Borrego Springs, CA

It's Saturday and we are getting what we came here for - no space heaters at night, sunshine during the day, and evenings warm enough to sit out and enjoy a fire or a dog walk or whatever we want without gloves and a jacket.  It is still a big "cool down" from 80 to 60 within 30 or so minutes once the sun goes behind the mountains, but we are adapting to our conditions.

Drove around the area a little today to explore given that we have so much time here - unlike previous stays.  Found orange groves and a "grove side" stand selling fresh oranges, grapefruit, and dates.  Bought a little of it all.  Immediately juiced the oranges when we got home and tested the quality with a generous dose of vodka.  Great orange juice!

Also found a new (to us) Mexican restaurant in town that was "pet friendly" so we stopped for lunch with the "girls" at our table.  Ate so much we just skipped dinner tonight (even with what the dogs got).

Wired the RV this summer for setting up the HD Tv outside when weather allowed.  Today (tonight) was the right time to try it out.  Too hot inside the RV to watch football today so I hooked up the flat screen outside.  What a great setup!

Still watchig the last game as I type, but brought the TV inside at 7:00 pm.  Not cold out, but just a little chilly to just sit and watch.  More of the same tomorrow due to games starting at 10:00am here so we won't get anything new in tomorrow.  Monday will be our day to hike and/or explore some of the numerous trails and sites with new pictures sure to follow.

Just a couple pics from today -

If you are not quite sure where Borrego Springs is - just stick a pin in the "80's"

I hired a "local" to juice my oranges - she looks to be enjoying herself

Making sure the quality is up to standards ( note the test "vodka and oj )

My HD Tv on a pedestal "outside" the RV

Borrego Springs, CA

We did leave Catalina this morning and drove the 360 miles to Borrego Springs.  We arrived one day early but had no trouble getting in.  We will have to move to our "reserved" site in the morning, but that's no problem at all. 

Both the weather and scenery here are simply beautiful.  We pulled in around 4:30 Pacific Time and the sun was already close to setting behind the mountains, but unlike New Mexico and Arizona, it did not get cold right away.  Stayed warm enough to build our first campfire of the trip.

We will be in this area for 18 days minimum so plenty of time to explore and take a lot of pictures to share.
Just a few here of last night and this morning as the sun was coming up.

Here is the best picture of all taken at 8:00am this morning!

Sorry, I had to do it.

Last Day at Catalina

The decision has been made - we are leaving Catalina in the morning
.
Took the dogs on a 1.5 mile canyon hike today and Isabelle seemed to do well - no limping!
Not much water flowing here now, but we found some higher up the canyon.  Girls got to go swimming.
However, Issy was a little "tender footed" once we got back to camp.  May have been too much for her.

Once back to the RV we droped the dogs off and drove to a trail head down the highway where dogs are not allowed and did a one+ hour hike.  Nothing exciting, but something new.  Got a little bit of a workout.

Sorry, but the weather is great!

Still Here In Catalina

It's not unusual!
We are at Catalina and don't want to leave.
Probably could live right here in the campground indefinately.
Last night (Tuesday) was the last of our two day extension and we are talking about staying yet another two more nights and visiting Joshua Tree NP another time.
We have to leave Friday morning as we have a reservation at Borrego-Springs starting that night and it's only a one day drive from here.
Assuming we stay here two more days we will do another 4-5 hour hike - more pictures!  For now, we haven't moved so there is nothing more to show you without boreing you other than our dinner last night.

Ellen bought a special bottle of wine (Silver Oak "Napa") waiting for a special occasion and last night, what was to be our last night here, was the night to drink it - even though we probably will now stay longer.  Great wine along with fantastic food, all outside as the sun set was setting - something we will always remember.

The Wine

The cook

The dinner

The bread

The happy campers

The final arrangement

The sunset view from our dinner table

The last light hitting the Catalina Mountain tops

Catalina Update

It's Sunday, day 18 of our trip.
Last of the original 5 night stay here at Catalina, but we are going to re-up for two more days in the morning.
Just can't seem to leave this place.  We really feel at home here.
However, we have reservations at Ansa-Borrego on the 14th and need to move on after our one week stay here.  We want to spend two days in Joshua Tree National Park before arriving in Borrego Springs.

No new pictures today.  Just enjoyed the sun, did a one hour hike with the dogs, and went out for dinner.

It was 31 this morning, but sunny and 60'ish today.  Forecast - slightly warmer tomorrow with full sun again.

How's the weather at home?

Still At Catalina

It's Saturday evening and we are updating this blog, watching the Colts play the Jets, and cooking dinner.
Got to 60 today but was 31 this morning so we are still not out of the "freeze" zone.  However, looking at the weather at home, I'm not complaining at all!  Today was kind of a day of rest - because >>>

Yesterday, Friday, we left the dogs behind and went for a 4 hour, 6 mile hike. Turned out to be a little more than we wanted for our first trek, but we made it to the trails end and made the return trip without any problems.  It was not the length of the hike, but the elevation that put us to the test.  Several times along the way up we stopped and questioned going further.  But stopping gave us our breath back and we continued on to the end.  Good feeling!

Following are a few pictures taken on the hike (are you happy now Beth?).

Catalina State Park - Tucson, Arizona

We're Back!

We spent four days at Oliver Lee and could have stayed more if the weather was warmer.  Just not the time of year to enjoy the area.  It's a beautiful park - just too cold, so we headed further South and West to Las Cruces.

The four days in Las Cruces was basically uneventful.  The weather got just a little warmer, the winds blew away, the sky turned blue, but it still got very cold at night.  Ellen hooked up with Sue (Cobb) and Trish (See), friends and former employees from The Matterhorn and Flytraps days.

We are now in our third day of at least five at Catalina.  We love this area and it's our fifth or sixth visit.  We have reservations for two weeks beginning Jan 14th in Borrego Springs so we will either extend our stay here a few days or move a little closer to Borrego and spend a few nights in Joshua Tree National Park before arrival in Borrego for our reservation.

The nights are still cold here in Catalina, but above (barely) freezing - 34 outside right now.  The days are warm (60's) and if out in the sun it's hot!  The forecast for the next 10 days here in the Southwest all the way into Southern California is sunny and gradually warming.

So that's it.  We have not been anywhere new yet so nothing really exciting to report that we haven't commented on in previous years blogs.  After our two weeks in Borrego we will head into new territory along the coast of California north of San Diego.  Then inland and North to go around the LA area, and then perhaps up into wine country.  All depends on the weather.  This year I will not repeat last years mistake of heading north too soon.  We are going to stay warm once we find it.

Finally posting pictures below of what we have been looking at so far:

This first set of 12 pictures were taken at Palo Duro State Park, TX

These next 9 photos were taken at Oliver Lee State Park, NM

Thanks Dan, Ray, and Lindsey - The Dom was great!

These next 5 photos were taken in and around Las Cruces

Begging for Jim to PLEASE make us a Margarita

And these final 7 photos were taken here at Catalina State Park, AZ

Our home for 7 days

Campground at Catalina

Catalina Sunset (next 5 pictures)