hiking the "Slot"

Gary, Royce and I hiked this slot canyon just south of the park....

 

it started out wide.............

 

but soon got really narrow in places..............

 

you can see where the "flash floods" cut the slot.....

 

in places, it was really deep.........

 

this was my second slot canyon.........I'm looking for more!!!

hiking Ghost Mountain, home of the Souths

Gary and Carol strummin' the uke

 

Hiking up Ghost Mt. where the Souths' lived in the 1930s.....

 

It was snowing on the mountains across from us....



 

a view from the top.........

sculptures in the desert

 



camping at Anza Borrego SP

We are camping.........finally back in the 5th wheel 

 

We're at Anza Borrego State Park, hoping to see the spring wildflower bloom.

We're here with Gary & Mel and Royce & Gina.

 

Our first hike was to Palm Canyon.

 

It's a nice hike around the mountain to a natural palm canyon.

 

This is what a natural palm oasis in the desert  looks like.

 



now on to Indio and the Riverside County Fair and National Date Festival.

We were going to go to the fair from the cabin, but since we went home.............we had to travel back to the fair. Actually, Carol checked into the JW Marriott and I went to the fair to see what the competition was. I took a 1st place in Fine Arts Sculpture for my embellished platter.  This was a collaboration work with Courtney, my nephew Jesse's..........friend.

I was really surprised to get not only a 1st place but also a Best in Division for my wood turned "winged" box out of oak and tulip wood.

 

I also got a ribbon for my clock and

for my figured walnut hollow form.

 

That night we had dinner with our good friends, Brad and Gail (they snowbird to  their Palm Desert condo from Massachusetts. It was great seeing them. It's always a good time.

off to the mountains.............and SNOW!!!

After Tony and Dennis left, Carol and I went to a 1000 Trails cabin close to Julian for a week. It was really nice, but it snowed 5" then again the next day and we didn't have boots. (we're truly So Cal people!!)

We were to have dinner with Ami in San Diego, which we did, but decided to then go back home for some good weather for the last few days.

 

off to the coast (shore)

We took off to San Diego and visited the USS Midway in the morning, followed  by whale watching in the afternoon. We saw a lot of dolphins and had a beautiful day, but the whales must have been watching us that day.........

Once back on land, we dropped in and visited with Ami and the girls...........2 cats and 2 dogs.

It was a good day.

We all had a great visit. Can't wait until next time...............which will probably be in Hawaii next year.

more LA touring

We did Hollywood, visited the Chinese Theater and viewed the Hollywood sign and walked Sunset. Dennis even found an exclusive  shop there that carried the clothing line he produced prior to retiring. A little time at Olvera Street and it was  back to Temecula before the "LA traffic"  built up.

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off to LA

Our first stop was the Shuttle Museum at the California Science Center where the retired space shuttle Endeavour is housed. It was really a treat to see it. I now know where my two replacement shuttle tiles go. I also have a NASA tomato seed packet that was exposed to space in the LDEF (Long Duration Exposure Facility) from April 6, 1984 to January 20, 1990.

The weird part is that the LDEF went up in the Space Shuttle Challenger and returned in the Space Shuttle Columbia. There can't be too many articles that can have that claim. LA's Space Shuttle Endeavour was the replacement for the Challenger.

 

After the shuttle we went to some great exhibits, like this underwater  Calif. coastal display.

 

For lunch we went to "Philippe the Original", home to the famous French Dipped Sandwich..........and it was really good.

Next we went into Griffith  Park, past the Greek Theater and up to the Griffith Observatory. It was a great view overlooking downtown LA.

 

We checked into the JW Marriott Live in downtown and directly across from Staples. For dinner we went to "The Pantry" another LA tradition. Then it was off to the Lakers game. 

The Lakers played against the Phoenix Suns (Steve Nash's old team). Kobe didn't have a good game, but LA chalked up a win- kind of few and far between this season!!

Another highlight was seeing "Shaq" watching the game. Actually, Shaq got "Punked" that night and was "thrown out" of the arena. It was quite a day.

visitors from the east

Feb. 10

My nephew, Tony, and my sister's close friend Dennis came in from PA for a week.

We took them to Diamond Valley Lake- a man made lake between two mountains, dammed on the ends and then filled with Colorado River water and Calif. Aqueduct water. It holds as much water as all of LA's other reservoirs together. and has enough water to supply LA for half a year.

 

We also went to the beach (shore- for you easterners) and had lunch at "Ruby's on the Pier" in Oceanside.

I think they like the sunny weather.............lol