Saturday - Sunday, March 29 - 30, 2014 (Yuma, AZ)

We got up early and got things packed up for the drive back to Yuma today.  We were on the road by 9:00 a.m. and had an uneventful drive back to Yuma.  The traffic was a little heavy until we got to the Salton Sea and then it thinned out which made driving much nicer.  The road was pretty bumpy in a few spots, which always makes opening the cupboards in the 5er such an adventure.

Before you get to Yuma, highway 8 goes very close to the Mexican border.  In the pics below you can see the fence between the U.S. and Mexico. 

Not sure I'd want to camp this close to the fence but there were a lot of people doing it.





More fence

and off it goes into the distance

What a lot of people like to do is come and camp and then ride in the Imperial Sand Dunes.  If it weren't for the creosote bush and the lack of fog you would think you were on the Oregon Coast.



We arrived back at the Palms resort around noon and got set up back in the exact same site that we were in a week ago.  A couple of people around us even commented that we were back again.  The resort has cleared out some since we were here a week ago and I imagine that as April comes, there will be even more folks leaving.  The activity calendar that they gave us didn't have any activities listed after April 12th and those that were listed were few and far between compared to even a week ago. 

After we got set up, I headed to the pool for some reading and pool time.  It was a very pleasant afternoon and evening.  Rich and I both really like it here at this resort.  I'm glad we decided to come down and check out the area.

Sunday

We got up and had breakfast and then headed to church.  We attended the same one we attended when we were here last and enjoyed it again.  Once a quarter they have "family" church where the young kids attend the grown up church instead of the kid classes.  The worship team consisted of mostly teenagers with one adult and they did a very fine job.  They sang a lot of songs that we used to sing at Westside, so that's always fun.  The pastor did a very fine job incorporating two young teenagers stories into his message on "insecurities".  

After church we did a little running around, stopped and got a Starbucks latte, it had been awhile for that.  Then the rest of the day was pretty much just hanging around the 5er.  I forgot to mention that we woke up to "haze" today (that's what NOAA was calling it anyway).  Not sure if it was dust in the air or what???  It was a little breezy but nothing like it was in Indio.  Wasn't really a good pool day since the sun was pretty much hidden for most of the day though it still reached in the low 80's.  

Tomorrow we head for Casa Grande and unknown sights and adventures.  Stay tuned...... 

Friday, March 28, 2014 (Indio, CA)

Even though we had a late night last night we got up bright and early and headed to our exercise class.  I must admit I was dragging just a wee bit.  It's amazing though that by the end of the class even though you are sweaty and tired you feel so much better.  I'm glad we got up and made it to class.

The plan today was to go and ride the Palm Springs Arial Tramway.  Once you start heading up the mountain to the lower station the road gets noticably steeper and I believe you drive up 2000 feet in a relatively short distance.  We got our tickets and they were for the 12:20 ride up which gave us a few minutes to check out the scenery at the bottom of the tram and watch a tram car go up to the top which is at 8500 ft elevation. 

Tram car leaving lower station....

Up, Up and



and away it goes



Patio at lower tram station

Pretty soon it was time for us to board the tram car.  It was very full and each car can carry up to 80 people.  Here are some pics of our trip up the mountain.

There are 5 towers on the trip up and this was either one or two.  Did I mention the car rotates 360 degrees while traveling.  This is looking back toward the lower station.

Passing the tram car going down, we are halfway there

Wow it's a long way down, you can see the desert floor in the background

Still not at the top yet.....



Just past the tower is the lodge at the top, we are almost there.  When you went over the towers it made the car sway which was a little creepy....just don't look down.



When we got off at the top and walked outside, it was instant homesickness for Bend and Paulina Lake.  The air smelled like pine and was nice and cool and crisp.  We found a picnic bench in the sunshine and ate a picnic lunch and then found a hiking trail.  Here are some pics from our hike, the views were amazing.

Nice big pine trees

One of the view points

Rich at one of the view points

More views of the cities around Palm Springs

And another view point, there were five on this hike we took

The ride leaving the upper station, the lower station is where the green in the ravine starts, it was about a 10 minute ride each way.  Going down was better than going up, it didn't seem like the cars swayed as much going over the towers or maybe it was just the fact that we were getting closer to the bottom and the end of the ride.  I'm not a big fan of heights but I did OK on this ride.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time on top of the mountain and are glad we spent the money to take the ride to the top.  I would definitely do it again.

Once we got back to the 5er we got a few things ready for our departure in the morning.  We have enjoyed our time visiting with Madeline & Roger and seeing some of the local sights.  The only downside was all the wind on Wednesday.  I guess we got to experience a wind storm instead of a snow storm.  If I had to choose, I would take the snow, at least you can build a snowman!  =)



Thursday, March 27, 2014 (Indio, CA)

After the last two days of eating out it was definitely time to make sure we got to our Walk Away the Lbs class this morning.  After a nice sweaty workout we headed back to the 5er to get cleaned up. 

The plan today was to run to Home Depot and pick up a long handled screwdriver.  One of our blinds in the bedroom has a broken string that needs repaired and none of our screwdrivers are long enough to reach under the valance to get the blind down.  Well I made the mistake of telling Rich that I would wait for him in the garden section.  I had fun walking through and checking out the different flowers.

Well very rarely can I look at plants and not buy something and today was no exception.  I've decided that my lettuce box should be turned into an herb box.  With the higher temps the lettuce has gotten bitter and so it was time to change it out.



Planting my treasures



End result - pretty nice don't you think?  And functional since most of the herbs are culinary herbs.

Before we headed home we stopped at Shields Date Farm to try out their date shakes.  They were much bigger than the ones we had in Yuma and they were pretty good.  My vote would be for the shakes in Yuma for the best taste.  Our visit at Shields was marred by the horrible sewer smell that was inside the gift shop...so we didn't stick around very long. 

I

 

Date Palm Orchard - these palms can get pretty tall.  I'm glad I don't have to climb them to pick the dates.

Later in the afternoon we met at  Madeline's and drove into Palm Springs in her car to visit the street fair that is held every Thursday evening.  When we first got there the vendors were just starting to set up so we visited the shops along the street.  I was pleasantly surprised at the prices which were pretty reasonable.  We mostly window shopped but I did buy a dress.  There were tons of people on the streets, maybe because the statue of Marily Monroe was being moved somewhere on the east coast at the end of the month and they were having a goodbye ceremony.

View of street and vendors

lots of fun clothes

Crowd was so thick around Marilyn you couldn't even get any closer

Madeline, Roger and Kelly - street fair

Theater where the Follies perform

Another street view

Line Dancing boots?  no I didn't buy them, I couldn't even find the price, I guess if you have to ask you can't afford......



Madeline & Kelly doing more browsing



We stuck around until around 8:00 p.m. and headed back to the car.  We checked out the food vendors on our way out and they were so crowded that we didn't want to stand in line waiting.  Once we made it back to the car it was decided that we would go to the Loco Pollo to grab a quick bite to eat before heading back to Madeline's.  We'd never eaten at a Loco Pollo which is a Mexican chicken fast food restaurant.  We enjoyed our meals and then headed back to Madelines where we said quick goodbye's.  We usually don't like to leave Gracie more than 6 hours at a time and it was time to head home to the 5er. 

On our way home we decided we had better fuel up the truck and pulled off on an exit but couldn't find any diesel.  We had a tense few minutes while trying to navigate unfamiliar streets and find a station that had diesel before we ran out of fuel.  Whew, we finally found a diesel station, what a welcome sight.  Now we can make it home to Gracie.  It was a long and fun filled day.  We're sorry to be saying goodbye to Madeline & Roger but will see them again this summer in Oregon.

Tuesday - Wednesday, March 25-26, 2014 (Indio, CA)

Tuesday

After our morning routine which included going to the Walk Away the Lbs class here at the park we got ready to meet Rich's sister Madeline and Roger at the Soup Plantation for lunch.  If you ever come across a Soup Plantation restaurant I would recommend trying it though they are mostly in Southern California.  It is an all you can eat soup & salad buffet but the ingredients are all fresh. We had a nice long leisurely lunch and another nice visit with Madeline & Roger.

After lunch we said our goodbye's and headed to Costco to get stocked up.  We haven't been near a Costco since we left Oregon so we were due.  After Costco we found a Trader Joe's and got stocked up on cranberry juice and a few other items.  Then it was home to unpack the groceries and find places to store all our goodies.

View from Trader Joe's parking lot - very pretty mountains

Wednesday

We skipped our Walk Away the Lbs class because we were invited to a breakfast at Madeline and Roger's clubhouse.  The drive was pretty windy with just a bit of dust blowing around but the winds were forecast to be much stronger as the day went on.

We had a nice breakfast and got a tour of the park that Madeline & Roger live in and then went back to Madeline's for some more visiting.  While we were visiting every once in a while a strong gust of wind would shake the house and you could hear the sand/grit hitting the windows when a big gust came through.  Here are some pictures of the dust on our drive home.  These were just on the back road to the freeway, once we got on the freeway it was so much worse and it was kinda scary, so scary I forgot to take any pictures.  That night on the news the weather man said that he'd been in the area for 12 years and hadn't seen winds this intense.  Our poor truck and 5er are covered in a layer of dust.....yuck.

Dust cloud in the distance

Just before entering dust cloud

Driving in dust - you could hear the sand hitting the windows

The dust was so thick it was like driving through a thick fog except you could hear the sand hitting the truck and windows.....

Saturday - Monday, March 22 - 24, 2014 (Indio, CA)

Saturday

We got up earlier than normal because we were targeting 8:00 a.m. to be on the road to our next destination of Indian Wells, CA.  It was about a 2 1/2 hour drive and we wanted to arrive before it got to hot outside.  The temps have been in the high 80's to low 90's lately.  Well it always seems to take a bit longer than we plan to get all packed up as we weren't on the road until shortly after 8:30 a.m.

Our drive was pleasant and uneventful and the scenery was anywhere from farming to sand dunes to desert.  We also could see Salton Sea in the distance.  As we got closer to Indio we could see the smog haze in the distance.....yuck I guess that's because Los Angeles is only about 2 hours away.

We arrived at our new resort Indian Waters RV Resort around noon.  We took a few minutes before checking in to check out some of their grass sites which looked cool and inviting but upon closer inspection realized that our slides would overhang the concrete pad and get wet from the sprinklers so we stuck with our original plan of a gravel pull through site.

Our site at Indian Waters RV Resort

After we grabbed some lunch we gave Rich's sister Madeline a call and let her know we had arrived and were ready for a visit.  She and her friend Roger arrived about a half hour later and we had a wonderful afternoon of visiting.

Rich, Madeline & Roger

We were sitting inside because the angle we are parked we get the late afternoon sun and it was pretty warm outside and the air conditioning felt pretty nice.  Before they left we made arrangements to meet them tomorrow morning at their church in Desert Hot Springs.

We did a little BBQing for dinner and then had a relaxing evening sitting around reading.

Sunday

We got up and got ready to attend church.  We didn't quite realize when we chose this rv park that we were about 30 minutes away from Madeline, oh well.  We jumped on the freeway and headed to the Christ Lutheran Church in Desert Hot Springs.  In our travels we have yet to visit a Lutheran church so this will be our first.  They were having a special service today which included an Easter Cantata.  They did the cantata early because several of the choir were headed back to their summer homes.  The choir did a nice job on the cantata considering there were only about 11 members singing and one piano player.  After church they had a potluck which we stayed and ate way too much. 

After church we drove over to Madeline's house and visited with her and Roger for a couple hours.  Madeline has a very nice home on the edge of the park overlooking the desert and the mountains. 

Once we got home we took a little walk around the rv park, without the camera so no pictures today.  I some how have developed a rash around my neck which was starting to give me fits so we cut the walk short and headed back to the 5er.  I'm not sure what caused the rash, whether a reaction to some rosehip oil I started using, sunscreen, too much sun, or ?????  Anyway Rich suggested making a baking soda paste and applying it, I finally got some relief from the itchiness.   One nice thing was that Rich made dinner and did the dishes which was very thoughtful of him.  I'm a blessed woman!

I had a nice long chat on the phone with my mom and got caught up on all the family news.  And that was pretty much our day.

Monday

When we checked in we noticed that this park does the Walk Away the Lbs on the weekdays....sweet.  So we got up this morning and headed over to the clubhouse to do our exercises.  This is the first time we'll be doing exercises on carpet.  =)  It was a very good workout and we both noticed that it is definitely more humid here than Yuma or Lake Havasu because we really worked up a sweat. 

Today was a pretty laid back day at the 5er.  We did some household chores like laundry, balancing the checkbook and some research on places to stay over the next couple of weeks.  Nothing very exciting to write about....

It was a very hot afternoon again, in the low 90's but because I have this rash, I've decided to stay out of the swimming pool and sun for a couple of days to see if that helps.  I'm bummed to miss my pool/reading time....oh well I guess I can manage without for a couple of days.  =)

Poor Gracie is a little under the weather today also.  She has a sensitive tummy and we have to be really careful that she doesn't pick up any stray crumbs on the floor or when we are out walking because she will get sick.  Well yesterday afternoon she threw up a couple of times and today is laying pretty low, I wonder what she got into this time....sigh.  It makes us feel bad when she gets sick. 

We have some more adventures planned over the next couple of days and hopefully we'll remember the camera so you have some pictures to look at.  Until then......

Wednesday - Friday, March 19-21, 2014 (Yuma, AZ)

We've really been enjoying our stay here in Yuma.  We like the resort we are in and it's nice to be around a farming area again and green grass and flowers.  I especially love the flowers.

 

Wednesday morning Rich got up and headed back down to Algadones to pick up his new glasses and I'm happy to report the glasses have turned out well.  Rich was back around 10:00 a.m. so it was a quick trip with no waiting in line like yesterday.

I went to the exercise class and did a 4 mile walk, it was a very good and sweaty workout.  By the time I got back to the 5er and got cleaned up, Rich was back from Algadones, so what to do with the rest of the day?  We decided to go and check out some of the produce stands we saw when coming into Yuma. 

We visited two stands and both of them were closing up shop this weekend.  The farmers are switching from their winter crops of lettuce and vegetables to the summer crops of alfalfa and cotton.  We came home with a ton of veggies like tomatoes, avocados, romaine lettuce, dates, grapefruit, lemons, strawberries to name a few.  It was a lot of fun.

After lunch the afternoon was spent at the pool swimming and reading.  We BBQ'd for dinner and then had a relaxing evening watching American Idol. 

Thursday

Was a pretty kick back day.  We did our exercise class and did a little exploring of some of the other RV parks in town and definitely decided we made the right choice to stay here at The Palms. 

After our afternoon at the pool, I came back and made some fresh salsa and fresh guacomole with some of the produce we purchased yesterday.  It was sure yummy. 

The resort was having a Mardi Gras dance this evening so at the last minute we decided to check it out.  The Palms has a lot of concerts and dances that the community can also attend and this was no exception.  They had a live band that played very well and we really enjoyed.  We sat at a table with a bunch of Canadians from the resort, we were the only Americans at our table.  We have met quite a few Canadians this winter, I'm surprised at how many winter down here.  We enjoyed the dance and were glad that we decided to attend at the last minute.  In talking to one of the couples at the table, the dance was pretty lightly attended because a lot of people in the resort have already headed north. 

Friday

Today after our exercise class we were headed to visit the Yuma Territorial Prison.  It was a very interesting visit.  Things are sure a lot different now days as far as comfort compared to what the prisoners experienced back in the late 1800's.  The prison was only operated for 33 years before it was closed.  I will attach a bunch of pictures we took today and let them tell the story.

Guard Tower, water cistern is located underneath the flooring of the tower to help keep the water cooler.

View of Colorado River from the guard tower

some of the prison cells

Entrance to the museum

cells held six inmates, the white bucket was their toilet

more cells

read the sign to see why they went to iron bunk beds instead of wood.....yuck!



I think it would take a long time to saw through the iron on these doors, they were pretty sturdy.




This is where you went when you misbehaved in prison.  They stripped you down to your underwear and in you went with only one meal of bread and water, no bed or toilet. 



Standing just inside the doorway of the dark cell and it was very dark....

Inside of dark cell - and I have no idea what the metal in the center of the floor was for.....this is with a flash from the camera which is why you can even see anything.  The only light in the cell was from a tiny hole in the ceiling....trust me, you didn't want to misbehave in this prison.

Empty cell but you can see a prisoner etched their name in the stone on the back wall.

I believe this is a woman's cell and yes, they did house women at this prison

Trail to prison cemetary

Prison cemetary grave sites, the piles of stones were the graves, yikes they look pretty shallow but luckily we didn't see any bones or anything like that..... 

Ocotillo bush - notice the bright orange blossoms at the tips and the rest of the plant looks like dead sticks with lots of thorns

Look how big that cactus is

Blooming cactus

more cactus blossoms

After our visit to the prison, we decided we needed a date shake.  When we were at the produce stand on Wednesday we asked where we could get a good date shake and the answer was "Martha's Gardens".  If you've never had a date shake, you should try one, even if you don't care for dates, they are wonderful.

Date orchard

Home of the best date shake, they were very yummy

After we got home we cooled off in the pool for a bit and then came back to the 5er and got ready for some visitors.  We invited Doreen and Sandy to come by and help us eat up the fresh salsa and guacomole I made yesterday.  Again, we had a very pleasant visit and hope to keep in touch.  They are planning on coming back here to Yuma next year so we'll have to see if our paths cross again.  If anyone is planning on visiting the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, they have a "suite" for rent - you can see the info here VillaNara Vacation Suite.  They are a very nice couple and we enjoyed getting to know them a bit. 

Tomorrow we are heading down the road, so our next post will be from Indio, CA.