Hello From the Playground Capital of Arizona

 We started this blog on Presidents' Day, so it is appropriate that Sonya spotted this vehicle. As you can see, it is festooned for the festivities (long weekend)! Must have been headed to a Trump convention!

Friends from Edmonton (Leduc), Bob and Paula were trial running the snowbird experience  They rented a trailer for one month to see if they liked the lifestyle - now that Paula is officially a "senior".  Sonya even tried to get a Red Hat on Paula for a quick pic - but no way was Paula buying into that program since it would likely end up on the blog.  We were fortunate enough to get together  for Happy Hour one evening and a tour through  Old Town La Quinta for the arts festival.

Here, Paula is distracting me with some wares while Sonya is a few stalls down doing some serious shopping.  Me thinks that these two colluded to keep me away from Sonya so that she could shop in peace!   I doubt that either of them will admit to it, though!

We had a lovely lunch with Paula and Bob  and then we were off to prepare for our next set of guests, my sister Joanne and brother-in-law Randy.  Joanne and Randy joined us for 3 days as they did a bit of a circuit through Pine Valley to see friends,  Indio to see us and then on to Las Vegas for a construction convention (Randy has a trucking business - so why a construction convention -don't ask!).

While they were here, we toured Joshua Tree National Park and did some modest hiking in the area.

After some morning hiking, we found a campground within the National Park where we could grab a bite to eat.

Those of you who know Sonya well, know that she is always well prepared, as you can see by the spread here including, of course, a tablecloth! After a tasty bite we were on to the next few sites.

Our last stop before leaving Joshua Tree NP was Cottonwood Springs.  This area is an oasis for the native fan palms.  Check out the skirt (that is was the lower part of the plant is called) on these palms and the height of them overall!  Joanne and I are at the bottom looking up, in case you miss seeing us as we are so small in comparison!

We met a couple just coming back from the 4.5 mile hike to the springs themselves.  They started at 10 that morning and were just returning shortly after 3 pm in the afternoon.  Needless to say, we did not start on that particular hike that day!  We will return to see those springs as the hikers were so animated while they were talking about it, we can't wait to go back!  We would love for Joanne and Randy to join us on that hike, but I won't hold my breath!

The next day we took the Palm Springs Tramway to see the valley from the top of the mountain.

As we neared the top of the mountain, Randy started grousing (in fun) about being in snow again, saying that he came down here to get away from the snow!

As you can see it is winter up here (despite the fact that it was +78F on the desert floor where we began).  The snow is perfect for making snowballs - but I didn't - tempted - but didn't!  It was in the 40s (F) when we got to the top, and one gold gent from back east was so excited he had to call his daughter to explain SNOW - "it was everywhere"!

The greater Palm Springs area (Coachella Valley) has grown from about 100,000 full time residents about 30 years ago to approximately 450,000 full timers today.  It balloons to about 600,000 in the winter time when all the snowbirds flock down!

What used to be farmland and desert oases are now golf courses and gated communities.  The 9 communities that populate the Coachella Valley run about 35 miles from northwest to southeast. The majority of the population lives south of Interstate 10, which you can see cutting through the picture on the diagonal.

After a nice dinner at the top to celebrate Randy's 65th birthday - coming up real quick - we headed back down on the tram.  

After they left for Las Vegas, Sonya and I took in Paul Anka at the Fantasy Springs Casino.  As with Frankie Valli, Paul is a great entertainer and he sang for almost two hours.  He entered walking through the crowd and waded into the crowd a couple of times, much to the delight of several ladies who swooned around him while he was croonin' some of his old tunes!  He is a prolific writer and has written for many, including of course, My Way for Frank Sinatra.  He recounted many of the stories behind the songs.  In the case of My Way, Frank wanted a song on which to retire.  However, it was so popular Frank then needed another song to come out of retirement - so Anka wrote "Let Me Try Again".

Next we were off to Lake Havasu City.  Along the way, my tire pressure monitoring system was telling me that the tires were over pressure.

As we did not want YET another blow out, a quick stop on the side of the road to release some of the pressure was in order.  These are the joys of being on the road again!

Lake Havasu City  ("LHC") was created by Robert Paxton McCulloch, of the McCulloch chain saw fame.  He landed at what is now called Site 6 on Lake Havasu.  This was an airport constructed in 1943 by the army for the Kingman Army Air Corps Gunnery School.

After the war, Site 6 was used as a rest and relaxation site by the US army and became a fishing camp of sorts.  It is interesting that the army used this place as an R&R place, because it seems that our Canadian fly boys come down here for training in the CT-156 training aircraft and perhaps a little R&R (especially since it is spring break and there are thousands of bikini clad gals) ... hmmm tax dollars hard at work.

This group is based in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan for all you stubble jumpers reading the blog!  This is the first aircraft that the pilots learn to fly. They have to master these before they can touch any other aircraft.  The were about 8 of these down here as well as a C-130 Hercules.

Sonya caught one of the Canadian flyboys at work - working on his tan that is!

Anyway, back to the story of LHC.  McCulloch landed there in the 50's when he was looking for a place to test his outboard engines.  In one of those, "I liked the place so much I bought it" moments, McCulloch purchase 3,353 acres of the land at about $74/acre around Site 6 (as well as an additional 13,000 acres later).

He envisioned a city, for which he elicited the help of C.V. Wood, the designer of Disneyland, to plan the entire city.  Over the years he flew thousands of potential land owners to Lake Havasu city for an all expenses paid 3 day 2 night stay at the hotel he built on the lake.  He was very successful in these sales! First year sales were about $1 Million.

Now Lake Havasu City did not grow as quickly as he would have liked, so when he heard that London Bridge was for sale, a plan was hatched.  

The City of London entertained many bids, including one by Red Skelton who planned to put the bridge in Palm Springs connecting the canyons.  Although not the highest bid, McCulloch's $2.4 Million bid and presentation won the day.  London wanted the bridge to be used in a setting that would befit its grandness and history.

The bridge was disassembled with each block numbered so that it could be reconstructed in Lake Havasu City.   He actually only shipped the façade stones (10,276 of them), as the substructure of the bridge in Havasu was constructed out of concrete and steel to make it lighter, stronger and more durable than the entire granite structure that was slowly sinking into the Thames River!  He sold the rest of the granite to artisans including those that make headstones for a tidy, (guess how much) $2.4 Million! Quite the businessman.

Over they came by ship through the Panama Canal up to Long Beach, CA, then by truck to Lake Havasu City. The bridge was built on dry land. After the completion of the bridge, the channel was dug out and the peninsula became an island.

We learned much of this on our tour of the Historic 1831 London Bridge,  hosted by Jan Kassies, the City's Director of Visitor Services.

Jan (seen above) came from the Netherlands in 2002, and his knowledge of the bridge is encyclopedic.  I picked up right away that he was from Holland by his accent.  He asked how I knew, I explained that my in-laws were from Holland.  When he asked if John (my father-in-law) was cheap, I said that he was frugal.  Jan said, "Don't be fooled - he's cheap!"  After I told John this, he said, "Whatever works!"

Jan did have a cute sign in his office that Sonya could not resist capturing.

After all she is Dutch by heritage!  Perhaps a surviving intergenerational quality???

This shot gives a pretty good view of the bridge and its environs.  You can see why the Londoners were happy with the presentation that McCulloch gave to win the bid for the bridge back in 1968. As Jan spoke about the bridge his stories virtually brought it to life.  One of the anecdotes in particular struck me - as we were walking to one of the sets of stairs he said that after running up the stairs of the London Bridge in 1888, Jack the Ripper disappeared and was never found.   He also listed a litany of people that would have crossed that bridge in its day, from Queen Victoria onward.

Our next outing was a tour of the Topock Gorge aboard the lovely Serenity Now with Captain Kevin, shown above.  It was a beautiful day for a 4 hour tour up river, and the scenery was spectacular.

The water is 30-40 feet deep in this area, so it is difficult to imagine what the gorge would have been like before the dam raised the Colorado River water level and it became a lake. The shot above is pretty much a 90 degree corner and as many of the boaters have just a bit too much alcohol fueled courage they had to make it a no-wake zone (meaning dead slow through this part).  Seems our firefighter captain has had to rescue a few guys off the rocks. Now if the fire department has to rescue these folks, they charge for stupidity.

Now I mentioned at the start that LHC is the Playground Capital of Arizona, as every imaginable toy can be found here.  On Saturday we went  downtown where they closed off the street to show off the toys.  Darlene, I found my next truck if Sonya can't lighten up on the stuff in the trailer!

This one will pull darn near anything you can throw at it!

After that is was off on a sunset cruise with Captain Kevin once again!

We had a lovely moonrise behind us as the sun was setting in front of us.  The stubble jumpers on our boat commented that the sunsets here were much like they are in Saskatchewan (they live near Maple Creek), "except for the water of course!"  We will let you judge.

On the way back in, we were able to see the London Bridge lit up at night.

It was a perfect evening to be on the boat.  By the time we got back it had cooled down to about 75F.

I had planned  a flight in an ultralight plane on Saturday but high winds meant that the flight had to be postponed until this morning. Imagine flopping around in an ultralight with fabric wings and a sewing  machine engine in heavy winds!!! Not good.

Sonya captured the moment pretty well -

It almost looks like I know what I am doing! While I have not flown a fixed wing aircraft in more than 20 years, I still recall most of the radio work and was keeping up with the traffic in the area pretty well, even if I do say so myself!

Sonya said that the plane looks like a skidoo with bigger skids on it.  Well, it is an amphibious plane that can land on water or land, so it has floats.  You decide what it looks like -

We were out for a little more than an hour at heights up to 1,500 AGL (that's above ground level for you non-pilots!) to right down on the water doing touch and goes. I was tempted to pull out my cell phone and take some shots, but it is way too windy in the open air to do that.  Next time I will use a gopro cam!

Now, for those of you that don't fly, you should know that it is a serious addiction.  So much so that I had to talk myself down from buying a 1/3 share in an ultralight that was hardly used!  Anyway, if it works out, we will come this way a couple of weeks early next year so that I can add the ultralight endorsement to my pilot's license.  I guess I better study up!

That's about it for now.

We'll get back to you after we have visited Needles and Death Valley.

Straighten up and fly right!

Sonya & Paul

Palm Springs Area

(Also known as Two Months Weeks with My Sister-In-Law)

After we returned from Quartzsite, we spent some time with our Wisconsin friends Cheryl and Coop before they left for Casa Grande.  On a Sunday we went to - wait for it - a POLO match.  Yes, you read that correctly.  There are two polo clubs in the Palm Springs area, Empire and Eldorado.  Who knew??

We went to the Empire Club for a lovely brunch and then proceed to watch some polo.

It is a very civilized way to spend an afternoon, with ladies elegantly dressed in wide brimmed hats - all very British and somewhat unexpected in California.  However, we were on the tailgate party side, with plenty of barbies and liquid refreshments set up for the afternoon.

It takes a lot of hand eye coordination to strike that little ball with a mallet that is about 4 1/2 feet long, while riding a horse going anywhere from 5 to 25 miles an hour!  A tad more challenging than golf!  While I am sure that I will not sign up to go watch on a regular basis, it was fascinating to watch one time.

Shortly thereafter, we were graced (Sonya's words) with my sister-in-law's presence for two weeks.

We started out by visiting Joshua Tree National Park.  It is 1,234 square miles and straddles the cactus-dotted Colorado Desert and the Mojave Desert, which is higher and cooler.

Here, Diane and I are standing in an area called Hidden Valley.  It is a natural encasement, a unique microhabitat that brings together a wide range of plants and animals not typically found together in other sections of the Park. Healthy populations of Joshua Tree, pinyon, juniper and oak share space with mesquite, yucca, nolina, various cacti and other species.

The valley was found by a local cattle rustler, who dynamited out the entry so that he and his partner could run the horses  they stole in Arizona into the valley so that they could rebrand them for later sale to ranchers on the California coast.

Here is an entry into the valley.

My step tracker says that we made more than 15,000 steps that day, but I wouldn't have known without looking, because you get lost in the moment and wander around in awe of your surroundings. The desert here is very different from other areas, mainly because it is dotted with the Joshua Tree.

Sonya shot one of the trees in monochrome in error, and the effect is so cool that I want to share both the monochrome and colour version of the same shot.

And here is the colour version.

Part of the Yucca family, the book Joshua Tree: Desolation Tango says, "It appears to be stranded in a tortured frenzy."  A pretty apt description.

It grows only two places in the world - here in the Joshua Tree National Park and near Jerusalem.  The name Joshua tree was given by a group of Mormon settlers who crossed the Mojave Desert in the mid-19th century. The tree's unique shape reminded them of a Biblical story in which Joshua reaches his hands up to the sky in prayer.

Perhaps this one Sonya shot is similar to one they saw.

We then walked over a mile to an abandoned mine.  It was over two miles round trip, so Diane was grousing a bit about the distance, saying that we misled her as to how far it was.  It was time to stop for lunch!  (Notice who is sitting!)  Sonya even thought to bring a tablecloth to the tailgate lunch - another pound added to the weight of the trailer!

After lunch, we went to Barker Dam.  It was built in the late 1800s by ranchers who found a small pool where water collected.  By damming the end of the pool, they were able to create a pond for thirsty cattle.

The pond creates a beautiful serene scene as you can see here.  But, we were burning daylight and there was still much to see, so back in the truck and on to Arch Rock.

We stopped at the parking area for arch rock and headed out into the desert.  Now, the trail isn't all that well marked, so we had some challenges trying to find it.  We forged on but never found it.

Now, you should know that this is not the arch that is in the book, but hey, at least I found a hole between a few rocks!!  Sonya and Diane weren't that amused and started back to the truck.  When I finally got down, I caught up with them and back in the truck and off to the Cholla Cactus Garden and the Ocotillo Patch.

The Cholla is also known as Teddy Bear Cactus or  Jumping Cholla because its spines are so prickly that they seem to jump out at you.  The tiny barbed hooks on the spine can easily penetrate flesh and when you pull away, the flesh of the plant often comes with it!  Needless to say, we stopped on the side of the road and did NOT wander into the field!

Sonya then asked Diane what she wanted to see next.  Her answer was, "The bottom of my wine glass!"

It took another 45 minutes to get home and accomplish that, but in the end she was happy!

Our next adventure was a Red Jeep Tour of the San Andreas Fault Line that runs just north of the Coachella Valley - the greater Palm Springs area.

You will note from above that there are a lot of minor fault lines in this area that are part of the San Andreas fault.  It makes you think twice about buying property here!

The fault lines have already caused the Los Angeles City Hall to shift 9 feet to the north since it was built in 1924.  Hopefully, President Trump knows he will have to build the wall on rollers, as the "big one" as they call it down here is expected to cause the California area to move 28 feet.

Anyway, if you are going to take a Red Jeep Tour, you ride in a Red Jeep! This is an original  Jeep CJ, short for Civilian Jeep.  They were built until the mid 80s, after which they were replaced by the Wrangler.  These guys keep their Jeeps in excellent shape!

Anyway, in the picture, we are at a natural oasis that is created by the fault lines grinding together and creating an underground dam where the water collects which allows these fan palms to flourish, as you can see here.

 The fan palms are a native plant to the area.  They do have fruit, but unlike date palms, they are too small to harvest. Date palms, those famous Medjool and Deglet Noor we all buy at Costco,  were imported from the middle east.  They also flourish here because the Coachella Valley is at  the same latitude.

As you would expect, when you have a fault line, you are going to have slot canyons.  We visited one of these as well.

While walking the slot canyon, Diane worried about what would happen if the "big one" happened while we were walking. I was too busy exploring the slots to worry about it.

As sunset neared, we headed to the top of a hill so that we could get good view of the Coachella Valley.  Sonya captured the moment very well!

And our guide was kind enough to catch a sunset shot for us.

After that it was back home - for another glass of wine of course.

It looks like Diane could use one!

Diane did not get enough shopping in at VillageFest, which is a street market that happens every Thursday evening in old Palm Springs, so on Saturday we had to go to the College of the Desert market - with 340 stalls.  While the ladies shopped, I was entertained for a few minutes with a virtual reality (VR) game.

Now I am not much of a gamer, but I have to admit, that doing this in 3D VR, I was completely taken in to the action as you can see above.  There were 5 games in all,  and I think that I was shooting at something at this point.  No big surprise I suppose since guns are tops in the USA!

Diane found a turtle that she just HAD to have.

The darn thing is made of concrete and weighs about 30 lbs, so guess who had to haul it!  Fortunately, the shuttle service took pity on us and drove us back to the truck that was parked about 1/4 mile away!

After we finished shopping we went for lunch at Las Casuelas in downtown Palm Springs.

This is a traditional Mexican restaurant with great food and great margaritas (so I am told by these two)!

That evening we went to see Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons at the Fantasy Springs Casino.

The old boy (82 yrs old) can still hit the notes, particularly towards the end of the evening when his voice really loosened up!

If you look more closely, you can probably figure out that the Four Seasons fellas have been renewed, probably a couple of times!  Frankie Valli is definitely still the original!

Next day - more shopping. This is Diane visiting us after all!  Sonya figured out why she shops so much!

This was in Old Town La Quinta,  a very quaint shopping and dining area.  We then went to the La Quinta Resort, where many stars hung out, including the Rat Pack - Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, and old blue eyes, Frank Sinatra.

Oh, if those walls could talk.

After that we went to Desert Hot Springs and a museum created by Cabot Yerxa - Cabot's Pueblo Museum.  He was an eccentric descendant of a Dutch immigrant who had wanderlust.  His mother was a descendant of Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot), the explorer, from where he inherited his name.

Cabot built this place out of recycled materials in the area.  It spreads an impressive 5,000 square feet, divided into 35 rooms and adorned with 150 windows and 65 doors. What a sight it is to see!

As you can see, the doors are sized to whatever he found in the area, including rusty nails.  Hey John, is he a distant relative?

Our next outing was out to the Anza Borrego State Park, the largest state park in California. Five hundred miles of dirt roads, 12 wilderness areas and many miles of hiking trails.  Oh yes, a couple of good highways running through it as well, as seen here. However, on one dip Sonya was actually airborne.

This highway runs into Borrego Springs, close to the mountains, seen in the far background.  Near Borrego Springs are the Galetta Meadows, where 130 full size metal statues adorn the countryside.  Here are a few of the sculptures.

Check out what full size means below, where I photo-bombed Sonya's picture.

After that we went to Julian, a mining town at the top of a mountain that has reinvented itself into a shopping and dining destination.  Julian was settled by ex-confederates after the civil war and was a short-lived mining town.  Gold was discovered in 1870, but was mined out in a decade.  Families stayed and turned to farming.  As a result, today apple orchards fill the surrounding countryside and the town has become known for the best apple pie around.

The most famous of these is the  Julian Pie Company. So, of course, we had to stop for some of their pie.  Slice of San Diego rates it among the top 10 best pie spots.

OK, who has their big mouth open on this one??

We all suffered from a sugar overdose after we left, so Diane suggested that we shop some more to wear off the sugar.  Really Diane, do you need an excuse to shop??

In between all of this, Diane had only 3 short breaks to get her pool time at our RV park.  All in all, her visit went very quickly and did not seem like the two months weeks that it actually was.  It must have been a successful trip for her, as she went home with a new carry on bag full of stuff,  and was over her customs limit!  The customs guy took pity on her and waived her through without having to pay GST or duty - her lucky day!  She probably had to go home and rest for a bit.  We needed to!

We will take a break for awhile now in the Palm Springs area before we head off to Lake Havasu City, Needles and Death Valley.  We will catch up with you from the high desert area.

Until then, be well!

Paul & Sonya