August and September 2017 went by in a blur with appointments and other activities, like a 5 day trip to Disneyland with Jim’s sister, Margaret. While there, we connected with some relatives of Jim’s who live near Anaheim - lovely to spend breakfast time chatting with Mary and Sue.
We left Victoria in the rig, for warmer climes on October 1 via the COHO ferry to Port Angeles and down the west side of Puget Sound (but not Highway 101 with it’s narrow bridges). This peninsula route is very easy for us and means that we avoid the heavy traffic of Seattle - always helpful when driving a large vehicle.
We stopped at the Sacramento Wildlife Refuge near Corning, CA to hopefully see the migrating flocks of Snow Geese and Sandhill Cranes. They hadn’t arrived yet but we did see Greater-White Fronted Geese and several skunks scouting out the reeds just at sunset. It was too dark for most photos, but Jim did get a great shot of a Great Horned Owl.
(click on the images below to get a larger view and comments)
We spent 4 days in Auburn, CA with Jill and her family and of course, the time went by too quickly. One of the highlights of our time in Auburn was watching a soccer game starring our Granddaughter. There were 7 of us cheering her on with a few other parents cheering on the rest of the team. This child has so many grandparents - oh, to be so lucky!!!
We pushed on to the Coachella Valley/Palm Springs area, driving for 12 hours to arrive at Caliente Springs after sunset. Not going to do that again – a long day of driving to then arrive in the dark! Waving about with a flashlight is not great for communication between the driver and the ground crew, if you get the drift.
Unfortunately, as we left Loomis, near Jill’s place we had difficulty in bringing in the slide on the rig, so had to ask some other RV owners to help push it in. When we reached Palm Springs, we arranged for repair #3 with the slide and rented a park model (see photo below). The problem with the slide was determined to be a faulty motor which was replaced under our warranty. After the repairs, which took 2 weeks, we stopped to hook up the Jeep, only to have some error messages on the console. After much fiddling about by the technicians, a fuse was replaced and we were on our way back to Caliente and settled into the retired lifestyle. Never a dull moment with an RV!
This was our 4th visit to Caliente Springs Resort near Desert Hot Springs. We have enjoyed the activities here in the past so decided to put down a few roots for 3 months. It was very hot in the desert (30°C/90°F) but we soon became acclimatized and complained about the cool weather (15°C/60°F) when it arrived in December.
A typical morning at Caliente would find Jeannie doing water exercises in the nice warm pool then playing waterball (volleyball in the pool). Jim particularly liked this sport and would sometimes play 3 times a day, if it was offered. Because of the great competition, both of our skill levels improved and while our weight went down, our fitness levels went up.
In the afternoons, Jeannie enjoyed the craft sessions with Marty, a crafter extraordinaire and a lovely group of ladies hanging out to create some interesting projects: embellished fabric books & woven cell phone holders. Some of these ladies also joined together for “Chicks with Sticks” for gab sessions while knitting or crocheting – a great way to catch up with the “goings-on” in the park. Caliente sponsored a craft fair while we were there and Jeannie got a partial “craft fair fix” which she was missing at home.
We also made some new friends which meant that evenings or Sundays were spent learning new card games (Minnesota Canasta, Progressive Rummy, Euchre and a new version of GOLF).
Once a week, we went bird watching at Big Morongo Preserve which is north of Desert Hot Springs, on the plateau above the Coachella Valley. We also revisited Whitewater Preserve where we had enjoyed some spring flowers last March. This spot is a great place for hiking or birding with us taking photos of our first Western Screech Owl and Black-tailed Gnatcatcher and an Oak Titmouse.
Since Thanksgiving is such a big deal in the USA, the resort provided cooked turkeys and some energetic souls organized the potluck part for a delicious Thanksgiving dinner with about 150 residents – we ate too much, of course.
Via Facebook, we realized that an “old” friend from Undersea Garden days (early 1970s) was staying in Palm Springs. So we arranged several visits with them to catch up on what we had all been doing for the last 45 years, gasp, that long ago? Great to see Paul again and meet his wife Barbara.
One evening we took the time to wait for the Supermoon to appear over the horizon.
The wildfires in November/December, fuelled by the Santa Ana winds were a 3 hour drive from our location but of major concern for those in the north Los Angeles/Santa Barbara area. These winds, which blow out down the canyons from the east at this time of year, were the cause of the rapid spread of the fires but they also blew the smoke out to sea which was fortunate for us who were just inland from Los Angeles. We saw many heart-wrenching videos on the news during those fires.
A Christmas parade was organized within the park for those who wanted to decorate themselves and their ever-present golf carts. Great fun for both those driving or watching. They also visited some shut-ins to sing carols after having a chili dinner.
For Christmas, again the resort graciously purchased hams for us to enjoy a Christmas dinner with pot luck additions. It was amazing to see how the tables were decorated so differently but all with the Christmas theme. A local Boys & Girls Club entertained us with carols and collected the gifts that had been donated by Caliente renters and residents – some folks live here year-round.
Since we were missing the annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) in Victoria, we arranged to assist with the CBC near our current ‘home’, rising before dawn to survey our counting area in the urban setting of Desert Hot Springs. We had our first sighting of a Prairie Falcon which we saw again at the same locale, later in the week. Jim took a photo of a Greater White-fronted Goose which had never been counted in the local CBC before. A local newspaper asked if they could run the photo with their summary of the bird count.
Our Christmas gift this year was a visit from Jill, Ian and Aarilyn who came and stayed in the same rented park model that we had occupied while the rig was in for repairs. We had a busy time with them, taking the Palm Springs Tramway up to the Mount San Jacinto State Park for a ramble before the lights of the Coachella Valley were visible below us. One day, we took a golf cart tour at the Living Desert Zoo in Palm Desert. Jill was able to tell our guide about some of the apparatus in the animal hospital as she works at Gold Country Wildlife Rescue. We made a stop at 1000 Palms Oasis Preserve to walk over the San Andreas Fault from the Pacific Plate to the North America Plate. We also hung out with the family at the pool for waterball and then billiards in the evening.
We enjoyed Christmas dinner with Jim’s cousins and family near Anaheim, a 2 hour drive from Caliente. We met 20 family strangers who were not strangers by the time we left with some fresh oranges and avocadoes from their trees, and lots of love.
At the beginning of January, we were sad to leave Caliente Springs as we said goodbye to some great folks – we were welcomed into several homes for card games and parties, loved the waterball but mostly just felt welcome to join into activities and make new friends. Several of the crafty ladies had lunch at Amanda’s Tea Room which was a lot of fun with the provided hats. Click on the images to check out the details at this lovely tea spot.
Palm Springs has to be the Sunset Capital of California for it’s consistently spectacular sunsets. Not sure about the sunrises as most of you know, we are not early risers, unless we have a very good reason to be up before dawn, like birding.
Cheers for now. We are currently in San Diego, CA after a month in Yuma, AZ which we will report on in the next blog in early April.