Our fight of yesterday dragged on today. We were both sullen and silent all day. Joanne continues to rest, although she is nowhere near as sick as she was a few days ago.
She spent the day reading a book. I did more online marketing of Similkameen Day Tours. I started working on our personal income tax returns. We did not attend the Golden Village Palms Easter potluck dinner despite having signed up a few days ago to attend and bring a dessert contribution to our assigned table. Guess our assigned table had two empty seats and one less dessert !
In the evening we watched Amazing Race ... first episode we've seen this season ... and Celebrity Apprentice.
Monday ; We struggled hard today, working together to end our turmoil of the last few days.
The morning was lost to our struggles. In the afternoon we ran some shopping errands.
I exchanged an empty printer ink cartridge for a remanufactured / refilled one. Never done that before. Hope it works as well as a new one. We did some grocery shopping at Stater Bros. We went to Wal-Mart. Back at Golden Village Palms Joanne did laundry.
I continued with my Similkameen Day Tours marketing efforts. I am sending a marketing e-mail to every Bed & Breakfast I can find between Osoyoos and Summerland.
In the evening we watched TV. HEY ... didn't know there was an Undercover Boss Canada !
Tuesday ; Hemet to Palm Springs, California
The weather in Hemet this morning was sunny and warm. This afternoon in Palm Springs it was sunny and hot. This evening it was very windy, a common occurrence in Palm Springs. The strong winds whipping through the San Gorgonio Pass is why there are thousands and thousands of wind turbines around Palm Springs.
We departed the luxurious Golden Village Palms and headed north out of Hemet on Hwy. 79 to Interstate 10, then east on I-10 to Palm Springs. It's only about an hour from Hemet to Palm Springs. And as before, we're not actually in Palm Springs on the south side of
I-10, we're in Desert Hot Springs on the north side of I-10.
While rummaging through our California travel information, we found a coupon for a very inexpensive four night stay at Catalina Spa & RV Resort in Desert Hot Springs. The "catch" is we must attend a sales presentation. Okay, fine. We have been avoiding these kind of "time share" type of RV parks for eight years. Time to give one a try. The four day deal was too good to pass up. We hope the sales presentation on Friday morning won't make us regret our decision.
We registered and got set up in a site at Catalina Spa, then dashed out to a local RV parts dealer nearby. We have been there before and they have a good inventory of hard to find items. Unfortunately, they did not have what I was looking for today.
Back home at Catalina Spa we walked around exploring, then drove around exploring. It's a large RV resort. And like all hotels, motels, RV Parks and other guest establishments in Desert Hot Springs, Catalina Spa pumps 130 degree water out of the ground ( and then cools it a bit ) on a continuous basis into their hot mineral pools. The "upside" of Desert Hot Springs is that the aquifer is clean, odourless, hot water. The "downside" is the reason why the water underground is so hot. Desert Hot Springs is pretty much the epicentre of the San Andreas Fault. When "The Big One" hits Southern California ... kiss Desert Hot Springs goodbye !
We purposely chose an RV site close to the hot pools and the dog park. We took Bo to play in the dog park twice today. His broken toe finally seems to be 100% healed. Late this afternoon we gave him a bath. And after his bath he wanted to play with his favourite stuffed toy, the first time he has been interested in play since he broke his toe 2½ weeks ago.
WOO-HOO ... this park's cable TV has The Animal Planet network, first time we've seen it in about a year. We blew off the entire evening watching The Animal Planet network, specifically a set of back to back episodes of a show featuring a cat behaviourist. "My Cat From Hell". HA HA HA ... great show ! And it's about time that they have a show about cat behaviour, specifically bad cat behaviour, considering how many shows they have about bad dog behaviour and the "dog whisperer" gurus, who now seem to be about a dime a dozen.
Late in the evening we went to "take the waters". I love soaking in mineral hot spas here in Desert Hot Springs. I'm not very big on "alternative" therapies, but ... I'm convinced that soaking in the mineral hot spas here in Desert Hot Springs, which we've been doing for about a week of each of the last seven winter seasons, has a tremendously beneficial effect on my sore knees and shoulders. And no, I can't explain why !
Very late in the evening I worked for about an hour on our personal income tax returns.
I really need to dedicate more time and effort to the preparation of our income tax returns.
Wednesday ; Well, today was a great day in Palm Springs. It was the reason why we come here annually. And the weather was good. A teensy bit cloudy and cooler, a few drops of rain in the afternoon, lots of wind in the early evening.
This morning we headed from Desert Hot Springs across Interstate 10 to Palm Springs ... to downtown Palm Springs. First stop was Revivals, the thrift store operated by some gay men's organization. All the employees and most of the customers are gay men. Free AIDS testing every Saturday morning ! Revivals is the most interesting and the most eclectic of the many thrift stores that we regularly visit in both the U.S. and Canada. Joanne bought a couple of large, fluffy bath sheets.
As I was exiting the parking lot of the mall where Revivals is located, I cut off a ... cyclist. Only in Palm Springs can one experience being given a really dirty look by a gay man on a unicycle when you cut him off. HA HA HA ! HEY ... who looks in both directions for gay unicyclists when leaving a parking lot ? ? ? HA HA HA HA HA ! Sorry, fella !
We stopped to browse at ... < sigh > ... the classic / exotic used car dealership in downtown Palm Springs. I couldn't decide whether I wanted the 1954 Cadillac ( for $99,000 ), the 1989 Rolls Royce Corniche convertible, or the 1946 Ford "woody" wagon. Joanne wanted the 1974 Mercedes 450 SL. The grey one, not the blue one ! Her tastes seem to be a bit more modest than mine. HA HA HA ! I promised her that when we win the lottery we will immediately catch a plane down here to Palm Springs and we can each buy a classic / exotic used car and drive them home. Okay ... I’ve decided ! I want the Rolls !
Next stop was Sherman’s Deli for lunch. Oh my goodness ... it’s hard to believe that such simple New York Jewish deli food can be that good ! My lunch was a bowl of borscht, a hot pastrami on rye sandwich, and ... < drooling again > ... Key Lime Pie. Joanne had a barbecued brisket on rye sandwich and Boston Cream Pie. We looooove eating at Sherman’s Deli once a year.
We drove east into the Palm Springs suburb of Cathedral City and found ... < UNGH > ... Trader Joe’s where we spent a lot of money impulsively buying a lot of gourmet and specialty foods. We looooove shopping at Trader Joe’s once a year.
Across the street from Trader Joe’s was a Goodwill store where I bought some clothing. Geeeeez ... where do the Palm Springs thrift stores get all that brand new clothing ? ? ?
I bought a really nice Arnold Palmer brand cardigan sweater, a North Face brand hooded sweater, and a t-shirt. With the “purple tag” discount on one item ( today was “purple tag day“ ), and senior’s discount on the other two, my bill was ... are you ready ? ... just under ten bucks !
We stopped at the Revivals outlet in Cathedral City. This store had a lot of furniture. Nice furniture ! Brand new furniture ! HUH ? How / where do thrift stores get brand new, upscale furniture ? We drove to Flying J in Thousand Palms to check their price on diesel ( twenty cents a gallon more than Valero in Cathedral City ! ) and Lucas diesel fuel additive. We headed back towards home on I-10, stopping at Pilot Travel Center to check their price on Lucas. I bought a gallon there.
Once back home at Catalina Spa in Desert Hot Springs we trimmed Sully’s and Bo’s claws, then took Bo to the dog park for an obedience and agility session. HA HA HA ... he was sooooo excited. He hasn’t had a whole lot of mental stimulation since he broke a toe 2½ weeks ago. Given our lunch at Sherman’s Deli we had a late, light supper while watching Survivor, then went to ... AHHHHH ... “take the waters”.
Thursday ; This morning we went into Desert Hot Springs to do some shopping. First stop was Walgreens, looking for some "mouth sore" medication. I have painful, inflamed gums around one back tooth. It's severe enough to make my jaw and cheek sore.
I bought some medication at Walgreens ... and a lot of 50% discounted Easter chocolate treats. If the medication doesn't alleviate the discomfort at least I can console myself with chocolate bunnies. HA HA HA ! We shopped briefly at Angel View thrift store, then went to Glossy, the women's bathing suit store in Desert Hot Springs that always has a good selection of mastectomy bathing suits. Joanne buys one or two bathing suits there each year. She bought one today. All summer in Keremeos and all winter in Yuma she attends water exercise classes five days a week so she wears out bathing suits fairly quickly.
We returned home for lunch. I napped briefly then did some chores before heading out late in the afternoon for the Palm Springs Dog Park. We come to Palm Springs for Sherman's Deli and Trader Joe's. Bo comes for the wonderful Palm Springs Dog Park. WOO-HOO ! Bo had a great time in the dog park today. There were more small dogs on the small dog side of the park than we've ever seen before. There was so much socialization and "pack activity" to indulge in that Bo never even wanted to go over to the big dog section of the park. After about an hour he was tired and it was time to head over to Village Fest.
Every Thursday evening the main street of downtown Palm Springs is closed to vehicle traffic and becomes a ten or twelve block long pedestrian shopping mall, with vendors and entertainers. And lots and lots of people. Bo has been to Village Fest before. He actually doesn't like it much. It's a bit too crowded for his taste. He seems a bit overwhelmed by being in the midst of that many people. And by the time we had walked from one end to the other and back, along with his romping in the dog park, his recently broken toe was obviously getting sore. We bought some artisan bread and some fresh produce and headed back to where we had parked the truck.
On the way back to Catalina Spa in Desert Hot Springs we stopped at a Subway to buy a sub sandwich for supper. Using a coupon, of course. And as we stepped out of the Subway, there on the sidewalk in front of the store was ... WOO-HOO ... a ten dollar bill. < raising arms above head > HE SHOOTS, HE SCORES ! ! !
Late in the evening, after supper and a bit of TV we went for our nightly "taking the waters". AHHHHH, yes ... another reason why we come to Palm Springs annually.
Friday ; Today started out cool and cloudy, and became cold and raining. We attended the dreaded sales presentation this morning. It wasn't so bad. Took about an hour. Not really much pressure. Little old lady saleswoman.
This afternoon we went to six ... count 'em ... six ... furniture consignment shops in Palm Springs looking for replacement dinette chairs. WOW ! ! ! What nice furniture in these Palm Springs furniture consignment shops ! But nothing suitable for us. We refilled with diesel and bought some groceries. We had brought Bo along planning to take him to the Palm Springs Dog Park after our afternoon of shopping. When we arrived at the dog park it was ... cold and raining. But ... what the hell ! There was a woman from Washington with her three Shih Tzus in the dog park, so we went in and visited for awhile.
In the evening we watched a few episodes of Storage Wars on A&E ... Joanne loves that show ... and I continued work on our personal income tax returns.
Saturday ; Palm Springs, California to Parker, Arizona
Today was windy and cold in Palm Springs, sunny and mild in Parker.
This morning we departed Catalina Spa and drove into Desert Hot Springs to check out a charity rummage sale. We didn't buy anything. We headed north on Hwy. 62 which soon turned east, passing through Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree, and Twentynine Palms. When we stopped for a bathroom break I discovered that Sully had vomited in the trailer and was having a bit of anxiety. We took him into the truck with us for the rest of the day. He seemed to really enjoy that, so we're going to start travelling with him in the truck. He usually travels alone inside the trailer.
After Twentynine Palms Hwy.62 is a 100 mile stretch of nothing across the Mojave Desert. Joanne found it boring. When we got to the town of Earp at the Colorado River, we made a wrong turn and instead of crossing the bridge across the river into Arizona and the town of Parker, we turned north heading alongside the western shore of the Colorado River, still in California. We decided that instead of turning around we might as well make the 15 mile one way / 30 mile return trip to the Parker Dam, just to explore. Large trucks, trailers, and RV's are not allowed to cross the Parker Dam. The California side of the Colorado River is mostly BLM land, with some luxury waterfront resorts thrown in. The BLM land is used extensively by off roaders / ATV'ers. There was an abundance of wild burros all along the 15 mile stretch. Bo thought it was stupendous to bark at wild burros. Sully just showed contempt for those big, ugly creatures. HA HA HA ... dog vs. cat mentality.
Once back at Earp, California, we crossed the Colorado River to Parker, Arizona. We refilled with diesel ... much cheaper in Arizona than in California ... and stopped to boondock for the night at BlueWater Casino. Before having supper in the trailer we went into the casino and looked around. Nice casino ... like most. Buffet restaurant too expensive.
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