Party, Party, Party

We have had a busy week that included two fun nights with hubby’s cousin and his wife from Palm Desert who brought their motorhome and stayed in the site beside us. They joined us, along with another couple from the park, for a trip to the Algodones, Mexico Welcome Back Snowbirds Party.

There were a lot of people but not as many as last year, but I think the weather played a part in that. It was overcast and even rained a little but it didn’t put a damper on our fun.

Great entertainment! This young lady was very good.

Most vendors were offering free drinks while you browsed through their shops and we did enjoy a Corona at ten in the morning while looking through a pottery shop … what can I say, when in Mexico 😀

There was also lots of free street food but that kinda creeps me out so we stopped at what I call the Yellow Restaurant for a tasty lunch.

Lunch was followed up with another margarita at El Paraiso because we think the yellow place has better food but El Paraiso has better margarita’s.

Hubby bought a big bag of prawns while we were in Algodones so that night we had steak and prawns for dinner … steak cooked by hubby’s cousin, salad by his wife, prawns by hubby … and nothing by me! What a treat!

The next day they left but the fun didn’t stop. We had two other couples over for a chili dinner and the Christmas Golf Cart Parade. The weather was great and so were the carts.

After the parade we continued to sit around the fire and enjoy the evening.

On Tuesday I did my Christmas baking while hubby did his shift as a Wood Shop monitor. Yesterday we gave out some baking and joined a group of friends for happy hour.

Today I gave out more baking to our neighbours who take such good care of Maxx when we are away … we are lucky people to be in a park with such great people!

Until next time …

A New Border “Fence”

I have always been fascinated by the border wall/fence and the border patrol check stations … and watching the TV show Border Patrol. So when we stopped at the outlet mall in Calexico yesterday I had to check out the new border fence. And I say fence on purpose because of things I have read on the Internet, maybe true, maybe not, but here is what I found out.

This section of border fence use to look like this.

Border fence in the parking lot of the Calexico Outlet Mall.

I took the above picture in 2015 but it still looked like the same last year when we visited the outlet mall.

Apparently US Customs and Border Protection had always planned on replacing an eleven mile section of border fence in this area last year, it had been in the budget planning for years. When they began to build the fence last year President Trump made an announcement that this was the beginning of the new border wall he had promised during his election campaign and he made a visit to Calexico to officially open the new wall once it was built.

The powers that be in both Calexico and US Customs and Border Protection insist that this is not a wall, it is just a new border fence that they had plan to install all along.

I’m not sure what the real story is but the new “fence” is much more imposing and taller than the old fence!

I only took one quick picture because as you can see Border Patrol was sitting right there and I’m not sure if I’m allowed to take a picture … fortunately I’m still here so I guess it was okay 🙂

Until next time …

Happy US Thanksgiving 2019

We wish all our US family and friends Happy Thanksgiving 🙂

One of the fun things about our life is the chance to celebrate thanksgiving twice! Once with our family at home when Canadians celebrate thanksgiving on the second Monday of October and again when the US celebrates thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November.

This year we celebrated with hubby’s cousin and family in Palm Desert. We were treated to a heavy rain storm and a power outage … fortunately their daughter and son-in-law live close by and they had power so they took the turkey to their house to cook. The power was only out for about an hour so dinner was saved and we indulged in a big dinner, a few drinks, and lots of great company.

Until next time …

Our First Winter Visit To Algodones

We made our first visit this winter to Algodones with our Kelowna/Yuma/Agdodones friends. Last winter we found out that Sunday’s are a good day to visit as most of the dental and optical places are closed so the crowds are not there.

And yesterday was no exception 🙂 While the hubby of our friend couple went for a hair cut, hubby, myself, and friend wifey wandered around town. We really weren’t looking for anything in particular but hubby and I did want to visit a large ceramic store we found last year.

Hubby led us off in the direction he though we should go and while we didn’t find the store we did find an awesome car show! Okay awesome for hubby not so awesome for friend wifey and myself but we plastered smiles on our face and pretended to be enthused 😀

It was interesting to see the outskirts of Algodones which we have never visited before, we ended up in areas were locals hung out instead of the tourist area … and just so you know we felt totally safe.

Behind these bike is the town square were children were playing.

After wandering around, and never finding the shop we were looking for, we head back to El Paraiso to meet up with friend hubby and have a margarita. After lunch at what I call the Yellow Plaza (sorry no pic this time), we did a little more shopping … and maybe had another margarita … and then head back across the border.

Outside the shop area we came across gas stations and motels.

Sundays are a great day to go, especially early in the season as we walked right up to customs and were through in no time!

We saw this motorcycle, made out of the fender of a VW, drive down the street.

These table were set up down the alley of the car show. They were so fancy I thought they were set up for a wedding.

I was chosen for a special screening when we crossed … and had just enough margaritas to think this was truly a good thing … but it didn’t amount to anything 😦 I was escorted into a separate section, asked what I had purchased, and after I responded that I had only bought two bottles of vanilla I was quickly sent on my way.

Until next time …

Heart Wrenching News and Goodbye Borrego Springs, CA

So let’s start with Borrego Springs …

If you have ever had the opportunity to boondock at Clark Dry Lake along Rockhouse Road in Borrego Springs I’m sure you will be as sad to hear this news as we were 😯 This 160 acre parcel is now closed to boondockers as the property has been sold and the new owners are no longer interested in sharing it with us boondockers.

Ruffin It With Rufus has more information on the closure but what also scared me was a reply to a comment on his last blog that indicated Alabama Hills may also be closed to boondockers soon. I guess it is a good thing we had a good visit there this year!

Hubby also went onto Campendium, which we routinely use to check out places to stay, and they no longer list Rockhouse Road as a boondocking option 😦

This is a hibiscus flower. I love it because it is so different from the usual flower.

And the heart wrenching news …

I follow a blog called Our Awesome Adventures about the travels of George and Suzie. The thing about bloggers is we have many great friends who we know so well only through blogging. You develop a friendship through your mutual blogs and comments back and forth and it is not unusual to feel very close to bloggers you have never even met in person, although we have been fortunate to meet both George and Suzie a few times at Bloggerfest.

Last night’s sunset.

At the beginning of October George had a sore back that he thought was because he had used the gym and over exerted himself. In just over a month they learned he had cancer, put their snowbird plans on hold, rented an apartment for the winter, George ended up in the hospital, and yesterday Suzie posted that they are now looking at hospice 😥

Our hearts go out to George, but also to Suzie and their family who all of the sudden are facing a heartbreaking situation. George has always been so positive, even while going through all of this, and his blogs always put a smile on my face.

As I do my walkabout this morning George you will be in my thoughts and as Suzie says, “take one day at a time”.

Until next time …

Bring On Christmas

Our week has consisted of a few bike rides and a lot of Christmas decorating 😀

So rather than babble on about boring stuff, I’m going to bore you with pictures of my Christmas decorations instead, because it is important to me to decorate even though we live in an RV.

 

Vase on our kitchen table and an interesting sky through the windows.

What looks like a picture to the left of the Christmas tree is actually the view out our open window.

All I can show you of our mantel above the fireplace is a fuzzy photo because above the mantel are pictures of our children and their families and hanging from the mantel are stockings with our children’s names on them … and of course you all know how ridiculously private I am about showing stuff like that ☺And don’t tell me it’s too early to decorate! We head home in less that a month for Christmas and I want to enjoy my decorations before we go 🙂

What I thought was going to be a great sunset didn’t amount to much but it was still pretty.

Until next time …

How Does Your Garden Grow 2019

Last year I posted some pictures of vegetable fields when we first arrived in Yuma and then followed their growth as we were here. A number of people said they enjoyed watching the fields grow so I thought I would do it again this year. I took these pictures when we were out on a bike ride last Thursday.

Lettuce field beside our park.

Same field but I thought you might be interested in seeing how deep the trenches are between the rows. These trenches allow for flooding the fields, which is how they are watered.

Broccoli field

Another lettuce field.

I will do my best to post pictures every few weeks so you can see the progress.

Until next time …