As I said earlier we arrived in Borrego Springs the 1st of March and we will be here until the 29th. Our RV park is called The Springs at Borrego.
What a great place to be. We have been to a genuine Hawaiian luau, courtesy of the owners and family of the RV park. Their family flew in from Florida and Hawaii and they roasted a pig in the ground. It was very good! There were hula dancers and music and and a happy bunch of RVers.
We went star gazing with Dennis, the local astronomer. They have a large telescope set up about a half mile from the park and we were able to look at Saturn and some of its rings and its moons.
We have played a lot of golf and both of us are starting to enjoy playing again.
Note that I seemed to have missed the ball... nice place to play golf
Kathy about to execute (bad word) a long drive
We played on 3 different courses and all of them are in great shape. One of them is a 9 hole course that is part of our RV park and right next door is the Roadrunner course which is an 18 hole par 3.
On Friday the 13th, (we were a little nervous because of the day), we drove 20 some miles over to the Salton Sea and visited with Denis & Joyce Girouard.
Joyce relaxing while Denis slaves over a hot barbecue
Denis and Joyce are refurbing a mobile home there, and doing a great job. Denis did the barbecueing and he is also a wonderful bartender. On our way over there we passed by a beautiful golf course although it did lack some grass.
Note the beautiful fairways and greens!
We had a fun time with them and hope to do it again.
Jim & Marion Jordan were back from their wonderful trip to Peru and the Upper Amazon so we had a chance to see them at their home in Borrego and have dinner. They have some really interesting stories about what they saw and did. Thanks for the dinner, Jim and Marion!
One evening we attended a presentation at the RV park on Swainson Hawks. They migrate from the Pampas in Argentina and stop in Borrego Springs on their way to North America and Canada. We saw about 100 hawks one evening and as many as 1000 have been seen in one day. They stop to eat large caterpillars and other insects and rest before they continue their journey north. They are beautiful birds and this is a unique stop for them.
We have enjoyed Borrego so much that we have reserved the month of March for 2010. It's a place where we really relax and we have made friends with many of our neighbors who we hope to see again next year. Our cat, Tiger, was allowed to go outside the motor home a couple of times ... although he got into trouble for chasing a rabbit and also for biting the end off a cactus! No harm done in either instance.
Our last week in Borrego we went all out and played 18 holes of golf on Monday, Wednesday & Friday and did 1-1/2 hours of water aerobics on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. We are finally getting back in shape even though we still have a lot of weight to lose.
We left Borrego for the San Francisco Bay area on the 29th so we could be at our good friend Dick Moore's retirement party on April 1st and make the trek up the coast visiting our family and friends..
After a gruesome drive from Borrego to Bakersfield due to heavy winds, we stayed over in Bakersfield and then Beta Bel (near San Juan Batista). We arrived in Half Moon Bay on April 30th. We are at one of our favorite RV parks, Pelican Point which over looks the Pacific ocean and the Ritz Carlton golf course.
The 18th tee at the Ritz Carlton
Meilani and her friend from school dropped by for a quick visit and then we headed over the Bay bridge for Dick's party on April 1st. We had forgotten about how bad the traffic is and what lunatics are out on the roads but we made it there on time without incident. Dick's party was fun and we had the chance to meet a number of old friends from the Pacific Bell, SBC and AT&T days.
Dick Moore and Family
We had a taste of what my daughter Julie does with her time every day by doing "Grandparent duty" on Friday. We picked up and dropped off Meilani and India at their various after school activities including karate and Spanish lessons, dance and art classes aand stops for snacks to keep them going.
We met a number of our friends for lunch or dinner or just a visit. Pat & Ira Gold met us for dinner in San Jose at Santana Row, we had two dinners with Frank & Glenna Vaskelis and had the opportunity to see their pictures from the safari they recently took to Africa. We also had a chance to join them for 18 holes at the Half Moon Bay golf club "Old Course." We didn't embarrass ourselves too badly on the golf course, and really enjoyed seeing Frank and Glenna and taking in the gorgeous views of this oceanside special place.
Glenna & Frank
We stopped by and visited with Hal & Geni Sundquist our old, (they are not really that old!) neighbors in Sunnyvale and we had a delicious home-cooked pot roast dinner with Dee & Roger Hartman at their home in Sunnyvale. We also had lunch with Judie Whitman in San Jose and dinner with our real estate agent who had sold our Sunnyvale home for us, Bridgid Van Randall . It had been over a year since we had been in the Bay area and it was really great to visit with everyone again.
Roger & Dee
Hal & Geni
Kathy & Judie
We spent a lot of time with my daughter Julie, her husband Allan and the 2 grand daughters India and Meilani. We had the pleasure of spending Easter with them, starting with church in the morning and the rest of the day with Allan's sisters, their families, and the Easter egg hunts. The night before we even got to color some eggs. Julie and family have two new kittens - one in particular, is quite entertaining. Go, Sasha!
Melani
India
Julie and a proud Father
Kathy and I had our physicals at Palo Alto Medical and passed everything with flying colors and we are good for another year. This took some time as we had to get blood tests and then have appointments with several different doctors.
We left the Bay area on April 11th and headed north to Redding, CA for a night and then on to Ashland, OR for visits with my brother Roy and his wife Mary and also to have dinner with our friends Dick & Fanci. Our 1st day there was like old times: rain & snow. Why are we here?
Brother Roy & Mary
Dave, Fanci & Dick
We had a great time visiting and relaxing and then we headed for Eugene to visit with with my sister Beverly and her grand daughter Natalie. Thanks to all for the great meals!
Natalie & Sister Beverly
The following day we pulled our rig with car in tow into Gary & Diane's front yard in Turner, OR. Diane and Kathy have been best friends since 7th grade. Diane fixed a delicious brunch for us.
Diane & Gary
Then it was on to Portland to see more of David's family: Christopher and his Mom, Ann, son Larry and his wife, Megan and grandson Jackson. Megan cooked us some fantastic dinners and we had a chance to walk along the Willamette River and enjoy the Portland sky line. As we see all of the grand children one is struck with the fact that they grow a lot in a year. While in Portland, Kathy, Chris, Ann & I visited the Williamette National Cemetary where Kathy's Mom, Pat, was laid to rest last year with her husband Frank, who passed away over 30 years ago. It's a beautiful site on top of a hill with a great view of Portland and the surrounding area.
On the 21st we headed for the Puyallup area and our old RV park in Graham. It hasn't changed and is still a pretty spartan park. When Mount Rainier is clear, however, it's pretty spectacular.
Here we spent a lot of time with Jason, Kelly, Logan & Peyton. It is such a pleasure to see Logan looking great. While we were here, Logan went thru his regular tests and came thru with flying colors. One year in full remission!! We are very grateful.
We went to a high school soccer game and Jason is one of the assistant coaches. His team is in 1st place and he is quite proud. Kathy introduced me to an old friend and her husband and when we told them we would be workamping in Warden at the Sage Hills RV & Golf Resort the husband said he knew where it was and he and 7 other guys were coming there the end of May to play golf. What a coincidence! It also helped us think we are not completely crazy.
Pat, Traci, Andrew, Nathan and Sydney are doing great and we had a good visit with them. All 3 of the kids are doing well and we spent an evening at Nathan's baseball game which was fun.
Nathan
Kathy's daughter, Kristi, is also doing well, and has moved into an apartment with a friend. She is holding down two jobs, so is pretty busy.
We had dinner with one of Kathy's best friends, Jacqui. It was nice to see her again. She was one of the people that came down from the Tacoma area to visit us in Sunnyvale. Jacqui and David really enjoy teasing each other. Thanks, Jacqui (XOXOX) for a wonderful evening and dinner at the Keg!
Jacqui, Dave & Kathy
A rose between two thorns?
David's sister, Kathy, and her husband Al invited us for the day to visit them in Des Moines, a suburb of Seattle. We got to see their son David and his wife Suzanne. David is on leave from Iraq. He looked great and will be back for good in a few months. Kathy and Al treated us to a great Mexican dinner...thank you!
Caroline, Nephew David and Sister Kathy
Sister Kathy & Wife Kathy
On April 29th we pulled up stakes and headed for Sage Hills Golf and RV Resort near Warden in Eastern Washington. Warden is located midway between Moses Lake and Othello, and about an hour north of the Tri-Cities of Pasco, Kennewick, and Richland. We arrived in Warden and were very pleased with the look of the place. The golf course looks great and we start work on May 1st. It looks like we will be working in the Pro shop which also serves as the RV check-in desk. Each of us has to work 17 hours a week and for that we get a free hook up, free golf cart and all the golf we can play when we are not working. It's going to be very hard getting up and going to work by 8 in the morning.
More to come as we check out eastern Washington and work our fingers to the bone!