Diners, Drive Ins and Dives

For lunch we made it to Salt Lake City to a place I saw on the TV show Diners, Drive Ins and Dives. They have the best homemade meatballs. Carol had the meatball sub and I had Philly steak sandwich. Both were the best we had. For night we made it to Pocatella Idaho. What a change from yesterday, from 90 degrees (30c) when leaving to a snowstorm in Salt Lake. Tomorrow we aim for northern Montana.

leaving

This morning we left for the north. It was like leaving summer camp. All our friends came by to say goodbye and exchange email addresses. We are also having a reunion in the Okanagan in summer with everyone. We made it to Cedar City Utah for night, which took us through four states, California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah. I am plotting out tomorrows distance. This picture was at the Mexican Market in Indio, with Sandi and Yves (from Vernon).

Kenny

Carol went on the star's homes tour and now became our tour guide. Dave and Linda's daughter and husband came down to Palm Springs from Kelowna, so the six of us went on tour. This is Elizabeth Taylor's estate, which takes in a whole block, with two guest homes and pool.

This is Kenny Roger's home. He came out on the deck and waved to us. Gary got it on his camcorder. It was a two hour tour and we went to Jackalopes Restaurant for happy hour after.
Today we drove to Loma Linda and had dinner with Justin Janzen at Olive Garden. This time Natasha did not come along. (inside joke).

Desert Flowers

Today it was a nice 30 degrees (C). I took a hike into the desert which is starting to bloom right now, so I took some shots of all the different wild flowers.









My favourite!


Posing for the picture.

The Birds

I took this picture of a cacti in the desert. The desert is starting to bloom. I'll have to go out and snap some desert colour.

In the tree I saw one of those long neck birds close to our place. He's usually at the water edge fishing.

Keeping on the theme of The Birds, a hummingbird just hatched two eggs across from us. I don't know how it poops up top like that.

Here's Carol sweeping up after a sand storm. Still beats shoveling snow.

Carol went on a tour to stars homes. This is in front of Audery Hepburns house. (for Kristen who is a fan). She saw Sammy Davis Jr.'s house, Elvis's two houses, Dean Martins house and Liberachie's. Elizabeth Taylor's house took a whole block with several guest houses on the property. Many families still own the houses of the deceased.
Today we went to the College of the Desert Market with Dave and Linda and bought some fresh fruits and dates. Linda bought some more dresses. We ate lunch there and I had nice baby back ribs. They said I sure like my ribs, as I was stuffing my face.
Speaking of ribs, I smoked my first salmon a couple of days ago. The neighbour is a butcher by trade and sampled it. He gave it a ten out of ten. The perfect brine and smoke. He smokes a lot of meat so he's going to show me how to smoke a pork tenderloin. They are down here for winter and in Alaska for summer. A few doors down there is a couple who do the same. Now we are hankering to go to Alaska in summer again. We are also pondering a RV caravan trip to the tip of the Baja in Mexico next year with Dave and Linda. They were going to do that last year until she broke both ankles and came here instead, where we met and became good friends.

Fantasy Springs

This past week we made a couple trips to Fantasy Springs Casino. The first time was with Dave and Linda. The women went to play bingo and Dave and I played the slots. They have a good deal there. You give them $20 and get to play $70. I got out of there with $140. We went again last night with Dave and Linda and another Okanagan couple John and Molly, whom we also met last year. We went to their POM Restaurant where Tuesday nights is barbeque night. It's family style which I have not had before in a restaurant. They put the items in the middle of the table for every one to take from. It started with a huge salad and honey biscuits. Then they brought out platters of barbeque ribs and chicken, sliced brisket and sides of white cheddar mac n’ cheese, warm bacon-potato salad, homemade southern style slaw and jalapeño corn bread. For dessert they brought out a whole apple pie. Sort of a smorg at every table, except you can take everything home you don't finish. We have enough left overs we are getting together tomorrow to finish them off. My ribs are better but I don't have to make them for 70 tables. Thursday nights they have the same idea with pasta night. Do we dare? After dinner Carol, John and Molly got their Play 20 get 50 deal and played the slots. Someone left a few cents credit in a machine beside Carol so I started playing that one and got $15 out of it. Carol came out with about $40. As we were leaving I noticed a man playing slots and said to Carol that he looks like our lawyer. We greeted him and sure enough it was Peter Linley. He retired last year and bought a condo here, half a block away from the golf club he has been playing at for the past twenty years. Now he plays golf five days a week.

Beer Express

I made some decals for Carol's Hummer and strapped a bottle of beer to the roof and sent it across the road to the neighbour, Wayne, while hiding out of sight with the remote control. It was fun watching him scratch his head. I've ordered a remote control helicopter. If it will carry the weight I'll send that over next. A couple of nights ago we went out for supper with Shirley and Larry, Kathy and Louie and Bert and Julie. We went to a nice Mexican place in El Paseo.

Birthday Week

This week is my birthday. Ernie and Joni left this morning after a 3 week holiday here. I'm sure they will be back next year. Last night we went to Jackalopes Restaurant with them for my birthday.

This is the view taken from our table. It's a huge outdoor seating area with fountains, statues and gas fire pits at the tables. Most places here have happy hour and the menu and drinks are almost half price, so it pays to eat an hour earlier. As I said Ernie and Joni left this morning so we have March free if anyone else wants to come down. There's a few rental units in our complex.