April 7 dawns bright & sunny. Forecast high today is 78F(25.5C). The wind seems gusty & periodically strong enough that I am not going to put up the awning.
Sheila is up & off to the 8AM pool exercises whereas I pursue more leisurely activities like having my morning coffee. However at 9:05 I find that I too am in the pool after the exercises finish and Sheila insists on running me through some of them for 1/2 an hr. This climate is ruining my morning sleep-in routine!
After a leisurely lunch & some housework, we head off to water volleyball, (2-4 pm) to see how they play here.
OK, local rules are: you can hit ball twice only and a total of 3 hits on one side of the net. If there are 4 hits the ball goes to the other side. You can hit the ball directly back as well--no passing is required. The ball is a large beach ball & very light. The pool is indoors, and small so they play 3 across and there's only room to go 3 rows back so if there are more than 9 a side, players have to rotate in. WE had a max of 8 on one side but mostly there were just 6.
After Volleyball there was a dance from 4-6 PM in the ballroom with a western group called "Fall River." Cost was $4 each, which included all the popcorn you could eat--good popcorn too.
Back to the RV afterwards. Sheila is wiped out & laying on the bed.
I have put 3 pictures on of our two RV Park sites. The one with lots of grass is in the Palm Springs area, the other is the one in Mesa which, while a really nice place with lots of activities, only has crushed rock around the sites.
There are lots of activities planned over the next few days, a report will follow eventually.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
2 of our camping spots
The first two are our Val Vista site in Mesa, AZ, the last is our Emerald Desert site in Palm Desert, CA
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Palm Springs to Phoenix(Mesa)
April 5 overnighting at Fantasy Springs Casino off "I" 10
We had our morning swim & hot tub and away Emerald Desert RV Resort by 12:15. We didn't hook up the car as I needed to put gas in the RV & maneuvering in a gas station with car in tow can be awkward sometimes. Then as the casino was only 15 miles down the highway we decided not to bother hooking up at all. Arrived OK, lots of room in the RV parking lot. Into the casino to check it out. No deals on food, lunch buffet was $13, so we got our players club cards & came back to RV for lunch & then back to check out gambling. They had a deal where if you played $20 in a slot the casino would give you $50 in free slot play. I put in my 20, played $20 worth of bets, I went up & down & finally I ended up even when I had "earned" my $50.00. It was a all bit confusing following the directions to play & collect & retrieve"free" plays but I eventually played my free $50 & took out $35.25 in winnings. Sheila, on her free 50.00 "won" $12.50, she also broke even on the original money she put in. So a net gain all round. And we were able to play on the video poker machines, even the 25 cent ones despite the note on the instructions that "free" play was not applicable on video poker machines, worked for us! Back to the RV for an early to bed & early start in the morning, (our type of "early", probably 9:30 if were lucky).
Morning comes, I am drinking my coffee at approximately 9:00 when Sheila says, "I'm ready to go hook up the car" I just about choked on my coffee, she was ready before me! We actually got away at 9:20! Uneventful run to Phoenix down a dead straight road, on cruise control & I was trying to figure out if I could lash the wheel straight & go back for a nap. We didn't loose an hour because Arizona does not move to daylight time so it's the same time as PDT here. We are checked in, on free WiFi & set for 7 days of sun, (around 75F 24C). The local activities report will follow in a few days.
We had our morning swim & hot tub and away Emerald Desert RV Resort by 12:15. We didn't hook up the car as I needed to put gas in the RV & maneuvering in a gas station with car in tow can be awkward sometimes. Then as the casino was only 15 miles down the highway we decided not to bother hooking up at all. Arrived OK, lots of room in the RV parking lot. Into the casino to check it out. No deals on food, lunch buffet was $13, so we got our players club cards & came back to RV for lunch & then back to check out gambling. They had a deal where if you played $20 in a slot the casino would give you $50 in free slot play. I put in my 20, played $20 worth of bets, I went up & down & finally I ended up even when I had "earned" my $50.00. It was a all bit confusing following the directions to play & collect & retrieve"free" plays but I eventually played my free $50 & took out $35.25 in winnings. Sheila, on her free 50.00 "won" $12.50, she also broke even on the original money she put in. So a net gain all round. And we were able to play on the video poker machines, even the 25 cent ones despite the note on the instructions that "free" play was not applicable on video poker machines, worked for us! Back to the RV for an early to bed & early start in the morning, (our type of "early", probably 9:30 if were lucky).
Morning comes, I am drinking my coffee at approximately 9:00 when Sheila says, "I'm ready to go hook up the car" I just about choked on my coffee, she was ready before me! We actually got away at 9:20! Uneventful run to Phoenix down a dead straight road, on cruise control & I was trying to figure out if I could lash the wheel straight & go back for a nap. We didn't loose an hour because Arizona does not move to daylight time so it's the same time as PDT here. We are checked in, on free WiFi & set for 7 days of sun, (around 75F 24C). The local activities report will follow in a few days.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Emerald Desert RV Resort, Palm Springs
The weather here is great, sunny & hot. We have done a lot of relaxing by the pool & lounging in the pool side cabanas, they even have pool side food & drink service. They also supply huge towels for your use at the pool. On Sat they had an Easter Egg hunt with eggs scattered all over the resort. We found 2 and one of them had a prize note which turned out to be a $10.00 gift card for "The Cheese Cake Factory", plus the jelly beans & you kept the plastic egg. Then Sat night we drove to the cheap movie place to see "When in Rome" for $2.50 each. It was a pleasant, amusing, movie. Sunday we went down to the Collage of the Desert open air swap meet/flea market. Miles of booths and interesting stuff from clothing to tools. Plus a food fair & live entertainment. It runs every Sat & Sun 7 till 2. On the return trip I went to a local branch of the Altura Credit Union I found in Hemet and took out cash from the ATM, no fee at all. Back to Emerald Desert & into the swimming pool. I was sitting on a lounge chair when all of a sudden the chair started to rock like someone was pushing the back of it back & forth. Then someone yelled out earthquake! The water in the pool formed small waves that went back & forth across the pool but they wern't big enough to spill up over the edge much. That all there was to it, just a little tremor. So our 4 days in Palm Springs winds down, we leave tomorrow but check out time is noon so we will go for a dip in the pool & hot tubs and leave at the last minute. It is about a 4 hour drive to Phoenix/Mesa and as I do not want to be driving through Phoenix at rush hour our plan is to drive 15 or so minutes down hwy "I" 10 to the Fantasy Springs Casino, stay there Mon night & get to Phoenix/Mesa early to mid afternoon on Tues.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Friday, April 2, 2010
Final day For Lauderdale and the trip back
Mar 30 - Mar 31
Into the motel and We have the afternoon & evening free & as we never got to go swimming much in the Bahamas, Sheila called & set up a snorkeling boat trip to a reef off Fort Lauderdale. We bought an all day bus ticket, ($2.50) and first went to the International Swimming Hall of Fame Museum which is just up the block from the boat pier. Sheila really enjoyed the museum & even I found some interesting info. The boat trip turned out great. We anchored in about 15 feet of water on a reef about a mile off Fort Lauderdale beach. we tested out the camera underwater, even took some video. I will try to post some photos but the blogger seems to take too long to upload and the computer times itself out & quits.
After the boat trip we started back to the motel. At a transfer stop we saw a neat cafe, (The Quarterdeck), with outside tables so decided to stop & eat sitting outside and had a great time. I had a great lobster biscue & calamari. We finally left about 7:45, caught the bus to the central terminal to connect with our bus to our motel only to discover that our bus stopped running at 8PM and no other bus went anywhere near. So we get a bus that goes somewhat closer & then have to take a cab.
Wake up call for 4AM is set up. We get up & have a cab to the airport, only 10 minutes away, about 4 miles; Sheila had checked with Expedia & was told cab fare would be about $5, which is why we chose this motel, we get there & the fare is suddenly $20.00. Sheila is planning on phoning Expedia, (she has the name of her contact), and blasting them for crap nformation. Anyway, through security, & on board & off. "Breakfast Service" turns out to be one small muffin. We land in Houston, change planes and get another "Breakfast Service" which is cereal, milk, & a banana. Next it is movie time. The seats have individual screens & we discovered that "Old Dogs" was on. For $6 you get Direct TV broadcasts. One flaw we discovered was that while watching the movie whenever the flight crew had an announcement the sound from the movie cut out so you had silent bits you never knew what happened. Then the movies and /or TV etc shows start & finish on Direct TV's schedule not the planes take off so you can be in the middle of what you want when it starts up on takeoff. Another lesson learned, don't pay to watch movies on planes. Otherwise flight goes OK.
We land, drive back to the RV, pull it out of storage & drive a couple of blocks to a side street where we park for the night, (the street is one with empty fields on both side where a lot of trucks park overnight all quite legal).
April 1 we get Sheila's bike wheel fixed (it was bent from having a broken spoke), then off up the hwy to Palm Springs & Emerald Desert RV Resort. It is a nice place and the weather is great. We set up then into town for the street fest., 4 blocks of vendors, entertainment, & food. We also went to LOOK Patio Bar but they had changed ownership & didn't have the super Flan/Creme Caramel they used to make, they also seem to have gone more "straight" so the fun ambiance was missing, too bad! They do make a great French Onion Soup & had happy hour 2.50 drinks plus a girl singing & playing piano on the outside patio so we stayed for a while.
Into the motel and We have the afternoon & evening free & as we never got to go swimming much in the Bahamas, Sheila called & set up a snorkeling boat trip to a reef off Fort Lauderdale. We bought an all day bus ticket, ($2.50) and first went to the International Swimming Hall of Fame Museum which is just up the block from the boat pier. Sheila really enjoyed the museum & even I found some interesting info. The boat trip turned out great. We anchored in about 15 feet of water on a reef about a mile off Fort Lauderdale beach. we tested out the camera underwater, even took some video. I will try to post some photos but the blogger seems to take too long to upload and the computer times itself out & quits.
After the boat trip we started back to the motel. At a transfer stop we saw a neat cafe, (The Quarterdeck), with outside tables so decided to stop & eat sitting outside and had a great time. I had a great lobster biscue & calamari. We finally left about 7:45, caught the bus to the central terminal to connect with our bus to our motel only to discover that our bus stopped running at 8PM and no other bus went anywhere near. So we get a bus that goes somewhat closer & then have to take a cab.
Wake up call for 4AM is set up. We get up & have a cab to the airport, only 10 minutes away, about 4 miles; Sheila had checked with Expedia & was told cab fare would be about $5, which is why we chose this motel, we get there & the fare is suddenly $20.00. Sheila is planning on phoning Expedia, (she has the name of her contact), and blasting them for crap nformation. Anyway, through security, & on board & off. "Breakfast Service" turns out to be one small muffin. We land in Houston, change planes and get another "Breakfast Service" which is cereal, milk, & a banana. Next it is movie time. The seats have individual screens & we discovered that "Old Dogs" was on. For $6 you get Direct TV broadcasts. One flaw we discovered was that while watching the movie whenever the flight crew had an announcement the sound from the movie cut out so you had silent bits you never knew what happened. Then the movies and /or TV etc shows start & finish on Direct TV's schedule not the planes take off so you can be in the middle of what you want when it starts up on takeoff. Another lesson learned, don't pay to watch movies on planes. Otherwise flight goes OK.
We land, drive back to the RV, pull it out of storage & drive a couple of blocks to a side street where we park for the night, (the street is one with empty fields on both side where a lot of trucks park overnight all quite legal).
April 1 we get Sheila's bike wheel fixed (it was bent from having a broken spoke), then off up the hwy to Palm Springs & Emerald Desert RV Resort. It is a nice place and the weather is great. We set up then into town for the street fest., 4 blocks of vendors, entertainment, & food. We also went to LOOK Patio Bar but they had changed ownership & didn't have the super Flan/Creme Caramel they used to make, they also seem to have gone more "straight" so the fun ambiance was missing, too bad! They do make a great French Onion Soup & had happy hour 2.50 drinks plus a girl singing & playing piano on the outside patio so we stayed for a while.
Snorkeling trip photos
The following photos are:
Two yellow fish, lower center
Sheila diving
More fish
The captions will not space themselves with the pictures so sort it out by yourselves
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