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.