Hello from Palm Springs....Rainy California

Hello, everybody!!!

After a few get-togethers with the family last week, and a very fun (and yummy) "farewell" dinner at Venezia's-NY Style Pizza, we hit the road once again on Sunday morning. On to our next destination, roughly 300 miles away from our cozy campsite in Arizona. We arrived at  Palm Springs/Joshua Tree KOA late Sunday afternoon. The drive was easy and uneventful as we rode along I-10 passing through the deserts of Arizona to the deserts of California. It was really lovely seeing all the greenery and foliage as we got closer to the Joshua Tree National Park, which is absolutely huge!!

Yesterday, we decided to tackle our laundry, take it easy and stay close to the campgrounds. In the afternoon, we set out for a drive through a neighborhood of old houses (some from the 1930s), in nearby Palm Desert. Most of the houses have been updated, but some of them still had the authentic and charming architecture we were looking for. Then it was off to Agua Caliente, a casino located about 10 miles away. I played some slot machines (Greg watched) while I warmed myself up to hit the Roulette table. I walked over to the one Roulette table they had, obtained by chips, and the betting started. We did have fun, but needless to say, I made a little donation to the casino😟 (Mom knows exactly what I mean...lol). We figured then, it was time to go, so I don't get tempted any further and lose any more money. We stopped for an early dinner at Billy Q's--a restaurant that boasts, "we're more than just pizza", and they definitely were. The sandwiches we had were delicious, and the beer Greg ordered was much larger then we are used to. We went back to camp and called it a night.

And then it started.....RAIN!!!!

 They were predicting heavy rain and a lot of it, with mudslides and flooding in the area, and up north which we were planning to head to this morning. Heeding the warnings, we decided it best to stay put for another day and continue our journey Wednesday morning instead. Good thing, as many of the local roads and highways, were closed due to flooding this morning. We even saw snow-capped mountains this morning. Yup, SNOW IN CALIFORNIA!!! Who knew?!??

Today, we wanted to get some touristy things in, so once the rain let up a bit, we went to Cabot's Pueblo Museum, in nearby Desert Hot Springs. It was an interesting structure on what was once a 160-acre homestead, a result of one man's vision many years ago. As the clouds started to roll in again, we went back to camp- me to do schoolwork, Greg to relax and tinker. We took a walk afterward, played a short round of mini-golf (most of it was flooded), played horseshoes (I tried at least), and played a few rounds of shuffleboard. It was a really fun afternoon, even though the weather was so crappy. It is pouring rain once again, so we are in for the night😕.

Next stop, Pismo Beach, California up the northern coast.

Until next time.... 

Greg & Laura

Snow in California!!!

The two of us on a cloudy hill at the Cabot museum.

Ancient Weather Rock (for our fellow weather geeks). The sign says--- 

When rock is wet, it is raining.

When  rock is white, it is snowing,

When  rock is hard to see, it's foggy,

When rock is moving, it's windy or there's an earthquake,

Rock is NEVER wrong!!!

Can you tell how LARGE that beer is???