Desert Pools, Desert Hot Springs CA 2/14/2012- 2/21/2012

We could only stay at Palm Springs Park for two weeks and we had already been there for a week when Larry and Elaine got there, so we had to go to another park while they stayed at Palm Springs for their second week.

 We ended up going to Desert Pools in Desert Hot Springs, about 15 miles from the Palm Springs Park.  It is a Western Horizon Park and we were able to get into it under our ROD program.  We had visited our friends, Russ and Louise, when they camped there, but we had never stayed before.

 It is really famous for its natural hot springs pool.

It has three natural hot springs hot tubs.  Each one is a little higher temperature.  When we got in, we thought the coolest one was just right for us.  The other two were too hot!  Some people are convinced that they act as a "fountain of youth."  So, maybe we got a week younger while we were there!

 It is a nice park, with nice facilities.

 

 The miniature golf course looked fun, but we never took the time to play it.  We were parked in the very back of the park and most of the facilities were at the other end.

 As you leave the Park, there is a check-off list that all RVers need to follow before they leave a park--antenna down?, steps up?, vents closed?, hoses ok?, sewer cap on?, spouse, kids,  pets aboard?  We usually don't have to worry about the kids or pets, but the spouse is the most important thing to remember!  It is amazing how ofter people forget some of the other things.

 One day we went back to Palm Springs to go on an outing with Larry and Elaine.  To get there went on the "roller coaster" road.  For about five miles you practically loose your stomach at every dip!

 We went with Larry and Elaine to the Coachella Valley Preserve.  It is kind of an oasis out in the middle of the desert.  These oasises happen when there is water that comes up from springs in the ground and then palm trees grow naturally.

They just grow naturally and are not trimmed back like most of the palm trees in the area.  They are really big and shaggy.

 Some of the trees had been cut down to make trails for the public to follow.  It was the first time we had seen the inside of a palm tree.  The wood is very porous and soft until it drys, when it becomes very hard and is heavy

.This house was built years ago out of some of the palm trees.  They now use it as a museum/info center.

 Terry and Elaine are standing by this young fan palm tree.  It is really pretty, but the leaves have quite sharp spines on them.

Along the trail to the little lake formed by the underground springs, we find some rock piles.  We have seen these along a lot of the trails we have walked in the desert.  It must be a hobby of some of the hikers.  Elaine decided to add some rocks of her own!

The little lake was really pretty--a true oasis in the dry desert.  You could see little bubbles in the bottom where the water was coming up.

 Terry, Me, Larry, and Elaine took a little sit-down time before we headed back.  A nice couple from South Africa took our picture after I took pictures for them.  It was fun listening to them with their accents.  I asked them if we had an accent to them and they said "yes."

Palm Springs, Palm Desert CA 1/31/12 - 2/14/12

After being in the desert boondocking for a few days, it was nice to get back into a park with all of the conveniences--water, sewer, electricity, swimming pool, laundry room, etc.

.                                    

Palm Springs Park, in Desert Palms, CA, is one of our favorite parks. Even though some of the sites are tight, it always has a lot of activities going on and everyone always seems so friendly

I think that one of most fascinating things about the Palm Desert Park are the palm trees.  It is actually a working palm date farm.  The trees are harvested every year (they ask all RVers to leave the park during that time) and then they sell the dates at the Park.  We get to use all of the water we want to wash rigs and water the lawns because it is classified as agriculture.

Terry is showing off his pretty red Hippo parked among the palm trees in front of the Club House.

We had made plans with our friends, Elaine and Larry, from Boring, OR, to meet up with us at Palm Springs.  After staying with us for two weeks last year, they bought a yearly zone pass into Thousand Trails are are trying out this lifestyle for the first time in their little Minnie Winnie motorhome.  We plan to travel together for the next three months and help "show them the ropes!"

We always enjoy the little "resident" roadrunners at Palm Springs.  This one is quite friendly and wants to join us for lunch!

 We did a craft sale with Scentsy and Elaine joined in with some of her unique knitted scarfs that she makes.  It is a fun way to get to know some of the people and, of course, it is always nice to sell a little.

We went with Larry and Elaine on a little excursion trip one day.  First we went to the Salton Sea.  It is a body of water that collects all of the run-off from the mountains and from the irrigation around it and then just sits there and evaporates.  It has quite a bit of salt in it, but flows no where.  There is some recreation and fishing done on it.

Larry, Terry, and I stand on the beach with sand composed of barnacles all broken up.

There are always a lot of dead fish along the banks.  They die from suffocation because there is not enough oxygen in the water.  This is caused partly from plants in the water and also from no water flow going on.

Our next stop were the mud pots.  We had to travel out a ways and on quite a bit of dirt road.  Once we got there, there wasn't much to see, with Terry, me, and Larry standing on the walkway.

There were a few large mud holes, but no mud was being spit out that day.

Our next spot was a place called Salvation Mountain.  It was built by a man who came from back East.  He believes that he has a calling to let everyone know about Jesus Christ.  He has covered this hill with cement and adobe clay and then paints messages, scenery, and quotes scriptures on it. 

He started this quest in his 30's and is now in his 80's.  He wasn't home the day we visited.  It would have been fun to meet and talk with him.  He has several vehicles/homes parked around, and they are also painted and written on.

We weren't sure which one he actually lives in.

On one side of the hill, he has built a type of museum.

There were trees on that side and he has used them as a foundation and has put bails of hay up in the limbs and covered everything with adobe clay and then paint.  In some places there are quite a few layers of paint, even on the floor, making quite a thick coating.

From the inside, you can see where he continues to add bails of hay on the top, covers them with adobe clay, with the tree limbs supporting them, and then adds them to the decor.  This was an amazing place to see.

The last leg of our excursion took us to a date farm where we filled up on date samples.  Terry was the navigator.  He always tells me he cannot multi-task, but he does a pretty good job watching the map (bottom reading glasses), and also watching the road with his sunglasses keeping the glare out (top pair of glasses!)  It is really nice to have Larry and Elaine's little car to run around in.  They are so good to let us tag along.

Countryside RV Resort, Apache Junction AZ & Boondocking at Quartzside AZ 1/10/12 - 1/31/12

  When we got back to Apache Junction, Travis met us at the airport and took us to where we had parked the Condo and truck.  After leaving a Scentsy warmer as a "thank you" we went to Travis's house and picked up our little freezer and headed to Countryside RV Park.

We had never stayed at Countryside, but we had ridden through it a couple of times on our bikes.  It was an okay park, except that most of the activities were handled by "the association."  Someone told us you couldn't join "the association" until you had been there for two months.  That pretty much leaves the Thousand Trail "transients" out of the activities.  Some of the people were really nice, but some of them didn't even know what Thousand Trails was, and they didn't seem to care for the "transient peddlers (I put my Scentsy out for an open house one day)" who come to their park!

There is a really nice pool and big hot tub (the dark green pool) and we visited it quite often in the evening while a lot of the members were busy with their activities in the Lodge.  We met another couple there one night and went to Church with them the next Sunday.

A lot of people in Countryside use golf carts.  In fact, there were very few park model homes that didn't have one parked in their driveway.  There was a "snakebite golf course" across the street amongst all of the sagebrush, but you had to be a member of  "the association" to use it.

Several nights there were beautiful sunsets.

When we did the Scentsy open house, Travis came by in between his rounds at hospitals and visited for awhile.  One of the hospitals he has call at is fairly close to the Park.

The day before we left, Travis brought all of the boys, Nate, Spencer holding Josh, and Nic, by to say goodbye.  It was fun being close enough to them to get to go to some of their activities and spend time with them.  We hope to see them in a couple of months when we are in Yuma and they are going home from a Spring break in San Diego.

We actually left Countryside RV Park a couple of days early and met up with some friends from
Emmett who were boon docking in Quartzside, AZ.  We had always wanted to see what it was like to join the thousands of RVs parked in the desert around Quartzside in January and February.  Our friends, Larry ad Connie, were there with her two sisters from Emmett and Payette ID.  We stayed four nights with them.

 Mary and Charlie are from Emmett and they showed us through their 1976 (?) "bus."  It was so cool and they are so proud of it!  They had to leave the morning after we got there, so we didn't get to visit with them too much.

Larry and Connie ended up getting a really good deal so they bought a Razor 4-wheeler ATV.  They had no way to pull it home so Mary and Charlie made room for it on their ATV trailer.  They all do a lot of ATV riding in the desert.

Loretta and Les are from Payette.  They are retired and spend several months in the "sun country" during the winter.  They mostly boon dock and go where they can ride their ATVs.  It was really fun seeing them.

We let Russ and Louise (more friends from Emmett we travel with off and on) know we were joining Larry an Connie in Quartzside so they decided to add to the party.  Then, while we were there, another couple from Emmett came to visit a couple of times, Mark and Christa.  It really felt like "old home week."

Louise showed Connie some of her water color paintings she has been doing.  She has been taking some classes at the parks they have stayed in and she is doing really well.  When she gets famous I will have to make sure I have an autographed painting!

 Russ and Larry are enjoying some of the sunshine.  It was pretty warm if you could keep out of the wind.

 One night we were there the sky was on fire.  I don't think I have ever seen so much of the sky be bright red!

 Terry's brother-in-law, Ron and Sharon, were down the road in Parker, so they came one day and joined our circle around the campfire.  We usually try to get together with them at least once along the road each season.  I really like Sharon and just try to put up with Ron (just kidding Ron--I have to give you a bad time!)

Connie, Louise, and I have been good friends for over 35 years.  Our kids all grew up together and were good friends.  It is always fun to be with them. 

Wyoming--Mt Rushmore, Kamber's B-day & Baptism 1/1/12 - 1/10/12

The wind blows in Burns, WY!!  We slept in Boe's back bedroom and one night we had 60-70 mph winds.  We thought the house was going to blow away!

The next morning Dan was up on the roof attaching new shingles.  Come to find out, their homeowners insurance guaranteed the shingles only up to 40 mph winds, so Dan became a roofer!  He must have done a good job because, even though the wind blew most of the time we were there, I don't think he lost any more shingles.

The wind kept picking up their trampoline so Jill, Terry, and Dan went and took it apart.  I thought it was going to blow them away before they got the job done.  The movie pictures I took of it are really something!

Kamber had her 8th birthday on January 5 so we got to help get ready for it.  She wanted a karaoke birthday party (she got a karaoke machine for Christmas) so we found some shiny fabric and put together some hip-hop dresses.

Jill decided to put one on and practice with Kamber.  Again, the movie pictures are much more entertaining than these snapshots!  They are both pretty good singers!

Dan's mom and dad, Dave and Aris, came for Kamber's baptism.  They invited us to go with them up to Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota since we had a couple of days before the baptism.  We jumped at the chance since we had never been there before.  We had a fun trip and got to know them better.

Our first stop was at Crazy Horse.  It is on an Indian reservation.

The Indians are carving Crazy Horse, sitting on a horse, out of the mountain.  They only do as much as they have money for, and then have to wait until they raise more money.  It is taking them quite a while to finish it, but it will really be something when it gets done.

As we round the corner, coming to Mr. Rushmore, there is a profile of George Washington.  The first few hours of dark in the evenings it is lit up.  They say it is quite a site!

As you go up toward the mountain, there is a column of state flags--one for each state and the date that state joined the union.  It is pretty impressive.

We found the Idaho state flag.

All of the trails that take you up the mountain close to the carvings were closed so we weren't able to go up them.

It was amazing to be there at Mt. Rushmore, after having just seen pictures of it all our lives.  Here are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.  Each of the eyes of the Mount Rushmore presidents are 11 feet wide.  Each of the noses are about 20 feet high.  Each mouth is about 18 feet wide.  The total carvings of their heads are about 60 feet tall and it took 14 years to carve them.

About 90% of the rock was removed with dynamite blasts.  In the museum you could push the plunger and simulate a blasting of different parts of the mountain.  Terry felt like he was part of the creation as he blasted away!

We stayed one night with Dan's sister's family.  Here are Aris and Dave with Candy, Dash, Sport, and        .  We thank them for their great hospitality! 

 

Kamber had her birthday party.  We made "microphone" cupcakes for the occasion.

The girls sang karaoke, wearing all of the hip-hop costumes!  They got bling rings and stylin' sunglasses!

The reason we stayed so long at Jill's (2 1/2 weeks) was to be there for Kamber's baptism.  I got to make her dress after she picked out the fabric.  She looked really cute and Dan did a great job baptising and confirming her.  We are really proud of her and were so glad to be part of her special day.

We were ready to get back to our little Condo and I am sure Jill and her family (especially Boe because he gave up his bedroom to us for all of that time) were ready to get back to their normal life.  We had a great time and, with a little help from drugs, Terry and I flew back to Arizona!