Time With Friends

While we're in Desert Hot Springs, we met up with some good friends from the Northwest, Bob & Maggie Lawlor. They were staying at Desert Pools also. They invited us over for a delicious dinner in their motorhome. They have it very nicely decorated, and were the perfect hosts. We're learned some tricks about organization and entertaining in a motorhome that we'll put to good use in the future.

We went to the Living Desert Museum in Palm Springs. Its a wildlife & botanical garden with examples of deserts around the world. At the entrance we met a docent with a snake to introduce us to. For some reason the women didn't want to hold it. We really enjoyed walking through the park viewing the many different types of cactus, and the animals that inhabit the deserts.

Some of the highlights included the eagles, wolves, big horn sheep, mountain lions, walk through bird aviaries, a high tech hospital with videos of different procedures, and an entire African section that included zebras, giraffes, and ugly peccary. It was a weekday so we had the park mostly to ourselves.

One of the highlights for John was a huge model garden railway with many different settings and lots of operating trains. We had to pry him away or he would still be there.

After the Living Desert we had a late lunch at the Elephant Bar where John had his favorite coconut shrimp. It was a great way to end a fun day.

On Saturday we visited the famous Palm Desert Street Fair that takes place every weekend at the College of the Desert. It features a lot of different vendors, from arts & crafts, weekend retailers, garage sales, to many different food offerings.

Of course, being in the heart of high end golf resorts, there were a lot of vendors with golf clubs, millions of balls, golf clothes and other gimmicks that golfers would like. Bob found a terrific deal on a new driver that the vendor guaranteed a lower score.

Linda & John got away with minimum damages, probably because they couldn't make a decision. Linda did say she wants to go back soon.

Sharing these experience with Bob & Maggie made to visits special. We look forward to sharing more fun times with them.

Desert Pools, Desert Hot Springs, CA

We arrived at Desert Pools on 12/5. We got a nice spot across from the pickle ball courts.
This is the low desert, near Palm Springs, and the weather was nice with the temperature in the high 70s. This is an older park, but well maintained. They have a nice pool, and three different hot tubs all full of the natural mineral water found in this area. Of course by Friday the weather turned cold with rain. On Sunday, the view from our front window was beautiful!

Yes, it snowed in the mountains rimming the Palm Springs area. By today the weather is starting to warm up with great weather through the weekend. We'll be here until the 19th, exploring the area.

We're also lucky that one of our friends from the Monaco Northwest group is here. Bob & Maggie Lawler are a great couple, and real fun the share time with. We're looking forward to getting to know each other better.

Our plans include improving our pickle ball techniques, enjoying the pools, some geocaching, and visiting the museums. We might even find time to do some Christmas shopping.

Visiting Turlock Again

We're back in Turlock visiting our friends, and John had an appointment with his cancer doctor. The news wasn't good. It seems that John's iron content is low due to a little bleeding somewhere in his gastro system. The doctor wants to do more tests, but we don't know when the tests will be scheduled. Currently, the closest date is in February.

We're staying in the pool house at our friends, Dave & Jean Drayer, and they make us feel really at home. Their house is right across the street from our old house, which looks the same as when we sold it-very nice. We really have mixed emotions about selling our house and starting on this adventure. We've had some great times visiting with old friends and seeing new sights. But we do miss some of the aspects of a "stick home", and we really miss our good friends in Turlock. Everything we do in life is a comprise, and as we make decisions we hope we make good ones. Only time will tell.

Other than the doctor's appointment we've had some great times with our friends. On Wed. night we went out to dinner with Bob & Kathy at Panera Bread, one of our favorite restaurants. It was great catching up, and we stayed until the restaurant closed. On Thursday was the doctor visit, then we went to see the Del Webb housing development in Manteca. Some of the floor plans were really good, and it gave us another option to think about when we decide to get off the road. Thursday night we went to dinner in Modesto with Dave & Jean at Dewz Restaurant. It's change since we moved, and now it's a high end dinner house with great food. We haven't eaten this good since John lost his expense account!

Friday was an unusual day because we spent time apart. One of the adjustments to retirement is the amount of time we spend together because we have only one car and move our house a lot. John had lunch with his good friends from Gallo, Kristine & George, while Linda spent an extended amount of time at the mall. John also managed to squeeze in an oil change in the Honda, a haircut, and a visit to the Wine shop. That night Linda went to a women's presentation at church while John watched football and one of his favorite movies, Polar Express.

Saturday was a quiet day. John was glued to Dave's 42" high def TV watching Virginia Tech, USC, & Oregon State win their games. Linda was bored, but catch up on the wash, did some puzzles, and read a lot of magazines. That night we went to Kevin & Linda's house for a nice dinner party which included Gary & Rosemarie, and Gary & Connie. Great food, good friends and fantastic conversations are a great way to end the day.