Palm Springs, CA 4/10-4/19 2009

After 2 years of not seeing our friends, Will and Ella Tatham, we were finally reunited in Palm Springs. They have been touring the West for the last two years. We were able to go to church together and to spend Easter together. The picture below is the church we attended for the last 2 weeks. It is called Southwest Community Church and I would highly recommend it to those looking for a church in that area. At the Good Friday service Will and Ella introduced us to new friends they had made, Arlo and Vern Mallory. We really enjoyed them and look forward to seeing them sometime in the future. The above picture is Will and Ella taken on a day trip to Idllywild.

This is Southwest church and the picture below I took of a little girl on Easter morning. I told her I didn't have any granddaughters here to take a picture of so could I take a picture of her and she was thrilled to do it. You could tell she felt like a princess in her new Easter outfit.

Below are Vern and Arlo, smooching as usual! We were also able to celebrate Vern's 68th with him.

We toured the desert oasis. It was fascinating. In the middle of dry desert there appears out of nowhere a grove of Palm trees and ponds of water. We were told that the water bubbles up along the fault line. We girls are showing out girl power by holding up this Palm. From left to right: Ella, Diane, Arlow, Judy, and Jann.

This is the path we took going out to the Palm grove. It really was very interesting.

Below is the lovely pond nestled among the Palm grove. It was a very bright green color. What a beautiful spot to just sit and meditate.

This is the group that went that morning on the Oasis walk. From left to right top: Wayne and Diane(friends of Vern and Arlo's), Will and Ella, Bart (his wife Jann is taking the picture) and on the bottom is Lee and Judy, Vern and Arlo. After our tour of the Oasis we all had a lovely breakfast together.

The picture below was taken during our day trip to Idllywild with Will and Ella. While there we toured the Thousand Trails campground and decided we did not think it was wise to bring our big rigs up the windy, narrow mountain road. There was, of course, still snow up there and it was in the comfortable high 60's unlike the 90's in the valley. We also toured some of the stores in the town and had a very yummy lunch.

As you can imagine the scenery was beautiful and the flowers are just beginning to blossom.

What a wind tunnel exits here. The windmills here supply 10% of the electricity for all of California. I was fascinated watching them. There were places where as far as you could see it was rows and rows of windmills.

You can tell this was a windy day! Look at the visibility.

We spent a lot of time here just visiting with friends. Pot lucks, good conversation and great church services. There is a spectacular view of the mountains no matter which way you turn. One day the girls (Ella, Brenda, Arlow, Jann and myself went thrift shop shopping. Palm Springs gift stores are like an upgraded department store. I got 3 lovely new church outfits. While in Palm Springs we drove around some of the more famous homes and then we had a lovely lunch together.

On Thursday night we went to the Palm Springs street fair. Lots of good food, all kinds of shopping and music. Had a lovely dinner with Arlo and Vern.

While at the thousand trails park we met up with Judy and Brian Arnold. You all remember them from pickle ball in Florida. It was good to see them again. We did not play pickle ball there because Lee's elbow has not recovered from the last time he re injured it which was in Verde Valley.

We've had a great but very busy 10 days here. I think in Soledad Canyon we plan to relax a little around the pool.

Pilot knob, Winterhaven,CA/Mexico 4/4-4/9

Isn't this a lovely camping spot. Nice shade trees, a slate patio, and an incredible view of the mountains.

This is the dentist office Lee went to. He had two very nice crowns done for a total of $340. compared to state-side cost of $840./ per crown.

Sunday we crossed the border to Los Algodones, Mexico to locate the office of the dentist that Lee would be seeing on Monday. On Monday we went to the dentist and he prepared Lee's teeth for the permanent crowns. Lee said he was very efficient and very pleased with the work he did. While we were there we did a little shopping and had a lovely Mexican lunch at this nice courtyard. I ordered a pair of glasses, bought 2 lovely leather purses, and a lace tablecloth. This entire border crossing is predominantly dentists, opticians and pharmacies. We have spoken with many people from Arizona, California and as far away as Oregon and Canada who come here for their dental work.

The area reminded us of some of the Caribbean shopping areas. Sidewalk vendors, cute court yard eateries, and music on the street corners.

We met a lovely couple at the campground. Bart and Jann DallaMura. As you can see they have a black standard poodle, Camille. She is 11 years old and looks like a 4 year old. She and Nicky had a great time playing together.
Jann gave us some grapefruit off their trees that were delicious. Never tasted a grapefruit so sweet and juicy. We really enjoyed the time with had with them and hope to see them again while we are in Palm Springs. We will be in different campgrounds but close enough to get together.

Click below and watch these dogs at play.

Las Vegas, Lake Havasu 3/29--4/4/09

It was so good to see family!! We visited with our niece, Brooke, and her husband Sean. Brooke took us out to dinner at a restaurant in Bellagio's and then Sean met us there and gave us a tour of the nightclub in Bellagio's that he manages. During our stay in Las Vegas we also went out for breakfast with Brooke and had a great time just catching up with one another. Brooke gave us a tour of their place and also drove us around some of the developments they've been looking at as future home buying possibilities. It is so nice to be able to picture Brooke now when I'm talking with her and can visually picture where she is. The cream colored house below is Brooke's
This is Las Vegas taken from our return from Hoover Dam . It gives you a good general picture of where Las Vegas is located in conjunction with the surrounding mountains. It's really quite pretty and the sunsets are lovely.

All tourists do this. So we decided why should we be any different!!

The next two pictures give you a little overview of the strip. There are so many cassino's and they all have different themes. It's a fun place to study people and touring the various buildings is fascinating.

This is the casino in which Sean's nightclub is located , it's called The Bank

This is a picture of Lake Meade. I saw this lake when I was in my teens and it has receded greatly since then. You can see the line on the rocks of where it used to be.

This is the new bridge that is being built over the Hoover dam. It is due to open in 2010. What you are looking at is suspended over the water and men are climbing all over this portion of the bridge walking up ladders. The whole process is fascinating. There are cables everywhere holding it in place as they work on it. If you're in the area it's well worth the trip to see it.

Hoover dam

This is a picture of the London Bridge in Lake Havasu, AZ. We were only in Lake Havasu for 2 nights. While there we spent time viewing the lake and also touring some model homes. We love the architecture of the homes here. The floor plans are very open and the courtyards and entry ways are beautiful.

The water looks like the Caribbean doesn't it!!

This is a picture of Nicky's new friend, Parker. Two big,bad boys on the prowl in the desert.

This sunset is taken from our camper at Lake Havasu.