Doheny Beach State Park

It looks like California is experiencing one of its worst winters in over 28 years and this is the year we chose to visit.  I’m not sure why I brought any shorts or tee shirts because all I’ve been wearing are long pants and sweaters!

The first part of the week wasn’t too cold.  We were able to ride our bikes on the adjacent bike trail most days.  We rode to Mission San Juan Capistrano and enjoyed a walk through the old mission, which is quite large and well preserved.

We found some pickleball courts nearby and tried to play but the people were much younger, better players, and not very inviting.  Did not go back. The bike lanes are along most of the roads so we have ridden or walked to grocery stores or other shopping.

Our friends, Jeff and Linda, whom we met many years ago when we had our Born Free RV, live just up the coast a short way so we had a delightful lunch and afternoon visit with them. 

Friday and Saturday this week are totally wasted as a huge winter storm moved through.  Parts of Orange County got snow which they haven’t seen in 28 years.  It was very windy, cold and rainy.  The bad news is that we can look forward to this kind of weather for the next 2-3 weeks where ever we go.  Yuck!!

Palm Springs in the Winter

We parked our RV at Outdoor Resorts in Indio which was only 1.5 miles from our friends Mike and Dianne’s home in La Quinta. Our two weeks here will be the longest we will stay in any one place for the rest of our trip.  We had hoped the weather would be warmer and less windy here but that was not the case.  Our site is one that is owned by someone and they have rented it out for the winter.  They have done a nice job of decorating the site with a covered patio, a built in outdoor kitchen, and comfortable patio furniture.

One reason we chose this park was because it has eight pickleball courts and an 18 hole executive golf course.  Of course the amenities included swimming pools, laundry, a restaurant and many planned activities.  Since we were only going to be here two weeks we did not make use of much except the pickleball courts.

Mike and Dianne kept us busy.  Dianne’s sisters were visiting so the girls took a architectural and historic tour of Old Palm Springs with a nice lunch. We dined with them several times either at their home or a restaurant.  They graciously included us in their family Super Bowl party. Go Chiefs! 

Mike and Dianne were married two weeks before we were and the men were in each other’s ceremonies.  We celebrated our 50th anniversary with them in Switzerland and Italy last August.  While in Italy we stayed in a lovely Villa in Tuscany with them and three other couples from La Quinta so we wanted to get the whole group together while we were here.  It was such a fun evening and yet we never thought to take a single picture!

Luxury Camping in the Desert

From one desert in AZ to another desert in CA, we enjoy this one more. Basically because we stayed in a commercial campground called The Springs in Borrego.  Anza Borrego State Park is California’s largest park and the city of Borrego Springs is right in the middle of it.

The Springs has an 18 hole golf course and the guests have access to the community’s eight pickleball courts. It is also very close to town so we ride our bikes around to view all the metal sculptures in Galleta Meadows and to go shopping.

One of our favorite things to do here is to take our cocktails out to Fonts Point to watch the sunset over the mountains. We never get tired of this view.