Monday!

When you're retired, you LOVE Mondays.    When you're retired and on the road, you REALLY love Mondays.    The rest of the world has packed up their bikes and their flags, their tents and their LED rope lights and their grills and portable propane "campfires" and sound systems and gone back home to work and school.

 Not us, we're reveling in the quiet and empty campground.   Ahhhh.

Us and the hummingbirds, the verdins and the roadrunners.

cruising for bugs

The golf course offers a Monday Madness deal on.....Mondays so Dave and John took advantage of it and played 18 holes.

tallying up the scores

the "boys"

Pam went hiking by herself and I took advantage of the plethora of lemon trees around and Pam's juicer to make and freeze lots of lemon juice and peel for Christmas cookies, and lemon squares, and lemon chicken, and roasted shrimp with lemon pasta, and avgolemeno, etc., etc.

After happy hour (a bit early tonight to take advantage of the sun's warmth) we took Lewis to the huge, grassy dog park for a game of chase the ball before dinner.     Another pleasant Monday.

Saturday

Excuse....internet here has been painfully slow and we haven't done anything that anyone would find particularly interesting.

We had a very quiet and low key Thanksgiving day, just the way we like it.  Macy's parade and the dog show on tv as I prepared the pie and prepped the meal.     We played 9 holes on the resort's course while the turkey breast cooked in the crockpot and the pumpkin pie cooled on the counter.

It was a sunny day, warmish in the sun, cool in the shade.   Dave had to wear long pants on the golf course, poor baby.

Friday, just as Dave got out of bed to take old Sasha out for her early (5:00 a.m.) morning constitutional, the rain started.    It rained lightly on and off for most of the day.     We drove over the mountain for a little autohike.   Julian must have had a Christmas celebration of some sort because the tiny town was jammed with people and traffic.   Families strolled the sidewalks with cups of hot cider, bundled against the 39 degree temps.   We continued on through Santa Ysabel (to buy a Julian apple pie at their other store) and back home in a big loop through the mountains.   I only took a few photos, the sky was gray, the clouds low.

another shelf road...see the little white motorhome on its way down?
one of the little green squares on the desert floor is our campground..

the two lumps in the distance on the left is the Borrego badlands, home of Fonts Point

This morning, Saturday, we were able to get outside for second cup.   Lewis spent his time on Dave's lap again....lots of people on bikes whizzing around.

Mr. Costa's Hummingbird

Mrs.

Mr. and Mrs. Costa joined us, dividing their time between sitting on the ex pen and drinking from the hummingbird feeder on the picnic table.   They are very habituated to people and sit quite close, as if they want to hear what we're saying.

After lunch we took advantage of  twilight pricing for golf and played until dusk (it gets pretty cold when the sun drops below the mountains).    

We've decided to extend our stay here one more week.   Golf practically right outside our door is attractive and we haven't spent much time really exploring the area because of the holiday and it's attendant horde of people.

Today we hung the red balls on the window palm tree.....let the Christmas season begin!

Wednesday

Busy day.    We went into the tiny Farmer's Market in Borrego Springs and picked up a few things before packing up Beluga and moving to our new site.

After we settled in and ate lunch we joined Pam and John for a little off road fun in search of the Pumpkin Patch.

some rough spots

We had a map, but it wasn't very easy to read and there weren't too many landmarks to guide our way, but we had fun.

Dave helps John negotiate a few large rocks in the road

Which way do we go?   This way, that way?  We came to a fork in the road and we took it!

Some trails were dead ends, but mostly we made progress in the right direction.
The scenery was stark and beautiful and intriguing.   I enjoyed myself immensely.

Five Palms

Eventually we found the correct trail and arrived at the Pumpkin Patch.

The area has been fenced off to protect these fragile concretions from the OHV traffic prevalent in the area.

We took well used OHV and ATV trails on our way back to S22.  We came across someone who was either stupid or inexperienced or totally oblivious.   He was driving a rental motorhome through the desert on these rough, twisty, rocky, narrow and rutted trails.   He was going too fast for the conditions and the rig was bouncing and tipping crazily from side to side.    We could only imagine what the inside looked like when he finally found the perfect spot to stop and camp!     I wonder if El Monte RV knows where their vehicles really go when they hand over the keys.....

Another interesting sunset tonight, but not in the west.

Tuesday

One more thing to give thanks for on Thursday....cancellations.

We were scheduled to leave The Springs at Borrego Springs RV Resort tomorrow morning and we really didn't have anywhere else to go during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.   The boondocking areas in the nearby desert aren't as appealing as they always were, due to some State Park rule changes so we were unsure of where we'd be cooking our turkey this year.

Lucky for us, there have been a few cancellations at the last minute here so we'll move a few sites over in the morning and then stay put until December 1.   December 1!   I can't believe its almost Christmas....where has the time gone.

Yesterday Dave and John played 18 holes on the Resort's golf course and Pam and I did a bit of shopping.

we just walk to the 1st tee - nice

Today, after second cup, we all hit the links for a quick 9 holes.   The weather is due to take a cold downturn so we only played 9 holes to leave time for a drive out to Fonts Point to view a sunset over the badlands.    We could see the weather change begin in the growing clouds overhead.

When children with wheels appear, Lew quietly crawls up on Dave's lap for safety.
This makes it hard for Dave to drink his coffee.

This is a holiday weekend and that often means families fill the campgrounds.    Wonderful fun and memories for the children and their families,
riding bikes, operating remote control cars, playing hide and seek, skate boarding, picnicking outdoors, staying up late.     Not wonderful fun for Mr. Lewis.   He'll survive, but he won't be thankful for much til Monday.

So, back to golf.   It was a beautiful and warm day, our last 80 degree day for a little while, so we took full advantage.    The wind was pretty frisky and kicked up sand in a few of the more open areas.

Oh Pam.....

John's caddy didn't not enjoy the prospect of getting sand in her hair so she resorted to a rather unconventional head covering to protect herself.   John was embarrassed and walked quickly ahead.    Its hard to find a good caddy these days.

see our motorhomes in the background?

a few Ocotillo are beginning to bloom

a beautiful course

After golf we ate lunch, got a few household things done, grabbed some warm jackets and piled in John and Pam's jeep for the ride out to Fonts Point.    The route took us about 4 miles down a wide, deep sand wash into the Borrego Badlands in Anza Borrego Desert State Park.

 

standing on the edge of the incredible badlands

We arrived just after the sun had disappeared behind the mountains.   The sky was unremarkable and the few people there were returning to their vehicles, disappointed in the sunset.    Pam knew better.   She tried to explain to one group that the sky would soon be afire, but they didn't believe her and left.   More sunset for us I say!

hold on to your hat John!

We used the time to take a few pictures of the dramatic landscape and each other.

And, sure enough the clouds began to turn pink in a few places.    Then a few more and in just a few minutes the whole sky was blazing with color.   You were right Pam!

We drove home in the dark (even though it was only 5:30....) and ended a lovely day at Carmelitas little Mexican restaurant for margaritas and dinner.   Sigh.

thanks for the picture Pam -
its my best side!