You would think we were busy ..

As I haven't been posting with any regularity.  I am not sure why that is, other than we have been in Desert Hot Springs since November, and not 'on the road'.  There are other RV bloggers who are so punctual and great at their daily postings, but alas, not I. Of course, we have been busy - touring around with Barrie and Louise, as Don's other sister has flown back to Edmonton. 

  Let's see, we went into Palm Springs last Saturday to experience a wicked wind storm with blasts of 90 mph winds. Elizabeth was still here, with some " ooooohs!" from the back seat as debris was flying. Cost of that experience? $159.00 for a back driver side window. Ouch!
  Kim went to a lunch with the Clubhouse Quilters for a birthday party ( lady in white jacket ) and one of them had a purse made of seatbelts! Cool!

A visit on Tuesday to The Living Desert with Barrie and Louise, to see the show in the Amphitheatre and have a tour of the hospital there, neither of which we have done.  We think we may look into how much a membership is there for next year, as we really enjoy it and would go more often, except for the cost of the daily entrance. Thoughts!
   Wednesday was quilting day for Kim, so the gang took off for a very long day to Quartzsite, and the big RV Show. They met up with friends Bob and Jake, toured the Big Tent and experienced some of the crowds. Louise managed to get her polaroid picture taken at the Saskatchewan Travel booth with a mountie in serge. She says she looks like a 'shrimp/chihuahua'( her words, folks!) next to the tall handsome man in red. Beauty!

Hey Bob, do you think I could climb that tree?

Thursday saw us out on a mid morning hike to Morongo Canyon Preserve, just taking it easy on the boardwalk marsh area route.  The weather was warm ( 80F ) so not as many birds as there would have been early in the day. A great place to go hiking/walking and will go again. I was amazed that all the boardwalk was made of Trex ( recycled plastic/wood ) decking materials. At home, prices are not even advertised except for " see in store, or at market prices". 

Where are the snakes? The sign said watch out for snakes!

That was thirsty work, so off to Pappy and Harriet's saloon near Pioneertown for a margarita to cool off. Then, dance Thursday night... laundry and chore day on Friday with a BBQ dinner, then today we are off to Pancake Breakfast at the hall, then the Southwest Arts Festival in Indio with Al and Linda at the Empire Polo Grounds.

Louise has a 'list'. Of course, the list is in her head, and then she lets us know what she may be thinking about.  The 'margarita' can be crossed off now. Even if it was in a jam jar. In a biker bar. In the middle of nowhere. Maybe that crosses off more things.

One on The Road, others on the road

More beautiful days in the Coachella Valley... I was off early to The Road to California - a car show? an RV show? no - a mammoth quilt show at the Ontario Convention Centre.  A couple of vehicles, 2 great drivers, a crazy group of Clubhouse Quilters and we were off! It was a wonderful day of looking at vendors and gawking at amazing quilts.  I didn't take my camera as the literature said no cameras, no wheeled carts, no strollers.....only to find out that cameras were allowed in certain areas. Dang. One of the winning quilts featured over 4500 Swavorski crystals sewn into it. The picture of that quilt is now only in my head, and that's not the greatest place to store it..... guess I won't be trying to use some of that design in my own quilts! ( yeah right, in my dreams )

Back at the ranch, Don and his family took off on another adventure, finding some agricultural fields past Indio growing artichokes, and visiting The Oasis Date Palm Farm, Store and Shop.  They felt they learned some interesting facts about the growing of date palms and the types. On the way back, they toured Paseo Drive, looking at the designer shops.  I asked Louise if she went into Armani there and perhaps tried on or purchased a dress there. No. Well, I tell you, when do I get to carry this Armani bag - the opportunities are there! ( see prior blog posting ).

Today, another adventure awaits as the sisters and SIL are off to see The Follies in Palm Springs. Fun.

Seventy Five Cents????

With the wind that kicked up in the Valley for a couple of days, we were looking for an activity indoors. Indoors? Seems a shame with the warm sun, compared to the -50C at home! Louise suggested we go to a matinee movie, and she found a terrific one at a bargain price of 75 cents per person! On Mondays at the multi-theatre complex on Date Palm, if you have three or more persons in your party, you can see a movie for under a dollar.  If you choose to go any other time, and are a senior, it is $1.25.  Hard to beat! We enjoyed " Tower Heist ".  Great movie.

Yesterday Donald and I went golfing with our friends from the north land.  I didn't bring my ladies, beautiful graphite clubs down south with me, so had to rent some clubs. No ladies clubs available, only men's. Ok. I can deal with that. Well, I should have checked the bag when I picked it up, as there were left and right handed clubs, junior clubs.. you name it. So, that's what I blame my poor game on - ha! Oh no, I think rather it was on the fact that I haven't played in a couple of years. We did have fun and the weather was perfect - sun, great temperature and no wind.

In the afternoon, we headed out to the Premium Outlet Mall in Cabazon with the family.  Louise tried on an Armani dress, but decided that the length was too short. I think for $29, I could have sewn something on the bottom for her. Ok, ok, all I wanted to do was to help her by carrying her Armani bag around the mall. Would she humour me? No.

Clubhouse Quilters Day for me, and who knows what the gang will get up to. Tomorrow I am off to Ontario, CA for a day of wonder.

The flight of the Caudron

On Friday, we didn't have any plans, but decided quickly that we could make an afternoon trip out to see a friend, Bob, staying at the Salton Sea.  He was at Salt Creek, an area of the State Park.  The rates were $8 a night for seafront accomodation, if you can take the noise of the trains, the military jets and the smell of the lake.  Actually, it was perfectly fine by our standards as we are used to boondocking.  Well, maybe not for the whole winter, that's for sure. While we were there, we were delighted? to have a military jet fly extremely close ( understatement ) over our heads. There were 2 jets, but due to our surprise and ducking our heads, most of us only saw one! Keeping in that spirit, we decided to enjoy some more flight related times the next day....

After a delightful Blueberry Pancake breakfast at the Oasis Hall, Saturday saw us at the Palm Springs Air Museum for one of their Saturday Commemorative Programs, and this was one included a flight exhibition.  During the depression period between the World Wars, the Golden Age of Air Racing was huge, both in Europe and the US, akin to today's Nascar, only bigger! People were living vicariously through racing characters like Roscoe Turner - there was even a gentlemen posing as Mr. Turner at the museum.

Roscoe Turner apparently raced with a real lion cub in the cockpit!

In 1934 Europe, Marcel Riffard designed a very fast air racer to compete, winning most European races, and won the US National Air Race ( all classes! ) in 1936. The plans for this plane were destroyed so that enemy hands could not build on its' technology in WW2.  Some inventive Americans from southern California, led by Mark Lightsey who presented the program at the museum, built the plane from photographs and early films.  Mr. Lightsey also flew the plane in a demonstration, after his program.  It was all very entertaining, and we learned so much about that era! Was it fast? You bet!!! He made 3 passes before the museum field, and it seemed as fast as the T-33 jet that we saw demonstrated last spring. Mr. Lightsey has clocked his C-460 at 270 mph, and the original was clocked close to 400 mph.  That is one fast wooden plane!

Not a very big cockpit to squeeze into!

Today we are off back to the College of the Desert Street Fair to meet Bob, enjoy some time together and maybe pick up a thing or 2.

Dancin' the Night away

Thursday was a chore day for me, you know, laundry, grocery shopping, RV cleaning ah, it's all so boring.  What wasn't boring was at the end of the day, we all took in the bi-weekly Dance at the Oasis Hall.  On Wednesday Happy hour, the 'quilter' group booked a couple of tables for our clan and the husbands.  The big treat was that the music man, Matt, was joined by a sax player that he plays with at the Roadhouse.  It was fabulous! 

Louise and Barrie ( sister and BIL ) won a CD of Matt's in the 50/50 draw, and I managed to talk the three other quilter ladies up onto the dance floor for a line dance to hip hop music.

Lest you think this was a late night, nope.... dances are from  7pm to 9 pm.