To California and Back (12-26-14)

When last we spoke, which was, come to think of it, quite a while ago, Paul and I were headed from AZ to CA. And now we are back in AZ.  I will blame my lack of posts on the holidays and the fact that I haven’t felt well for the last couple of weeks. I am getting better, but my ambition to accomplish things has taken a hit.




On the way to Desert Hot Springs, we stopped in Yuma to visit our friends Steve and Carol.  Carol is a professional photographer-one who helped me choose my new camera.  On this night, she gave me tips on portrait pictures.

They also talked us into staying an extra day, so we could make a trip into Algodones Mexico for lunch. We walked across the border, shopped for a bit, then sat and had lunch in an outdoor restaurant while listening to live music.  Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.  Before we headed back across the border, we bought 3 bottles of the Mexican version of Cointreau (for Margaritas) for less than 1/3 of what we would pay in the U.S.!

Once we made it to our destination in CA, of course I got antsy to see our daughter Jess.  Since we had a free day, and so did she, we decided to make the trek into North Hollywood to see her.  2 hours later we arrived, had some lunch, did a few errands, and then started the trek back home.  Unfortunately we didn't think about the typical L.A. traffic, and it took us 4 hours to get home.  Ugh.

Soon we were off to Paul’s brother’s house for a 3 day stay for Christmas.  On Christmas Eve Paul and I went for a hike with his sister-in-law Sue.  There are actually quite a few hiking trails near their home.

Of course, Christmas is much more fun when there are young children in the house.  Paul’s nephew’s son William was the center of attention, and wide-eyed at all the new toys he got.

New toys sometimes require assembly, and that’s where Uncle Paul comes in handy. Actually, all the guys worked together to build the new trampoline.

Once it was assembled, William wanted someone to jump around with him, and Jess is the only one even light enough to stand on it, so she volunteered.

Once the projects were done, we settled in to play a game of Mexican Train.

There was a little bit of playing and a lot of laughing involved.














I sat close to the hummingbird feeder so I could try to get some decent shots, but I didn’t have too much success.

It’s pretty difficult for us to carry a hummingbird feeder, but I am thinking it might be worth the bother……..I love taking pictures of these little dudes.

Well, that was our holiday- I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

When there’s absolutely nothing else to do…(03-03-12)

….we plan.  After making the decision to extend our stay to do more hiking etc., the weather changed our minds.  We booked another 3 days, knowing that the weather for the first day was not going to be great- 30-40 mph winds and cool.  But that's ok, we needed to do laundry, clean house, and do some planning.  We don't like to do lots of planning, and we don't like to make lots of reservations, but sometimes it's better if we do.  As usual however, we got sidetracked while figuring out what we might like to do for the next week or so.  We got bogged down with details, like which hikes look good,  which museums will be within driving distance of where we might be staying, etc.  Hours later we gave up and went to the pool, having accomplished very little. 
   The following day we had intended to do more hiking in Joshua Tree but the weather was even worse- temperatures up in the mountains were in the 40s and the wind had kicked up even more.  So, we had ALL DAY to plan stuff.  Wow.  Did I mention we don't like to do much planning? 
Anyway, I have been bugging Paul to help me plan next winter. And if we don't like planning next week, we really don't like planning next winter!  Unfortunately we will be in Florida, preferably the Florida Keys, and that requires us to make reservations now, or take the chance of not having a place to stay.  RV Parks in the Keys are a ridiculous price- from $75-$145 per night. I'm not sure they realize we bring our own hotel room with us.  The Florida State Parks are a relative bargain at $38 a night.  Of course, we aren't the only ones who realize that, so they book up pretty fast.  Actually, the RV sites book within 1 second of becoming available. The way it works is that at 8 AM EST 11 months before a site is going to be empty, it becomes available to book online.  So Paul and I, along with thousands of other people, are ready to push the "book this site" button, first thing in the morning.  Unfortunately, we are in California, so first thing in the morning means us getting up at 4:45 AM to turn on the lap top, Ipad, and Iphone, so we can use all three to try and snag a site.  We don't do it every morning, only on mornings that have quite a few sites available.  Still.  Sure seems like it's every morning.  I think my body is trained to wake up early now. As hard as we are trying, we have only been successful once, using that strategy.  We have a full 2 weeks booked at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.  My other strategy is to check online for cancelations, and I do that at least twice a day.  I've snagged another 10 days using that method.  I have also already booked 10 days in Orlando at Christmas time.
    In order to finish up my "Keys" booking, I needed to know how long we want to wander around the Keys before heading further north.  So, we spent a good part of the day figuring out our Florida game plan, checking average temperatures in various locations, and getting a general idea of where we will want to go. I'll hold off booking anything except the Keys for now, because we are also thinking of taking a last minute cruise, if we can find a good place to board the kitty, so I need to research that.

Yesterday the weather finally improved enough to head to Joshua Tree.  We hiked about 6.5 miles along the Panorama Trail and the Black Rock Canyon Trail.  The trail was mostly sand, difficult to walk in, so we were ready for the hot tub by the time we got home.

A footnote:
Last week we hiked to Tahquitz Falls, located on local Indian land.  Its a two mile hike, and has the honor of being the most expensive hike we’ve ever done.  It cost us each $12.50 to do this hike.  Ouch.   We did see a lot of hummingbirds along the trail, and the view of Palm Springs was impressive.


Once we got to the waterfall, I must admit, it’s one of the most beautiful waterfalls I’ve seen, especially since it’s so unexpected to see one in the desert.

Meandering around Arizona (02-20-12)

Well, Sedona was disappointing, but only because the weather was so cold we didn't really see it. Pretty much every morning there was fresh snow on the nearby hills. We spent one day driving over the mountain to visit my aunt and cousin, and passed two snow plows headed in the other direction. There were some icy spots but not too bad at that point. However, by the time our visit was over, we could see the precipitation that had already started again in the higher elevations, so we took the slightly longer way home and avoided it.

We gave up on waiting for the weather to warm up and left earlier than planned. We had plans to meet Elaine and Robert in Quartzsite on Saturday, which gave us two days to kill, so we went to an Escapees park near Wickenburg AZ. It was somewhat warmer there, due to the lower elevation, and we were able to explore the town of Wickenburg.



 We happen to hit it right for their Gold Rush Days, which is like a local county fair. There was a classic car rally, numerous craft booths and carnival rides. The local ice cream parlor had live music, so we listened as we ate. Wickenburg is pretty historic but the admission fee to the local museum was too steep so we took the cheap way out and wandered around looking for the strategically placed mannequins. Each one "tells their story" via an audio box that you push a button to activate.
Saturday we landed in the desert at Quartzsite and waited for our friends to arrive. They found us with no problem, and in no time we were sitting around, catching up on the latest news. It doesn't take too long to set up in the desert, with the wide open spaces you just stop where you want to be, and there is nothing to hook up. We just have to disconnect the truck, which doesn't"t take too long.

Paul has wanted to check out a place called Palm Canyon, that sounded intriguing to him, so the next day we all packed a lunch and took off. These palm trees are in the crevices of the rock and the sun only hits them for a short time during the day. Luckily we happened to be there when it did. In the end, it was a short hike into an interesting canyon, and a pleasant way to kill a day. We also walked around downtown Quartzsite a bit, investigating the venders that are still here. 

After that excitement, we spent the next day relaxing, doing nothing but talking. Elaine and Robert have never been to Quartzsite and wanted to see what it is all about, and actually, sitting around in the middle of the desert socializing all day is a pretty good idea of what people come here for.  Of course there are the vendors and the RV show, but mostly I think people come here for the friends and the camaraderie.  Naturally, we did go to Silly Al’s for pizza, but then we came straight back and got a campfire going.

Paul and I were originally going to head to Joshua Tree National Park with Elaine and Robert, but we made a last minute change.  We are in Desert Hot Springs for a week so I can get some physical therapy.  In the meantime we are getting our mail forwarded so we can get our tax information sent off.