Back to Normal

In one of my blogs I mentioned that we hadn't seen rain for a long time. We made up for that this week. Last Wed. evening it started raining for 24 hours straight. On Thursday afternoon, the heavens opened up like we have never even seen up in Seattle. We had never seen it as rainy and windy as it was for about 20 minutes. Turns out, there was a tornado about 30 miles south of us. I would have hated to see what it would be like if we had been closer. We lost power and water for 26 hours. After we finally got it back Friday night, we still didn't get back to the Internet until this afternoon. The power outage must have done something to the router or something. Everything is now back to normal. We have had beautiful weather since last Sat, temps in the low 60's. Finally got back on the Internet.

This is Lake Havesu. It is about 50 miles long, a beautiful lake.

Two beautiful people having fun in their retirement. We go to the hot tub every day.

This is the London Bridge at Lake Havesu. It is an authentic English bridge, bought in London, dismantled and brought over and rebuilt here. When they dismantled it, they numbered all the pieces. Took from 1968 to 1971 to rebuild it here.

This is the only replica ever built of the Queens gold carriage. It has been in use from the 1770's for every coronation. Still is in use. It is amazing to see up close. The replica is made of paper mache. It is by the London Bridge. What a cute couple enjoying their retirement!

This is a picture of our resort on the Colorado River.

This is the 1 mile beach at the resort. It is the longest beach on the Colorado River.

Also we went to the Desert Bar. We told told that it was a must see, so of course, we had to go. We were told to keep going on the road because you think you are on the wrong one, but you aren't. Once we turned off the highway, it was a 5 mile primitive twisty, bumpy, narrow road that isn't kept up by anyone. We really thought we were on the wrong road. It is so bad you can only go 5 MPH, so it takes almost 30 minutes to get there. It is a little scary when you meet a car going the opposite way. Not much room for passing. We really didn't expect very many people there because of the condition of the road. WRONG! The parking lot was almost full and it had only been open an hour. The place was packed. There was even a band. It is only open on the weekends from noon to sunset. No way would you want to be on that road in the dark. Also only open from Labor Day to Memorial Day. The summer would be way to hot. It was quite the experience, certainly a must see, but I don't think we would go again.

Tomorrow we are headed out to Yuma. More roads are calling us.

Pics from Palm Springs

This is the Aerial Tramway in Palm Springs. Went from an approx elev of 2950' to 8900' in 10 minutes. Nine inches of snow was at the top.

View from the top

Sunset at our park

Maintenance never stops. Denny washing the trailer. One of the few parks where you can wash your RV so he took advantage of it.

Daytime view of our park. There is a palm tree at every site so it is very tight to back in.

View on the way up to Indian Canyons. Notice how they cut the rock to make the road. Kind of scary going thru it. Our truck is pretty high, we almost touched the sides.

The Salton Sea. Strange to see a salt water lake in the middle of the desert. it is 30 miles east of Palm Springs

Pics from San Diego (finally)

Took me awhile, but here they are. I took so many that it was hard to choose.

Strange looking animal from Africa. It was at both the Zoo and Wild Animal Park

I guess the birds were attracted to her face. As soon as she walked into the compound, they flew to her, probably thinking she was one of them.

Sea world


Wild Animal park. They are so cute.

Our campground- 20 miles east of San Diego

In 1975, we went to Black Beach. It was the last nude beach in San Diego. After we left, it changed into a regular family beach. Maybe we scared them. This is the closest we could get to it. It was a 2 mile hike up. In 1975 we were alot younger and in alot better shape. Of course, now that we are a little older and wiser, we wouldn't have done it anyway. The body was alot different 35 years ago.

Liquid from the sky???

A couple of days after we got here, there was this strange liquid coming from the sky. Couldn't figure out what it was at first. Had a aha moment. It was rain! It has been so long since we have seen it that we forgot what it looked like. For a few days it has been just like Seattle. In fact, I hear Seattle is having better weather than us. We are getting the residuals from the Southern Ca. weather. They are going to get more rain this week than they usually get all year. There are floods everywhere. Even a couple of tornado's. We got out of San Diego and Palm Springs just in time. The storm last night was so bad that I hate to imagine what it would have been like in San Diego. There was a tree that fell on an RV in a park there and did major damage. It was so rainy and windy that we couldn't even do the hot tub! Curses! Rain never has really bothered me, but I certainly don't miss it at all.

Went to Lake Havasu City yesterday and saw the London Bridge. In 1968, it was brought over from England in marked pieces. It took 3 years to rebuild it here.

Alot of RVer's have dogs, sometimes 2 or 3. You always see the owners walking them. In Palm Springs, we saw a couple of amazing sights. One, a little dog was being pushed in a baby stroller. The other one was being pulled in a little red wagon. What kind of exercise is that for the dogs?

Greetings from the Colorado River

We got to a really nice campground last Thursday, but we have been having too much fun relaxing to update the blog. We are in a campground on the border of Az. and Ca. The middle of the river is the state line. We are on the Ca. side, but the camp is on Az. time. It is a beautiful campground. There is 1 mile of sandy beach, the longest on the river. There are 2 hot tubs and 2 pools. Also a poolside bar. They have Karaoke on Friday and Sat. nights. In the clubhouse they serve breakfast and dinner every night. Also have bands on Sat and Mon nights. We have been using the hot tub every day. Feels like a little city.

We went to Quartzsite yesterday. It is an amazing place. Quartzsite is the mecca for Rver's. It is a huge, miles long flea market. If you have an Rv, you have to stop there. We have never seen so many Rv's in one place. Alot of people boondock in the desert while they go to Quartzsite but not us. We like our comforts too much. For people that don't know, boondocking is when you park anywhere on BLM land. No hookups. To do this, you must have a genator. We didn't plan on buying anything, but of course, we found things we couldn't do without. Not sure if I can get Denny to go again. There is no way you can see it in one day. We had to park our truck a couple of miles away and walk in. Besides the main area, there are booths along every road possible. There is alot of junk, but also some good stuff. Most of the time, you don't realize you need it until you see it for sale. Felt good to go in the hot tub after a day of walking.

I have to go to the clubhouse to do WiFi, but we have cell service at our site. In a previous posting, I mentioned how I hate cleaning. Well, I found out it certainly doesn't take long to clean the RV. That is a good thing. I'm getting pretty good at learning to cook in a convection oven. We have a large microwave/convection oven combo. It will fit a 9 X 13" pan. We took out the conventional oven for a large storage area for large pots and pans. Certainly don't regret that decision. We also do a lot of grilling outside.

I do have to give you a handy hint I learned a few weeks ago. Never shake the OJ container without the lid on. Makes quite a mess.

We have to buy water for drinking here. Our first clue was when we saw it for sale outside stores for .25 cents. You fill empty gal jugs. Pretty cheap that way. When we did our 7 month trip, we bought water starting in southern Az. all the way to Florida. Can't remember if we had to do it on the East Coast. We kept about 4-5 jugs filled all the time.

Our Directv is a little strange here. We get our feeds from both the West and East coasts. We mostly watch the West Coast feed, but it is on Pacific time. Because we are on Az. time, everything is an hour later. We get 6:00 pm news at 7. Our 10:oo shows are at 11:00. If we want to watch the news we have to wait until midnight. A little strange.

Better go for now. They are getting ready for a jam session that goes along with an ice cream social. Might be a tad noisy in here. Besides, I think the beach or hot tub is calling.

One of the Mysteries of Life

Today was a day of total relaxation. We are leaving tomorrow so the day before we leave, we just hang around the trailer catching up on things and getting ready to leave. Today for the first time, we relaxed in the sun and hot tub. That is where the mystery of life comes in. Somehow, my bathingsuit shrunk in the drawer. I haven't had it on for a few years, but I never thought to try it on. Big mistake. Wonder how that happened?

Anyway, the sun felt so good on the bones. That is what retirement is all about.

Remember I told you about the Salton Sea on my last blog. It is about 30 miles east of Palm Springs. Hundreds of years ago, it was a lake all the way to Palm Springs and over to Yuma. When it dried up it left salt everywhere. It is strange to see salt on the sides of the road almost to Palm Springs. Felt like we were in Utah.

Another thing we did here was so fun. Every Thursday night they close several blocks of Palm Canyon Drive from 6-10 pm. It runs thru downtown. It turns in a long street fair. It had sorts of vendors and artists selling their wares. We bought homemade bread and local coffee. Also bought some earrings, but the artist was from Oregon. They spend 8 months here selling their jewelry. I was amazed that this goes on every week. Most of the stores are also open.

Denny doesn't really go in for stuff like that so I made him a compromise that he couldn't refuse. On the way to the Follies we saw a 3D theatre playing Avatar. I wanted to see it but not neccessarily in the middle of our sightseeing. I said I'd go to Avatar if afterward we went to the street fair. It was a very good movie. Effects were amazing. Where do these people get such imaginations.

Off traveling tomorrow.

Water, The Wave and other observations

Today we are just relaxing at the trailer so thought I would catch you up on a few things. We are so lucky in the NW to have such wonderful water. The water in San Diego was awful. I had to add a little cranberry juice in mine to be drinkable. Palm Springs is a little better. I don't have to add anything, but it still isn't as good as ours. I have been told that from now on, we will probably have to buy it.

The Wave: If you do any RVing, you learn to do the wave. When walking or driving around the parks, everybody waves. Not quite the queens wave, but a wave none the less. Or the nod, a lot of the men nod, say hello but no wave.

We did a lot of sightseeing in San Diego, probably too much. With the truck alone, we traveled over 1200 miles. Denny said that with and without pulling the RV, we could have reached New York by now. In San Diego, we saw Sea World, the Zoo, Wild Animal Park, the ocean, several missions, Birch Aquarium, the glider ride and Balboa Park, that has the Air and Space, Car and Natural History museum. Since we will probably go there next winter, we probably didn't need to see so much at one time.

In Palm Springs, we have done a little less. We are tired from everything we did in San Diego and we are only here one week. We did the Tram, the Follies, the Indian Canyons and the Salton Sea. The Salton Sea is amazing. It is the largest lake in California and it is salt water. Seems strange to see a large lake in the middle of the desert. We thought Lake Tahoe was the biggest. It is a long story on how it came to be so I won't go into it, but it is beautiful. The Indian Canyons are almost like they were thousands of years ago. You can just imagine the Indians living there. In the middle of the desert canyons are lots of Palm trees growing by the river.

We have been buying a few gifts for the grand kids. Denny rolls his eyes sometimes because he says Darin and Heather will not be happy with me. There is noise involved in quite a few of them. Sorry, but they were so cute and I just laughed when I saw them. They should be glad that I changed my mind about the drum and guitar.

We have been gone a month yesterday. We are having a great time and enjoying every minute. Meeting a lot of new people. We have exchanged numbers with a couple of people. Hope to see them both on the road again.

I have taken so many pictures it is hard to decide which ones to include. I haven't done much of that because I'm not very good at it and it takes a long time. When I have a lot of time, 'll catch up. We have been thru snowy mountains to the ocean to the desert in less than a month.

Had a date shake today. I was also told that was a must do. Indio, a little east of Palm Springs, is the date capital of the US. I have never had a date before, never thought I would like them. They are quite good. Even Denny liked them.

One last thing: newspapers. It is interesting to see the different papers. We have seen the San Diego and Palm Springs News and the LA Times. We miss our comics. A lot of them were in the San Diego but none in the LA Times. In the front section of the LA Times, they didn't have any national news until page 10. It was local stuff. In the Sunday one, there were 3 sections on image and 2 sections on film and TV. I guess you should expect that in LA. Neither one had a TV section like you get in our Sunday paper. The daily listings only start at 7 or 8 PM. You can buy an additional weekly TV guide section for $2.99. I thought it was kind of strange.

Bye for now, looking back, it seems like I've written a book.

Greetings from Palm Springs

Sunday, Jan. 10th

We got here last Wed, the 6th. The park has a lot of palm trees so it is very, very, tight backing up into a site, but Denny came thru like a champ and did it like he knew what he was doing. He had been nervous about it because we had heard about it in San Diego. The weather has been beautiful, averaging 75 degrees. I'm so glad we are here compared to other parts of the country.

We have done a few "must see" things since we got here. We went on the Aerial Tramway. The floor rotates 360 degrees. It is the largest rotating car in the world. The elevation at the start is 2643'. It goes up to 8516' in 10 minutes. The views are breathtaking and there was 9" of snow on the ground.

Also went to the Palm Springs Follies at the old Plaza Theatre. There are 6 men between the ages of 55 and 80. The 10 ladies are from 62 to 86 years old. They are truly amazing. The stamina they have makes me tired just looking at the show. They were all dancers, singers and actors when they were younger so they have had that energy and talent all of their lives. You would never think they are as old as they are. The oldest lady is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest working dancer. If you ever come to Palm Springs, it is a must see. They also had a ventriloquist who was very funny. Denny and I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. The announcer was hilarious and he is also the owner of the theatre. He is 77.

Today we are staying around the camp. Denny is washing the Monster. Very few parks let you wash your rig, so he is taking advantage. I'm catching up on emails and blogs and such.

I have tell you about 2 amazing women we have met on our travels. You see more and more single ladies traveling alone, 2 that really stand out. Most of them have small motor homes. Donna, a lady we met in San Diego pulls a 40' motor home and hauls a PT cruiser behind. She is the first woman we have ever seen pulling such a long one by herself. Denny said he wouldn't even want to do that by himself. She has been full timing since 2007 and is 65 years old. The other lady, Doreen, is parked right across from us here. She is pulling a small motor home and doesn't haul a car behind. What makes her amazing is that she is 80 years old. She has been traveling alone for many years, full timing for the last few. Denny has helped her with a few problems she has had with her MH. I don't really think I would have the courage or even consider traveling by myself. I really admire and look up to these women.

It is nice to have the computer working at our site. In San Diego, I had to walk quite a ways to the adult center. Also in the other direction to get cellphone use. Here, you are also suppose to go to a certain building for WiFi, but we are so close to it that I get it in the trailer. Also cell phone use. HOORAY.

I just got the news yesterday that the company I worked for has finally gone out of business. As many of you know, my boss and I didn't part under good circumstances. Still, I feel bad for him because it is hard to let something go that you have had for along time. We had been friends for many years and it was just sad the way things ended.

Lovin' retirement!

Good Way to start the New Year

Had a fun News Years Eve!

Went to a dinner at the clubhouse and stayed for the dance. It was a DJ with music from the 40's to the 60's. Our kind of music. Those seniors sure know how to dance. Pretty fancy footwork.

New Years Day we went on a glider plane ride. Never done that before and it was so much fun. Just before we were finished, the pilot asked if we wanted him to do some aerobatics. Sure. He did some straight up and downs and 90 degree turns. Scared me to death, I was screaming the whole time. Denny was laughing. Scared me but I loved it. My stomach was in my feet.

We have added that to a few exciting but kind of dangerous things we have done in the past. We have river rafted class 4 & 5 rapids on the Frasier River in Canada, hot air ballooning in Snohomish, paragliding in Hawaii and did a zip line over the rain forest in Mexico. Denny has done a few things without me. He was a passenger in a WWII 2 seater bi-plane in Florida and another 2 seater WWII one wing plane in Arlington. My Dad had flown that same plane many times during the war. He went with us and had a great time talking to the owner. The owner really enjoyed talking with someone who had actually flown it during the war.

What a couple.

Before the flight, we didn't know what we were in for. Tight Squeeze!The button in the picture is what disconnects the glider to the plane flying us up. The pilot had Denny pull it.The pilot pointing to a few things. We flew right next to that top peak. We flew at speeds of 70 to 100 miles MPH. We were at 3000 feet. It was a lot of fun.

Bye for now, leaving tomorrow for Palm Springs