Indian Waters

Sat. Feb 29 -

This past week has been spent at an RV resort called Indian Waters in Indio, one of many cities considered a part of Palm Springs.  The park has about 200 nice sites with amenities such as pools, spas, and pickle ball courts.  We have been able to meet up with our friends Rory and Sue from Sedalia who spend winters in Palm Springs and spent some time with a Mike and Diane who live in La Quinta.  

We’ve played pickle ball almost daily, and I have taken a couple of line dancing classes.  John has struggled with the pickle ball due to a pulled leg muscle but he keeps working at it.

Yesterday morning I signed us up to go on a hike with a group from the park.  The 17 folks hiked the Cove to the Lake Trail near Lake Cahuilla, a 7.7 mile out and back hike.  The day started off cloudy which kept it nice and cool but as the morning wore on the sun came out and beat down on us.  We have hiked parts of the trail in the past where it adjoins a vibrantly green private golf course.  This time a couple of mountain sheep crossed the path on their way to nibble on that green grass.  

After lunch and naps we played bocci ball and dined with Mike and Diane. We almost didn’t make it to pickle ball this morning as we found it very hard to get out of bed!

Coronado Island

Sat. Feb 22

The day started out kind of yucky with cloud, periods of rain and wind but as the day wore on we got tired of sitting around so off we go in the car to explore the area some more.  Our first stop was a really nice meat market where we stocked up on steak, pork chops and some nice thick cuts of lamb chops. We also found our favorite cheese, Prairie Breeze!

Then we drove across the two mile bridge to Coronado Island. It was late afternoon, rather gloomy so we opted not to stop in town but drove on out to the beach where we stopped to touch the Pacific Ocean and collect a few small shells.

On down towards the point of the island is Imperial Beech where we parked and walked on the beach a short way, then out on the pier and back through town.  When we got to the car it was running!  John forgot to turn it off when we got out so it idled the whole time we were walking! A sure sign old age is creeping up on us!

That’s about it for San Diego.  Time to move on.

Balboa Park Museums

Friday Feb 21

Day 3 of the tourist tours.  We chose to visit museums today as the weather was on the cool side.  There are over 20 museums in Balboa Park beside the Zoo. Some are free but most have some sort of entrance fee.  We got a one day pass to visit 5 museums.

First stop was the Air and Space Museum which had exhibits about our space history.  One of the nine capsules shot into space is located in this museum.  Another one is closer to our home in Hutchinson KS.  I guess we’ll need to stop there one of these days.  And what would be an air museum without airplanes - from the Wright Brothers all the way up to the stealth jets and bombers of today.

Next door to the Air and Space is the Automotive Museum which was featuring cars of the 1970’s. But they also had some unique automobiles and antique motorcycles.  One of the unique cars was Louis Mattar’s Fabulous $75,000 Car.  Its an 1947 Cadillac outfitted to run endurance non-stop trips.  The first trip was from San Diego to New Jersey and back without any stops. The second non-stop run was from Anchorage to Mexico City.  It towed a trailer that held 230 gallons of gas which fed the car and could be refilled without stopping.  Also without stopping the car could air up the tires and hydraulic jacks allowed tires to be hanged while moving.  The front seat held a tape recorder and hookah pipe while in the back seat you could find a washing machine, ironing board and iron, an oven, food storage, refrigerator, and a chemical toilet.  The trailer also held water so you could shower plus it had a telephone and TV.  

Another unique exhibit was the Plank Road from Yuma to El Centro across the Imperial Dunes.  It was used from 1912 to 1926.

After lunch we walked through the Model Railroad Museum.  It is so big that when they are running all the trains they use a control system that was once used on regular rail lines.  The detail that goes into these displays is fantastic.  In our pictures there is a scene with police cars and an ambulance stopped by a car with the trunk open and a body in the trunk!  The big deal is that all scenes are scaled to the size of the trains.  They use pictures of actual places to create landscapes, mountains, rivers and trestle bridges.

We are getting tired so the next two museums don’t get a very thorough examination.  The Fleet Science Center is definitely for kids with lots of hands on activities and people to guide the kids at each station.  The Natural History Museum is multi storied and features not just dinosaurs but whales and ancient sea creatures.  A special exhibit of skulls caught my eye.  There were skulls of lizards, mice, humming birds up to the apes & human, turtles and elephant.

We also were impressed with some of the  architecture of many of the buildings.

Today we stayed in the city until after rush hour.  A friend of ours, Austin, is a chef at a seafood restaurant where we stopped to visit and he prepared a couple wonderfully tasty dishes for us. The restaurant was next to the USS Midway. 

Cabrillo National Monument & Old Town

Thurs. Feb 20

Day two of the tourist visits took us out to Loma Point through the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery and part of the Naval Air Station to the Carrillo National Monument. 

Juan Carrillo was the first European to set foot on the west coast of the US.  Even though it was a bit foggy, we had nice views of the coastline, the city sky line and the entrance to the San Diego Harbor.  Beside the statue commemorating Cabrillo, there is a lighthouse complex and the remnants of battlements and gun placements posted during WWII.  We also hiked along the shoreline where we looked for sea anemones in the tidal zone, enjoyed the early blooming flowers and spotted some sleeping sea lions.

We found a good seafood place for lunch and then drove over to Old Town San Diego where we strolled along the streets, stopping in historic buildings, shopping and enjoying the nice afternoon.  Again we headed home after rush hour had started so it was stop and go traffic all the way home.

Lions & Tigers & Elephants & Birds

Wed. Feb 19

After running errands, getting hair cuts and grocery shopping on Tuesday we started our tourist visit to San Diego.

First stop is the San Diego Zoo!  A very friendly volunteer helped us chart our course through the maze of trails, animals, and food courts.  A lot of the animals were ones we had seen on the African Safari or on our visits to Australia, South American and Costa Rica.  But new ones were some of the apes and monkeys, the Red River Hog (Congo), Andean Condor, Stellar Sea Eagle (Russia), tigers, bears from Borneo and Andes, the cheetah and a rhinoceros.  We had been warned to leave the zoo before 3 pm or we would get caught in the evening rush hour.  Even though we tried to leave early, it was after 3:30 and the traffic was already stop and go (mostly stop).

Jojoba Hills Escapee’s Park

Feb. 14 - 17

About the only place there is to camp is to go over the mountains towards Temecula where the Jojoba Hills Escapee’s Resort is located.  Since we are Escapee members we are allowed to boondock on their grounds and have use of most of their facilities such as pool, exercise room, showers, laundry and pickle ball courts. This is a huge park with close to 700 sites which folks purchase then install their RV or park model on the site.  If not in use, the site can be rented.

The drive over the mountains was a little on the tense side as the road was very narrow with next to nothing for a shoulder and curvy.  As we were coming down, all of San Diego were going up!  At least that’s the way it seemed.  Camper after camper pulling trailers of ATV’s were headed to the sand dunes we had just left behind. 

The area north of Temecula, North Mountain Wine Trail in Warner Springs, is an up and coming wine region.  We visited two wineries on Saturday (Shadow Mountain and Sierra Roble) and two on Sunday (Hawk Watch and Emerald Creek), all were having a special Valentine’s event with music, barrel tastings with a specially created desert, and specials on their wine tastings. These were all rather small wineries with less than 1000 cases per year.  The weather was warm and the wines were pretty good. We came home with 6 bottles on Sat but only two on Sunday and one of those was half empty by the time we got home.

Today we will head to San Diego, staying in the KOA in Chula Vista.

Borrego Springs, con’t.

Feb 8-14

I have played a lot of pickle ball this week, and so did John until he pulled a muscle in his leg.  It didn’t stop us from riding our bikes or taking a hike up Coyote Ridge.  We drove out to Fonts Point Saturday evening to enjoy the sunset while sipping gin and tonics and snacking on cheese and crackers except I forgot the food but not the drinks.  It was not a spectacular sunset but the full moon rise to the east caught our eye!

We dined at the wood fire pizza place one evening, sipped Margaritas another time, lunched at Ram’s Hill Golf Club and then John took me out for a fine dining experience at the Coyote Steakhouse where we enjoyed a rack of lamb.  It was on Valentine’s Eve so we would miss some of the crowds. He’s such a romantic!

It’s been a pleasant stay but its time to move on.

The Springs at Borrego

Feb 2-7

We arrived in Borrego Springs in time to set up camp and prepare a couple of dishes for the Super Bowl Party held in the meeting room of the RV resort where we are staying.  John and I were the only Chiefs fans in the room, all the others were rooting for the 49ers.  A lot of friendly jabs back and forth until the Chiefs exploded in the 4th quarter, then things got quieter.  I tried not to get too loud but we were pretty happy for the Chiefs!  Great game!

This RV resort is surrounded by a lovely 9-hole golf course and is next to a residential area with an 18-hole golf course.  I think they got their name, Springs, from all the water hazards on these courses.  They also have a large pool, 3 hot spas, tennis courts, 8 pickle ball courts, horse shoes, and bocci ball.  This is a very active community.  John slightly twisted his angle the first day we played pickle ball so he has not been able to join me on the courts.  Instead we have been riding our bikes in the afternoons.  We had a 15 mile ride yesterday and a 10 mile one today. 

We normally camp out in the desert in Anzio-Borrego but we have opted to stay in this park.  One morning we drove out in the desert to see if we could camp in some of the places where we have parked in the past but found that area has been closed to motor vehicles.  It looks like desert camping in Anza-Borrego will not happen any more. I’m hoping we can go mountain hiking in a day or two when the weather cools down again.

Desert Life

Jan 26 - Feb 1

Things are starting to quiet down in Quartzsite as the RV show is over so many, many people are moving on to new adventures.  We opted to stay a few extra days to enjoy a slower pace and fewer people.  We rode our bikes into town on Sunday with a short cruise north of town on their nice bike trail. It took us past their park that is made for fun.  There are tennis courts, sand volleyball, R/C airstrip and race course for R/C cars and of course the playground.  We also found this desert garden where folks have planted trees or bushes in memory or in honor of their loved ones.  The Historical Society created a miniature city with homes, businesses, barns, people and privies.

We went wild on Monday and rented a side-by-side Polaris ATV and we went crazy driving down gravel washes and climbing hills to explore the mountains just west of the town.  It was so much fun that it now has John thinking about getting one along with a pickup truck to haul it behind the RV.  Imagine me shaking my head “NO!”

Tuesday evening we had a nice evening visiting with Dwight and Sharon at their campsite and meeting some of their fellow RV friends.  Then on Wednesday we drove down to Yuma and found an Escapees park with boondocking sites for $8 a night.  Janet and Mellow pulled in the next day and we had an enjoyable time with them.  Then we found Cherrill and Jim and had dinner with them.  They were the wagon masters on our Canadian Maritimes Tour in 2018.  Saturday found us searching the city for Kansas City Chiefs t-shirts so we could properly represent our team at the Super Bowl Party on Sunday.  We also strolled around a Renaissance Festival. It was a clear, warm and enjoyable day.