New Years Eve

Another great day. We put a 13 lb. turkey on the Ronco rotisserie BBQ outside and enjoyed a great dinner with Joan, Barry and Jim Allen an old friend of Ron's from many years of boilermaker days.
Jim was the 1 man band for the evening entertainment at the Clubhouse for the NY Eve dance. We enjoyed a great dinner, then went up to hear Jim play: very good; then stopped at friends and back to our place for the countdown to NY Eve with the ball drop in New York celebration and toasted each other with a glass of champagne.

Pretty Spot

We're parked on the pond looking across to the mini golf and pickleball courts. We have the prettiest sunsets to watch looking up to the Tram and at the gate we can look out through the mountain passes where you see headlights all the way to L.A.

Boxing Day

This is a Canadian tradition only. The day after Christmas you would take your wrapped boxes of Christmas gifts to visit your family and friends and exchange with them. It was fitting that our Canadian friends Roger and Myrna from Vernon are here and came to visit today.

Christmas Day

Well, we did something entirely different this year. Because there were 13 of us, we went off to Augustine Casino for their Special Christmas Buffet. It was delicious. We had deep fried turkey which sounds dreadful but was absolutely delicious, with all the trimmings and then some.
Here's part of the gang in their Christmas sweaters and Ron and I with our Christmas tree outside.

Christmas Eve

We are having a wonderful time with sunny days, although cool at night. There was fresh snow up on San Jacinta Mtn, very pretty.
We drove over to Cherry Valley to see Clint and Nadine and then went to George's deli for a German lunch and to shop.
We had an outdoor get together with Angeline & Roy, Debbie & Peter, and us at Barry & Joans. We even needed a thatched umbrella to keep the sun off the food.
Ron and I enjoyed our usual cold cuts, sausages and breads for our Christmas Eve dinner. Here's our 2 Christmas trees and Santa on the dash.

Laundry Day

We've very busy with all our friends and activities. I finally had to catch up on the laundry now that we're out of bathing suits and shorts and wearing real clothes and long pants often.
Sure have been having cooler weather. Some gifted artist did these paintings of local cacti on the walls of the laundry room so it's very cheerful in there. I've got used to doing 2 - 3 loads of laundry at once: wash, dry, fold and put away for another week instead of doing it 3 - 4 times a week. I think I prefer this now.

Christmas Decorations

We had a lovely get together at Don and Lila's Saturday for Lila's birthday, then a housewarming Monday for Willy and Jo at their new mobile in Desert Crest.
Ron and I went shopping and wrapped up our Christmas shopping. We hear that Santa has put presents aside for us.
The park is all decorated and just a delight to see hundreds of lights everywhere. Arla makes these Rudolph reindeer faces from the bottom of the palm fronds. This sign says Caution: Young and old at play. I had a visit with Santa Claus today.

Outdoor Happy Hour

We had an outdoor happy hour with 5 Canadian couples. We had a big rain last Saturday and the local mountains were covered with snow. We hate to admit, we were reduced to the need for long pants and Ian even put his toque on and Joan wore her gloves!!!!

Indian Powow

We went down to a local casino where the Native Indians were having their annual winter gathering. It was truly amazing. There were about 500 natives there from many different areas and a lot of singing and dancing by all. I would have loved to have known where they were born and how the elders grew up. It would have been nice to have a brochure explaining the meaning of their truly magnificent costumes.

Busy Time

My goodness time flies when you're having fun. We had the old crew over for happy hour Sunday. Monday I had to take my computer to town to order new hinges for it. One has completely detached, on my 3 1/2 year old Dell.
Tuesday night was Bunco for 16 ladies and Wed. we met Judy and Bill Warne from home at the VFW for a visit and tacos.
We had a class today to make lighted Crystal Christmas trees. You threaded many Crystals of several shapes onto safety pins, then stung them onto wires and wove 7 layers together to get this tree, 13 inches high with a string of mini lights inside. It's very pretty on the dashboard.

Winter arrives

Well, we woke to rain on the roof and 56 degrees. We're getting your jetstream leftovers coming down here. I was the only one in the pool, swimming my 50 lengths in the fog coming off the 89 degree water with cool rain falling on me. It was delightful although getting out was a dash for the shower and I biked home in a wet suit covered by my rain jacket and dried off there. We're back to the pool hall for the regular Wed. and Sat. tournaments. Great bunch of guys, 14 today. I'm the only woman but it's fun. We now have 8 hamburger tickets and 8 for Ice cream cones.

Back to Catalina

We were up early to get back to Catalina in Desert Hot Springs, our home park for our busy day. Ron was off to Bocci by 10 a.m. and I swam my lengths, showered and was at the Clubhouse to try on bathing suits plus accessories, as I was asked to model in the fashion show at 2 p.m. We modeled 4 suits and 1 cover up and it went really well and was lots of fun. I won a piece of jewelery from the store as a prize and 'had' to buy a $89 bathing suit I wore, chocolate brown with leopard trim, for $30.
We're glad to be back here and resume all our regular activities. Here's Don, Tim and Julius playing in the horseshoe tournament.

More sun fun

We're really enjoying this park. We went to a slide show promo by Fantasy Caravans about their trip to the Yucatan Peninsula, the 44 day trip we did last year. It was fun to see all the pictures again and talk to 2 couples who'd already done it like us.
There are very active jig saw puzzlers here. We've finished a puzzle that said that the picture on the box was not like the picture on the puzzle. You had to look into your crystal ball and think into the future. The young couple getting engaged were now grandparents with their daughter and son-in-law picnicking with 4 kids, including twin babies. The grandma pushing a stroller turned into the grown baby pushing grandma in a wheelchair. The old houses were gone, a freeway in their place with skyscrapers on the background. So it was done with no picture to refer to and Jan, Pauline, Penny and I would run into each other working on it at different times. Quite challenging and fun.
As usual, I'm enjoying the beautiful flowers. These peach colored ones, shaped like little trumpets, were on trees outside the dining room. They remind me of the yellow trumpet blossoms on the trees in the harbour at Victoria we saw when we were there for Marika and Tobin's wedding in September.

Indian Waters

We moved down to Indio, just 20 miles away for our 'out' week. This is the first time we've stayed here and we're finding the people very friendly and there's lots to do. Carol and Roger are here so we've played cards 2 nights.
We went to the Augustine Casino today out in the date tree farming area. We joined the Players Club, so got $5 off our dinner and a free $5 to use in the slot machines. Luckily I came home with an extra $20 so that more than paid for our $10 lunch.

Joan, the Barber

Joan and Barry from Sydney on Vanc Island arrived yesterday. Joan and I did a very quick shop at 7:45 this morning as it's the day before American Thanksgiving and we waited fourth in line for the teller even this early. Can you imagine - prime rib was on sale for $3.99 lb. so Joan bought one. Happy hour was at their place while Joan gave all of us haircuts, after a glass of wine. Barry did the roast on his Ronco BBQ which you can see, and we ate at our place where we did the rest of dinner. Needless to say, absolutely delicious!!

Shopping Day

Joanie, Carol and I went shopping today. We're exploring the consignment and charity thrift shops in Palm Springs. My those women give away some incredible clothes. We stopped for a quick bite because 1)this is hard work and 2) we don't want to waste our shopping time.
This is Hamburger Mary's.

A Roadrunner

We are having a great time with friends. Joan and I went golfing Monday at Hidden Springs, Mom and Dad's old park and saw this roadrunner on the 18th hole. It's the first one we've seen this year. They used to be all over the place but not anymore. We hear lots of coyotes howling in the desert at night. When I saw my first roadrunner back in 1975, I didn't know they were a real bird, I thought they were only a comic character in cartoons. This one is about a foot long.
We played in the Wed. Pool tournament and Roger played also - Carol being the cheering section.
Ron came first and earned another sirloin hamburger for the Sunday BBQ. Sat he came first and I came 2nd - 2 more burgers. Guess I won't be cooking much on Sundays.
We had Joan, Phil and Carol and Roger over for happy hour Thur and enjoyed sitting out in the sunshine until 5:30 because by then it's getting dark.

An Oasis

Carol and Roger and I went down to the Coachella Valley Preserve today while Ron was playing water volleyball. This is an amazing 17,000 acre site ten miles east of Palm Springs which is actually part of the Colorado Desert. This was created to protect the fringe-toed lizard and protects the last undisturbed sand dune and valley floor habitat of the Coachella Valley.
For as long as 600 years the Cahuilla Nation held this whole area as their home. They were tranquil, traditional and productive and this waterpoint, the Thousand Palms Oasis enabled them to do so here.
It was discovered by an early trader in 1900 who received the deed for 80 acres around the 6 oasis from the U.S. President, and swapped this land for 2 mules and a buckboard wagon in 1905 to Louis Wilhelm. His son Paul built a "log' cabin but not like we know. It is made from palm tree lengths standing upright, all the logs cemented with clay to construct the one room cabin. Today it's a 3 room cabin used as an interpretive center with vast information about the area and 6 oasis here. We hiked 1.4 miles on the McCallum Trail, first through a fan palm grove that was so thick you could get lost 5 feet from your neighbour, but couldn't get through the dense spiked palms fronds without getting a hundred bleeding cuts. We left there to cross hot desert to get to an amazing crystal clear oasis with clams, salamander and native pup fish. You couldn't even see this from the road, a hundred feet away and it was incredibly interesting and 20 degrees cooler in the shade of the oasis than on the open trails. You can see previous flooding water cut a 5' wash through here some time ago.

Lest We Forget - November 11

This is always such a bittersweet day when you think of all who have fought in wars and today are still doing this to give us the life we enjoy. Thanks to the satellite TV, we watched Memorial Ceremonies from Ottawa to Vancouver.

Water Volleyball

Back to Cat Spa yesterday and I would have to say this is our favourite park. We joined in 1992 so really know a lot of people and enjoy the activities here. Pool, as in pool table, started yesterday and Ron came in 2nd, winning a sirloin hamburger. I played like a fish - sank the eight ball and sewered against Ron, then sank the eight ball but it rolled all the way down the table into the wrong pocket against Bob, so I was gone.
There are 2 pools, upper pool allows children, water aerobics at 9 a.m. daily and volleyball games are played there 3 times a week. Ron played today for the first time, enjoyed it and was very good when I watched the game. I can't do it because I can't look up or spin around without getting dizzy. Here Ron's at the net with his arm in the air as he's just fired the blue ball up in the air and over.

Happy Hour with Yucatan friends

We had originally signed up for our Yucatan Mexican Caravan at Ehrenberg, AR in Feb. 06. We met Ray and Sharon from Alaska there signing up for the 08 trip. Well, they'd heard too much about bad roads and drivers and with fuel so high they have now cancelled out.
We reminisced about our great and trying trip with them and Dave and Barb, Calif, and Adele and Jim from Keremeos, whom we met on the Caravan.
Bano means bathroom and this was only one of the primitive ones used on that trip.

A week at Desert Pools

Time to move around the corner for our 'out week'. The campgrounds in our membership parks allow you 2 weeks in, then 1 week out before your next 2 in. It works fine for us as all our friends are doing the same thing and you catch up to different people all the time.
We are enjoying this 90 degree weather while watching the rainy stuff at home. I'm swimming 46 lengths 4 times a week. It was 70 lengths at home so I'm in a bigger pool here and loving the sunshine outdoors. This mural is outside the swimming pool with the golf carts lined up alongside. You can see a small yucca cactus in bloom. We saw bundles of larger blooms in Mexico on the roadsides where the people sold them as food.

Shopping with Joanie

Joanie and I went off to Costco to get her a Cybershot camera just like mine but alas, you could only order them online, so we went off to Gottschalks where we met Sandy and Peggy from the Park. Still lots of time on our hands so we checked out the thrift stores near El Paseo Drive - the ritzy part of Palm Desert. We picked up new sets of 3 orange name brand golf balls, still in the box for $1.00 ad I got some Ralph Lauren navy golf shorts, with the $69.99 tag on, marked to $9.99. Because it's now winter here and they have too many shorts, they'd been marked down to $2.99.
Now that's my kind of shopping.

Golf Cart Parade

We have finally got rid of the smoke from the fires today. We've been surrounded by it for 3 days but it rained on the coast last night and we can see our mountains for the first time since Thursday. The 29 separate fires are down to about 9 still burning at present.
We had Don and Lila, and Van and Edie over for happy hour yesterday. It was fun to sit outside visiting and catching up.
We went down to Palm Desert today and watched the 43rd annual parade. It's hard to imagine that there are only golf carts under these. This started as a Celebration when golf carts were made street legal is the early 60's and now is a tourist attraction.
Then because we were half way there, we carried on to Shields Date Farm and had a date shake for lunch. As usual - delicious!

New Neigbours

Most of the people coming in right now are fire evacuees. Two couples arrived at 11 p.m. last night across from us. Dad and mom work for Allstate Ins.on the National Catastrophe Team. Son does too, so all fulltime RVand grandchildren are with them until school interferes? They're from Alabama. The people behind are from Redlands and schools are closed so a 4 day weekend. A couple with 4 teenagers are here from Lake Arrowhead and may be able to return home in a few days but 1 school burned down and there's no power. These are only the ones we bumped into.
Thank goodness the Santa Anna winds quit today at the coast so hopefully they can contain most of the fires.
However, for the first time we smell smoke today. The ocean winds are now blowing everything inland and it smells here. The sunset is clouded by smoke and the Pass to LA is filled with it. The moon was amazing tonight, bright orange from the fire.

Fire Disaster in California

What a horror story. The Santa Anna winds are blowing from east to west and flaming fire infernos that defy any firefighting. We're 3 hours east but all you see on the news is devastation with over 28 fires burning from San Diego to Los Angeles and beyond, now coming inland. There are helicopters scooping water and large DC 10's doing the same, including a couple from Quebec. Our Mars Water Bomber from Sprout Lake on Vancouver Island arrived tonight and will be fighting by 7 a.m. tomorrow. Over 1 million people have been evacuated from their homes, many freeways are closed, the rest jammed with evacuees, the sparks are spread by the winds for miles starting new fires, the National Guard are here helping in every capacity. We've even seen the flames and coverage on BCTV. This exhausted firefighter shows it all.

Santa Anna Winds

Edie and Van are here in the park and Don and Lila are at their mobile.
California is being battered by incredible winds out on the coast with wild fires springing up. We're here safe and sound with no worries. I talked to a couple in the pool and they were at the Thousand Trails Resort in San Diego and had to evacuate, so came here. It took 6 hours at 10 -15 miles per hour due to the jammed highways.
We went for a Sunday drive today for shopping and lunch at the Sizzler but felt guilty when we read this sign.

Arrived at Catalina Spa

Finally 'home' again for the winter. We're back at our home park and one of the first to arrive, so many empty spaces. The volunteers are just arriving and as this is the earliest we've ever been here, it is amazing to realize how much work is done by the volunteers to make this park such a nice place. It was a shock to see the brown dirt where grass will soon be. No water in the summer just killed it. The pruning, cleaning, gardening, office work, entrance guard etc. are just starting. It's great to see familiar faces again. I practically have the pool to myself.

Into Central California

We got through the mountains finally, after the signs of 'downhill grade 7 % for 7 miles and entered Central California. I was getting a bit dizzy so very glad to get flat again. Went through Sacramento, then Stockton, with the old part a very historic area. There was the Stockton Locomotion Works and the Mechanics Exchange all in very old brick buildings. We left I 5 at Lost Hills and headed across 46 through Kern county to Bakersfield. This is farming country with grapes, cotton, almonds, fruit trees, plus fields of roses and pansies. We even passed a truck with pup, full of garlic, a new sight for us. Very pretty scenery. Fueled at Flying J and stopped overnight at the A Country RV Park. We haven't boondocked this trip as we wanted heat in cold ORE, but putting the slides in and out has been a pleasure with our new folding coffee table that CJ made for us.

25th Wedding Anniversary - to Dunnigan

We drove up and down the mountains of Oregon and through the Siskiyou Mountains into
California. We were absolutely stunned when we drove through the Lake Shasta area. Mount Shasta was shrouded with fog so no view there but the Lake was so extremely low that you could see the lake bottom in the smaller arms of the lake and the bottom of the boat ramp was about 90 feet above the water. This is when we went over the bridge of the main lake - the bridge lane was being reconstructed so we were on the inside one but this shows where the water should have been up at the treeline. This is simply astounding and I fear a terrible disaster and really worry about the drought conditions in California. We celebrated our 25th anniversary by buying $200 of Diesel and having lucn at a truck stop. Got down to Dunnigan and the rain started and the wind was really blowing so we stopped at Happy Times RV Park at 2:30 in the middle of nowhere because there wasn't anything else for many miles. Enjoyed a cocktail and memories of 25 years of fun together.

Wilsonville to Phoenix, ORE

We got away in a light rain today, clearing by noon. We passed Harrisburg where we had a great time in the spring at Camp Monaco, and Cottage Grove where we drove through 2 covered bridges and saw 6 more. Here's a picture of one we went through with the tow connectors still on the car. Note the high windows on the sides. Wood bridges are less expensive to build and last well when maintained. Nice steady driving day. Oregon is so green and filled with trees, just like B.C. and lovely fall colors now. We climbed up and down the mountains and arrived in Phoenix, below Medford by 3 p.m. Ron said, I'll buy you dinner and you can buy breakfast - a treat for our 25th wedding anniversary tomorrow. While we were having dinner at the Iron Skillet at the large Petro Truck stop beside the Peartree RV Park we're at, the couple beside us were celebrating their return home after a 2 week vacation when their kids reno-ed their house as a present for their 60th anniversary. The kids said they'd just updated it by about 40 years. So they celebrated with their strawberry Sunday and we had chocolate.

A Visit with Sharon

We met Sharon in Woodburn today, 20 minutes down the road and enjoyed a great visit during lunch at Elmers.
We returned to the RV Park which does great Halloween decorations. It's a very pretty place with summer hanging baskets about 2 and a half feet in diameter, still surviving with large blooms.

On The Road Again

We got to the Main Border at 7:06, backed way up to the Duty Free on the Canadian side. We finally inched our way through at 8:16. The guard asked where we were going, if we owned a house in Canada and said, go ahead. What a bonus, no checking out the motorhome. Mind you, there's nothing in it, we shop when we get done south. So much easier. With the Canadian dollar actually above par at $1.02.46 many people are cross border shopping. It's never been this busy early in the morning, the 25 years we've gone south in the winter.
We had a pleasant driving day, sunny but low, light fog for a brief time, every time we got near water. Lots of traffic through the cities, even on a Saturday. Pretty fall colors are nice to watch as we go down the road.
We arrived in Wilsonville at 3 p.m. and are checked into the Pheasant Ridge RV Resort where Mike stays. He came to visit and we went out to Wongers, a funky bar and grill where you get peanuts for appies and just throw the shells on the floor. Quaint, I guess and certainly a popular spot..

Thanksgiving Family Dinner

Well, we had the best family dinner for Thanksgiving at Brenda and Peter's in Vancouver. The Wallachs from Nelson, Merritt and Kamloops couldn't get down so we missed them and send love but the lower mainland crowd of 20 adults and 7 kids were together. The most fun to Hana and Lexi is seeing their cousins, Josh, Zack and Isaiah, whom they adore, and now Maya and Trey are added to the group. The turkey was superb, our cooking was great, the company was a pleasure and we were delighted to have Floss and Ken with us.

Fun with Grandkids

Aanother great day in beautiful weather here on the Sunshine Coast. They really do have good reason to call it that. Deer in the front yard, a visit to the ocean and a playing at the park. Here's 3 fun kids together.