers we saw at Modernism Week 2011 as possible. We took lots of photos and spoke with many of the owners of the trailers and hopefully you will enjoy them through our posts as much as we did in person. Stay tuned, first up will be a rare and beautifully restored Bowlus Road Chief.

over and out,
dan

Ava and Mila especially enjoyed being in a giant sand box to drop and dig whenever and where ever . For example here, right in the path of oncoming traffic.

On the second day there we actually drove in to Palm Springs as a friend of ours was visiting some of his family in the area. We had agreed to meeting up there but I didn’t expect it to be as far as away as we were. It took about 75 minutes to drive out of the State Park and into town.

Having drove all the way out, we didn’t waste the opportunity by getting in on some more casino buffet action at the Agua Caliente Casino and Resort.

They even had a glass cabinet full of Disney figurines for Ava to drool over in the midst of her food coma.

On the way back from Palm Springs, I had started to notice that one of my tires was sitting a little low. It showed a noticeable belly at the bottom of the tire which gave me a sneaking suspicion that I might have a slow leak.

Unfortunately for us, the rain that we thought we had escaped from has followed us here. Although not a torrential down pour like we had back in Ventura, it was enough to be a nuisance while I worked on getting the full-size spare tire on. Surely after the old tire came off, I noticed a nail in between the treads. The tires on the van were the original factory ones that had lasted well over 40k miles. There are still some life left in them but with one of them out of commission, I think they are going to all have to go in the not too distant future.

The rain came in and out throughout the day which made it difficult for us to plan any outdoor activities. Even though it was a little wet, it was not terribly cold for this time of year. The weather is suppose to cool down to below freezing in the evenings but for now, we are just dealing with a little bit of pesky rain.

One of the cool things about having off and on rain with periodic peek-a-boo sunlight in between are the rainbows. Especially out in the desert, the rainbows seen to stretch across the entire sky.

Check out the girls excited while posing for a desert rainbow photo. I had not noticed until in these last few months but every time Ava poses for a photo, she instinctively kicks her hip out to one side. And I haven’t even allowed her to watch Hannah Montana.

During the various breaks in the rain, we tried to squeeze in some activities. Like going on the 1 mile hike to the visitor center. That was cut short with a sudden rain surge with us running back for cover.

While other less ambitious trips took us around the newly paved campground when Ava and Mila had their first pinacate beetle (aka stinkbug) encounter. Ava thought it was cool that he was so shiny and said that his back was made out of ‘plastic’.

Mila didn’t know what to think. Why is this thing crawling on the ground? Is it a toy? Should I try putting it in my mouth? Well, Mila, no and no.

What you can eat is this pork tenderloin that I have been waiting to eat with some creamy horseradish.

Oops, I guess I should have warned her that horseradish might sting a little bit. Don’t worry about her, she’s a tough little cookie.

And even cookies need to rest at the end of the day. Let’s hope the rain stops soon so we can make the trip over to the visitors center tomorrow.

over and out,
dan