Good morning! After last night's rain and high winds in the Palm Desert area, we woke up to some much appreciated cooler temperatures (did I say I loved the hot weather?) Just like the rest of  the world, the desert is also experiencing some very warm temperatures for this time of year. Consequently, we haven't been quite as active as we'd like to be. Although, Walt has managed to play golf several times, and we did take a great motorcycle ride up to Big Bear last Saturday. Our first time there, and it was a perfect 80 degrees, with snow stilll covering the mountains. I'm working on getting those pictures on the blog.,
Up until now, we haven't done much writing here, because for the first couple of weeks, we were with the girls in Fallbrook. And last week, we spent time with our camping friends, the Italian Catholics. After they all left to go home, we moved to another resort to spend a few more days with our friends, Russ and Ally Canning. Some of you may know them....they're from Benicia. They spend half the year down here, and the other half in Novato, caring for Russ' father, Bill, who is turning 80 this year. Tonight, we're all heading down to the old Palm Springs area to have dinner together, and visit their Farmer's Market.
In the morning, we plan on leaving California and going over to Phoenix. My sister and her husband will join us for a few days, and we'll head north to Sedona, Flagstaff, and the Grand Canyon. Should be fun...it's been about 15 years since I was last there.
Hope everyone out there is doing well.  Keep in touch!

Carol

Tuesday 4/25/2012

4/25/2012  We visited the Aerial Tram at Palm Springs.  Really cool goes up 8,500 plus feet looking over the entire valley. Big storm coming in tomorrow so we are laying low.  Walt is playing golf Thursday and Fri we head to Arizona.

Good morning everyone, and TGIF! While Walt is whipping up a little breakfast, I thought I'd jump on the blog and fill you in on the latest...

We've spent some quality time with our girls for the last 10 days, and up until yesterday we were able to park the Shack right down the street from their house. Well, the homeowner's assc. finally got wind of us, and decided they didn't want us there, family or not! So today we're waking up in a little rv park  about 5 miles down the road, near the Lawrence Welk Village. It's a very mountainous area, with lots of trees and a good size creek just a few feet away.Not a bad gig for the next few days until we head over to Palm Desert. Kris has loaned us her Camry to go back and forth to the house. Walt has been doing some work around the house, doing a few projects that they haven't been able to get to since they moved in 3 months ago. I've been trying to help out where I can, doing laundry and some cooking. Earlier this week Bailey came home from preschool with a bug, so she's been there with us while she recovers. It's been kind of a treat to spend some one on one time with her, even though she's not quite been herself.

It does my heart good to be able to help our kids out. And Walt has been right there beside me, doing whatever he can to contribute. He got to play golf earlier in the week with one of the neighbors he met while we were parked down the street . And tomorrow he's going to play in a tournament with another neighbor. Walt just makes friends with everyone, wherever he goes....especially if they play golf!

Well, I'm off to see what this day has to offer! Hope everyone is fine!

Carol

Happy Easter everyone! I must say that without children around, this is normally just another day to us. But today we got to be with our kids and grandkids, and it was fun! This year Taylor and Bailey knew what was up, and they ran around squeeling with all the other kids trying to find the most eggs hidden around the park. They ate hot dogs and watermelon, and went down the slides and swings, played right through their naptime, and collapsed on the drive home, juice boxes in hand.

Walt and I took a long motorcycle ride yesterday. We started in Temecula, and rode east up into the mountains above Palm Desert. The weather was a perfect 80 degrees, and we just followed the highway to see where it would take us. We ended up in the little town of Julian, which used to be an old stagecoach stop back in the late 1800's, ands now better known for it's famous home-made apple pies. We stopped for a glass of wine and ended up ordering some great barbeque. While we were there, I ran into an old friend from high school. I hadn't seen him since we graduated...pretty cool!

Walt's been laying pretty low all week, watching the Master's Tournament in Augusta, GA. Next week he hopes to meet up with a friend from work and play a little golf at one of the courses nearby. You're probably all surprised that he's been retired for over a week now and hasn't played any golf yet. Well, the truth is, he hasn't figured out how to haul his clubs around on the Harley yet!....Give him time, give him time!

We haven't seen too many comments from you all on the blog yet, so please let us know if you're out there...we'd love to hear from you all.

Carol

Our first day out.....

We got to Kristen's house in Fallbrook about 9:30 last night. I was kind of bummed out, because the twins had already gone to bed, but it was such a beautiful drive down the 101, I have to say it was worth it. The weather was perfect for traveling, blue skies and warm sun. The San Gabriel Mountains were covered in green, and the Pacific was a deep gorgeous blue.

We stopped at Pea Soup Andersons for a bowl of their famous soup (not as good as mine, Walt said. I learned from my mom how to make it, and she had it down!) Then another 20 minutes at the gas station in Ventura...that's how long it takes to fill up our tank. 53 gallons and we were back on the road again. It's after 5:00 by now, and we hit L.A. traffic just about the worst time of day. And of course, people just love motorhomes..........NOT!!! All they want to do is get in front of us, and some really make big asses of themselves doing it. They don't realize that Mario Andretti is behind the wheel of this rig! I'm sure most of you have heard me say that Walt drives this thing like it's a sports car.

Buddy did really good on the ride down. He slept a lot of the time, mostly right up on the dashboard in one of his little cozy spots, drenched in sunshine. After it started to get dark, he climbed up on my lap and graced me with his company.

We arrived exhausted from the 10 hr. plus drive. Peeked in on the girls, had a short visit with Blanca and Kristen, and headed for bed. Our first day of travel was long, but just about perfect!