Cherry Valley Lakes RV Park, Beaumont CA 3/6-13/2014; Palm Springs RV Park, Palm Desert CA 3/13-27/2014

Cherry Valley Lakes RV Park, Beaumont CA  3/6-13/2014

We went to a park we haven't been to before, called Cherry Valley Lakes.  When we leave Palm Springs RV Park we have to be out four weeks before we can go back--a crazy rule.  So, after going to Wilderness Lakes for three weeks we needed another week out.  We both remember taking pictures at Cherry Valley Lakes, but I cannot seem to find them!  It was quite a small park, but nice to have it to stay in the seven days we needed out to be able to go back to Palm Springs.

 

Palm Springs RV Park, Palm Desert CA  3/13-27/2014

We seem to spend a lot of time at Palm Springs, but it is right in the middle of a lot of things to do and there are lots of things going on in the park.  There are water aerobics, line dance classes, craft and beading classes, craft sales, evening movies with free popcorn, jam sessions, musical entertainment, pickleball, card bingo, water volleyball, and several other things--along with all of the activities going on in the area.

 



While we were at Palm Springs, our friends, Russ and Louise, were camped at Desert Hot Springs.  They are not Thousand Trail members, but are members of Western Horizon, so we don't stay in many of the same parks.  But, it is nice when they are close by so we can do things together.

Russ & Louise are big birders and hikers.  It is always an adventure to go with them.  We went to a BLM preserve for migrating birds and other animals, called White Water Preserve.

 

 Along the trail was this really pretty palm tree.  I use a picture of it as my screen saver on my tablet!

 

 We came upon a sign post on the trail . . .

. . . pointing to the Pacific Crest Trail.  This hiking and equestrian trail is 2,663 miles long and starts on the US-Canada border and ends on the US-Mexico boarder and goes across Washington, Oregon, and California. It ranges in elevation from just above sea level at the Oregon-Washington boarder to 13,153 feet in the Sierra Nevada mountains.  The route passes through 25 national forests and 7 national parks. That would be quite a hike!

 



Here is a rock that has the mileage distances from this point to certain places along the trail,  like Mexico and Canada.

 I think Russ and Louise have found something to look at!

 Yup!  Russ thought we might see some bighorn sheep.  The zoom on my camera brought these up pretty close.

 There were several herds of bighorn sheep on the mountainsides.  They were amazing to see!  A great day at White Water Preserve.  Thanks to Russ and Louise who share these places with us.

 

Another beautiful Arizona sunset!

Palm Springs RV Park, Palm Desert CA 1/1-2/13/2014; Wilderness Lakes RV Park, Menifee CA 2/13-3/6/2014

 Palm Springs RV Park, Desert Palms CA 1/30-2/13/2014

We left Emerald Cove and headed to Palm Springs, with Larry & Elaine coming with us. The park was really full, but we ended up with two sites across the street from each other.  They were near the top of the park where the freeway noise and train noise is pretty bad, but we seem to get used to it after a few days.  We had a good time--Elaine and I went to several craft and beading classes and learned some new ideas.  We even learned to arm knit! 

 

Elaine & Larry met up with some friends and we went to dinner with them.  We also all went to Thousand Palms State Park.  We had been there before, but it was fun going again.  It is a big palm tree oasis out in the middle of the desert.  It even has a lake in the lower part of it.

 

Terry's niece and nephew, Debbie (and Debbie's friend Gary) and Gary were in town at their brother, John's, home.  We went and saw them and had dinner with them.  They were on their way home from Gary having chemo treatments.  He was doing pretty good.

 

Wilderness Lakes RV Park, Menifee CA 2/13-3/6/2014

Our next park was Wilderness Lakes.  We have been there many times and really like the park.  We had heard about the flooding that takes place when it rains a lot.  It is surrounded by farm land and a dairy and all of the drain water runs into the canal system in the park.  Then when it rains a lot, the canals flood.  

 Our site didn't get flooded too badly.  But, there was a pond on one side that the geese really liked!

 

This RV across the street was not so lucky.  Their car and their coach were both in the middle of their "pond."  We have kind of been looking to upgrade our RV for the last little while so when Elaine put this picture on face book, the kids thought we had upgraded and were going to surprise them!  We pull a little red car behind our Journey, so it could have been!

 

These poor people had to use waders to get out of their RV! 

 

Some of the roads in the park were pretty much impassable. It took several days for the water to recede back into the canals.  Now we have experienced the flooding at Wilderness Lakes!

 

The park is not too far from San Diego, so we went to the temple one day.  It is my favorite temple!  It looks like a castle and is so beautiful inside.  This is the actual picture that I took with my camera!

 



After we were finished at the temple, we went to Old Town San Diego.  They have a historical site for the Mormon Battalion, the volunteer unit of LDS men who served during the Mexican-American War of 1846.  During their service, they made a grueling march of nearly 2,000 miles from Council Bluffs, Iowa, to San Diego.  Even though they never fought a battle, they were instrumental in opening up several routes to California.  When the presentation started, we were all sitting on benches in this room with about a dozen pictures on the opposite wall.  As the narrator was talking, all of a sudden one of the people in a picture came to life and started talking.  After that, the people in the pictures all told their stories, via really cool technology, as we traveled along with them.  It is an amazing center and we really enjoyed seeing it.  I am posing in a replica of one of the wagons they used.

 

At the end of the tour we got to play at washing clothes in a tub . . .

 



 . . . and panning for gold.

 

 We were made "honorary members" of the Mormon Battalion and had our picture printed on this postcard.  What a great day!