Christmas Card

The Lee's are read for Christmas.

Ted E. Bear is ready for Xmas

The stockings are hung.

The foods ready,

and the bar is ready.

The tree is ready.

Our house Xmas 2010

September Feast

Every September Anthoney's Restaurant in Des Moines serves their special beefsteak tomatoes stuffed with shrimp. They only serve it for two weeks, when the local beefsteak tomatoes are at their ripest, and it varies as to the date so it is easy to miss if you are not watching for it. It is to die for. Trust us.

Spring Memories.....Dinner at "Harbor Lights"

When we got back from our winter trip to California, Mark and Carol were up here in their motor home visiting his mom. They stay at Ed and Patty's place and we all got together for seafood and martini's and the long standing venue "Harbor Lights" on Puget Sound here in Tacoma. It was a nice sunny day and a great time.

A Princess Party

Great niece Olivia's 4th birthday party

Back to the blog......

Facebook is okay for quick little comments but for pictures and descriptions is leaves a lot to be desired. For than reason we decided to post to our blog each with with pix and events that we enjoyed as much for saving our own memories as anything else.

We did not have the best summer weather but we did a lot of work in the backyard early in June so we could enjoy spending the summer outdoors this year. A new deck, fire pit, more paving stones, and some more outdoor seating made the back yard a lot of fun this year.

When it does rain....

There are three television shows we watch EVERY week, "Lost", "Survivor", and "The Amazing Race". Since we do NOT have a DVR we have to watch them at their normal network time. Yeah, you can watch a couple of them online or on iphone but its not the same. Paul and Michele watch "Lost", Mark and Carol watch all three shows, and their latest episode comes up whenever we talk. I do miss the freedom of the DVR and the HDTV big screens back at home and should get home in time to watch "The Masters" on the big set. Will Tiger be playing. I sure think so.
We are getting our NetFlix movies down here and have been to several movies including "Avatar" & "Alice In Wonderland" both at the Desert IMAX in 3D. We also watched the Oscars, yay for Sandra Bullock, and I will watch some of March Madness basketball outside on our compartment TV. I hope the Dawgs of Washington make the tourney! We are both reading a lot. I've read about 20 books since we got here including "Treasure Island" on the iphone.
Next year the current plan is to spend Thanksgiving & Xmas at home, then spend January and February here at Outdoor Resort, and try and spend March and part of April on the beaches of Southern Cal. Starting in San Diego and slowly working our way north to Morro Bay. Unless the weather forecast is bad, then we will be golfing here in Palm Springs another month.

Almost Californians

Well, we have been down here five months a year for the last two years so I guess we are settling in. We shop at "Statler Brothers" markets (they have great meat) just around the corner, and know where all the Costco's and WalMarts are here in the desert. We know the key movie theaters, and have located a few favorite restaurants. We live in shorts and t-shirts and sunglasses have become as important as a wallet. Another big discovery down here is In N Out Burgers....the best hamburgers I have ever had. We probably eat less burgers down here than at home but when we do we treat ourselves to In N Out. Only available in California, Nevada, Arizona, and newly into Utah. Try one if you get the chance.
Yesterday, I rode the bike through the park which is very flat and easy to pedal through. I rode around the perimeter of the 1200 sites and that took about 20 minutes. The other main clubhouse, the El Saguaro, has a little larger rectangular pool that is salt water. The clubhouse across the street from us, The La Palma, has a free form fresh water pool. Both have two large outdoor spas. There are six other mini-club houses with pools and a spa and a tennis court. The main clubhouses have four tennis courts each. Next year we are thinking of taking the free tennis lessons. Between golf and tennis you can keep busy.
Another thing about living in the desert is that in late September or early October they pull all the grass out and replant. The whole golf course and all the sites and clubhouses. I understand that for about a week or two it can get pretty dusty. Who knew?

Catching up!

I haven't blogged for quite a while and since I am primarily doing this as a keepsake of the trip I thought I had better get it up to date. I don't know if anyone has been reading this but if you have I apologize for the lapse. I was using Facebook and neglecting this blog, so I have some work to do to get this caught up from mid-February.

As I mentioned earlier, we took six weeks of golf lessons, an hour a week, and have been following up on that by going to the driving range at Rancho Mirage Country Club. Outdoor Resort has an agreement with them, and you can hit as many golf balls as you want for $5. Not only is it fun to play down here on the course but we have a nine hole par three course a block away from our house so expect to play a lot when we get home in April and the season is just starting.

We are getting to know quite a few people down here and in the park. We went to Bingo last Wednesday when Larry and Rose were here and Susan won $36. Like everything here in the park it is cheap to play Bingo. $6 for a sheet of ten games, and about 8 cards on each sheet. It's really nice that the owners association runs everything and doesn't but money ahead of service and convenience. I had pancakes and coffee at the cafe for $3 the other day...again the cafe is for the convenience of the lot owners and renters. There are lots of activities, two "scramble" golf tourneyments a week, and a lot of tennis activities and lessons also. There are block BBQ's, dinners, dances, entertainment, etc. We missed the "Potato Bake" last month which is very popular.

It's amazing how lush the resort is. It is hard to believe that this is the desert. A far cry from the places we have stayed in Arizona and Nevada that's for sure. The surrounding mountains and the amount of grass and flowers in the park makes it feel like spring and summer back home, but the palm trees give the location away. The winter has not been up to Palm Springs standards, but its very easy to be spoiled quickly down here with sunny clear skies at 7am and extending all day. Even if it rains here it never seems to last more that a few minutes. The main compaint this year is that it hasn't been in the mid 70's or 80's enough. By Tacoma standards the winter here would have been a better than average summer, yes, really!

Here's a few pictures of the park.

End of the canyon

View from the trail

Bend but don't break

Canyon cactus