We left Soledad Canyon, headed to Palm Springs. We were looking forward to settling in for three weeks at the same place. We have stayed at nine different campgrounds in the last nine weeks. It has been fun, but it will be nice to not have to move again for three weeks.
Just before we got to Palm Springs there were all of these windmills. At first, we saw just a few and they were pretty fascinating. Then, there were hundreds of them. Some were right along side the road so we got a really close-up view of them. They are huge!
Palm Springs, especially the campground, is very aptly named. There are over 800 palm trees in the park. Most of the sites have at least two palm trees, and sometimes you have to really manipulate your RV to make room for the door, the slides, and everything else.
We drove into a couple of different sites before we found one that would work with the Condo. We are the one in the middle with the red truck in front of it. As it was, our door opened into a palm tree, but it was far enough away that it didn't interfere with us getting in and out. These palm trees all produce dates (we didn't know that dates came from palm trees), but there are different varieties and they ripen at different times. The most popular variety is the Medjool dates. The park has 29 trees that grow these. When they are ripe, they pick all of the dates on all of the trees. They grind up all of the dates and use them as compost, except the Medjools. These they sell in the Park Store and use them to make date shakes. Because they do this, the park is classified as a working date farm and they get huge discounts on water, electricity, and taxes. We bought some dates and they are better than candy!
It was finally warm enough to use the pool. They have a really nice one at Palm Springs. I even went to water aerobics class!
There are also orange, tangerine, lemon, and grapefruit trees in the park. They say that we can pick what we will eat that day, and no more. They are just beginning to get ripe enough to pick. I picked and ate some of each, except the lemon.
My favorite was the grapefruit. Because Terry doesn't like grapefruit, I usually ate his each day, also. I thought the fruit would disappear pretty fast, but a lot of "old" people are on medications that don't allow them to eat citrus fruit, especially grapefruit. Of course, that doesn't include us!
We went on about a 10-mile bike ride every day. Our route took us along a proposed housing development that is being started around a golf course, so there was a really nice bike trail we rode on part of the way.
Along the trail there were these three sets of supports, but only one poster. It was a poster of Bob Hope. You can see how big it is by the size of the buildings behind it. I was glad I took a picture of it one of the first days we rode by it, because later it disappeared. We don't know if the owners took it down or if someone stole it.
The reason Bob Hope's picture was posted is because the golf course is where they hold the "Bob Hope Classic" golf tournament each year, in January. Of course, all of the famous golfers have participated in it. There are over 80 golf courses in the Palm Springs area. It is about five miles to the Church that we went to and on the road we took to get there, there were pretty much solid golf courses--some with resort-type accommodations and some with homes all around them. All of the streets are lined with palm trees, along the sides and down the middle.
I looked outside one day and there was Terry, sitting in MY chair. Then when I looked around the corner of the door, I saw MY chair. He was sitting in HIS chair! He gave me such a bad time when I opened mine before Christmas, after he talked me into it. And now he couldn't resist having his to sit in under the palm trees! So, kids, I guess that means that you can all open your gift from us--just kidding! You better not be bad like us! But, we are sure enjoying our chairs.
This is the first park that we have stayed in that encourages washing of the RV's and vehicles and getting as much water on the grass as we can, probably because of the dates allowing them to have a cheap water bill. It is such a busy park that they never get much of a chance to turn on the sprinklers. They even loan us sprinklers to put on our hoses so we can water the grass ourselves. At most of the parks, if they even allow it, it cost a fee, $5-$10, to wash your vehicle or RV. So, we took advantage of it and Terry even got on top and washed our roof!
There was a little roadrunner that hung around the park. (There may have been more than one, but I only saw one at a time, so it always seemed to be the same one.) He was around our trailer and then I saw him at the pool and over at the lodge.
This is a unique palm tree that we always passed on our bike ride. I don't know if you can see something a little peculiar about it.
On a closer look--it is a cell tower! They really disguise them well. Terry didn't quite believe me when I told him what it was. I had to zoom in with the camera and take a picture for him to agree!
This is another neighborhood on our ride. These palm trees are around the fire station. Once the other palm trees grow a little taller, it will be kind of hard to pick out the one that is the cell tower. Too bad cherry trees don't grow taller and we could disguise some of the cell towers in Emmett. There were some people in Emmett who were sure upset when a cell tower ended up in their "back yard."
One Saturday we went to a car show and auction in the parking lot of a casino in Palm Springs. I had a little 1963 Corvair car before Terry and I were married. My dad painted it black and put a red pin stripe along the side of it because it had a red interior. I really liked that car, but Terry didn't. I am not sure why he didn't like it, but we only had it for a few years after we were married. I told him that if we would have kept it, it would be a classic now! 
Just before we got to Palm Springs there were all of these windmills. At first, we saw just a few and they were pretty fascinating. Then, there were hundreds of them. Some were right along side the road so we got a really close-up view of them. They are huge!
Palm Springs, especially the campground, is very aptly named. There are over 800 palm trees in the park. Most of the sites have at least two palm trees, and sometimes you have to really manipulate your RV to make room for the door, the slides, and everything else.
We drove into a couple of different sites before we found one that would work with the Condo. We are the one in the middle with the red truck in front of it. As it was, our door opened into a palm tree, but it was far enough away that it didn't interfere with us getting in and out. These palm trees all produce dates (we didn't know that dates came from palm trees), but there are different varieties and they ripen at different times. The most popular variety is the Medjool dates. The park has 29 trees that grow these. When they are ripe, they pick all of the dates on all of the trees. They grind up all of the dates and use them as compost, except the Medjools. These they sell in the Park Store and use them to make date shakes. Because they do this, the park is classified as a working date farm and they get huge discounts on water, electricity, and taxes. We bought some dates and they are better than candy!
It was finally warm enough to use the pool. They have a really nice one at Palm Springs. I even went to water aerobics class!
There are also orange, tangerine, lemon, and grapefruit trees in the park. They say that we can pick what we will eat that day, and no more. They are just beginning to get ripe enough to pick. I picked and ate some of each, except the lemon.
My favorite was the grapefruit. Because Terry doesn't like grapefruit, I usually ate his each day, also. I thought the fruit would disappear pretty fast, but a lot of "old" people are on medications that don't allow them to eat citrus fruit, especially grapefruit. Of course, that doesn't include us!We went on about a 10-mile bike ride every day. Our route took us along a proposed housing development that is being started around a golf course, so there was a really nice bike trail we rode on part of the way.
Along the trail there were these three sets of supports, but only one poster. It was a poster of Bob Hope. You can see how big it is by the size of the buildings behind it. I was glad I took a picture of it one of the first days we rode by it, because later it disappeared. We don't know if the owners took it down or if someone stole it.
The reason Bob Hope's picture was posted is because the golf course is where they hold the "Bob Hope Classic" golf tournament each year, in January. Of course, all of the famous golfers have participated in it. There are over 80 golf courses in the Palm Springs area. It is about five miles to the Church that we went to and on the road we took to get there, there were pretty much solid golf courses--some with resort-type accommodations and some with homes all around them. All of the streets are lined with palm trees, along the sides and down the middle.
I looked outside one day and there was Terry, sitting in MY chair. Then when I looked around the corner of the door, I saw MY chair. He was sitting in HIS chair! He gave me such a bad time when I opened mine before Christmas, after he talked me into it. And now he couldn't resist having his to sit in under the palm trees! So, kids, I guess that means that you can all open your gift from us--just kidding! You better not be bad like us! But, we are sure enjoying our chairs.
This is the first park that we have stayed in that encourages washing of the RV's and vehicles and getting as much water on the grass as we can, probably because of the dates allowing them to have a cheap water bill. It is such a busy park that they never get much of a chance to turn on the sprinklers. They even loan us sprinklers to put on our hoses so we can water the grass ourselves. At most of the parks, if they even allow it, it cost a fee, $5-$10, to wash your vehicle or RV. So, we took advantage of it and Terry even got on top and washed our roof!
There was a little roadrunner that hung around the park. (There may have been more than one, but I only saw one at a time, so it always seemed to be the same one.) He was around our trailer and then I saw him at the pool and over at the lodge.
This is a unique palm tree that we always passed on our bike ride. I don't know if you can see something a little peculiar about it.
On a closer look--it is a cell tower! They really disguise them well. Terry didn't quite believe me when I told him what it was. I had to zoom in with the camera and take a picture for him to agree!
This is another neighborhood on our ride. These palm trees are around the fire station. Once the other palm trees grow a little taller, it will be kind of hard to pick out the one that is the cell tower. Too bad cherry trees don't grow taller and we could disguise some of the cell towers in Emmett. There were some people in Emmett who were sure upset when a cell tower ended up in their "back yard."
One Saturday we went to a car show and auction in the parking lot of a casino in Palm Springs. I had a little 1963 Corvair car before Terry and I were married. My dad painted it black and put a red pin stripe along the side of it because it had a red interior. I really liked that car, but Terry didn't. I am not sure why he didn't like it, but we only had it for a few years after we were married. I told him that if we would have kept it, it would be a classic now! 
One Tuesday we went to Del Taco's for dinner (it is 3 tacos for $1 on Tuesdays, and seniors get a free drink--okay, so we are old). We ran into two different couples we had met in other parks. We had met Sue and Jim at Verde Valley last March and they taught us a new game back then. We ended up doing some things with them and we will probably catch up with them again. Sue does some great books on her genealogy and Jim is toooo much like Terry.
We did some other fun things while we were at Palm Springs. We went to the Village Fest one evening where they close several blocks of downtown Palm Springs and have booths of crafts, jewelry, paintings, food, and a farmer's market, along with live entertainment. While we were there, a large group of gay rights people marched through protesting California's proposition 8 that was passed recently. It changes California's constitution to state that a marriage is only between a man and a woman. They were pretty intense in their marching.
We also went to the Shields Date Garden where they raise and sell several kinds of dates. They showed a movie called the "Romance and Sex Life of a Date!" It was really interesting. They let you have as many samples of their dates as you like. (I couldn't eat lunch afterwards!)
One Monday for lunch we went with Sue and Jim to one of the casinos. Terry signed up for their club card (I hadn't brought my picture ID so I couldn't sign up). With the card, he got $7 to play with and $5 off of lunch. Sue had told us about their shrimp tacos. They were to die for! After we ate, it only took Terry about 15 minutes to loose his $7 in the penny slot machine! All of this was because Monday is "senior day" at the casino. The place was packed with "old" people!
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