Anza Borrego Desert State Park & Borrego Springs

Mar 09     Caliente Springs Resort - Oasis Palms RV Resort       43 miles     1 hour

We played some pickleball this morning then packed up and drove to Oasis Palms RV Resort. The address is Thermal, Ca but its on the outskirts of Thermal near the Salton Sea.

This RV park is in the middle of agriculture land. There's orange, lemon, and grapefruit trees on property that we can pick. We'll be here for 2 nights. Passport America rate is $20 per night so total $40, no tax. We went swimming in the afternoon in the pool and tried the hot tub. Kind of dirty looking but the temperature was nice. As we were walking back from the pool, we notice the air was kind of stinky. We think it was the pond but not sure.

Can barely make out the Salton Sea in the distance

Mar 10     Anza-Borrego Desert State Park & Borrego Springs

It took us about an hour to drive to the park. Kind of boring, very dry desert area. There was an area where they do a lot of off roading. Looks like this is the big thing out here. Lots of trails in the desert hills with lots of RV's and trailers boondocking around the area.

After going to the visitors center at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park we went on a 3-mile roundtrip hike into Borrego Palm Canyon. The trail leads to a cool, shady palm oasis. This was a pretty easy hike to start but then we started going uphill on the rocky trail. It got pretty challenging in some places, especially the end where we had to do some rock scrambling. Very nice hike and beautiful scenery, we got a good workout.

Making our way into the canyon

We had a couple of water crossings

Getting closer

Finally....the Oasis

This park normally has a great spring bloom but not this year. It was a very dry winter so hardly any

blooms. We were supposed to camp at this park a couple of nights but I cancelled because the main reason was the flowers and there wasn't too much.

Found some blooms

After lunch we drove to Borrego Springs and checked out Galleta Meadows. Here, in the middle of the desert, is a magical menagerie of free standing sculptures. Numbering in the dozens, the metal creatures appear almost natural in the desert landscape. The work is truly unique.

This is a baby camel nursing

Check out the details on this dragon

We drove to Fantasy Springs Casino for dinner. We just love the buffet there. Tonight they had prime rib. The prime rib was okay, but everything else was excellent. The best was the fresh pasta bar. You pick what you want, so I got shrimp, spinach, and mushroom. They saute everything in a pan, add the sauce you pick, then add the pasta. So, so good. Plenty in one serving but delicious.

Desert Hot Springs

Mar 02       Fantasy Springs Casino, Indio - Desert Hot Springs     27 miles     40 minutes

We camped in the Fantasy Springs Casino dirt lot last night and everything was going good until a semi truck pulled in around one in the morning, parked pretty close to us and ran his generator. So irritating, I was so frickin mad!!

Today we checked in at Caliente Springs Resort in Desert Hot Springs. Caliente Springs is a 55 and better resort. Yes, we now qualify to stay at these old fut resorts. It's located in the greater Palm Springs area and is known for the natural hot mineral waters that continually flow into their hot tubs and pools on property.

Nothing fancy with the sites

Hot tubs are fabulous

We'll be here for one week. They honor Passport America so we get half price, $203 for the week. Real good deal considering how nice the amenities are. The pool and hot tubs are amazing. We can learn to play pickleball here, something I've been wanting to learn. Also, water exercise classes which I really enjoy.

Very nice mineral water pool

Mar 02   The Living Desert Zoo

The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens is located in Palm Desert. We got our tickets through the Costco website. Two adult tickets for $22.00. This is a good deal, the normal adult price is $19.00 per person. Real nice zoo with lots of animals, wish we had our grandbabies with us. We spent a few hours just walking around and checking everything out. Very enjoyable and the weather was perfect.

Leopard Tortoise

Common Chuckwalla

Big Horn Sheep

African Warthog

Camel rides for the kids

Mar 03   College of the Desert Street Fair

The Street Fair at the College of the Desert is considered one of the top things to do in this area, where locals and visitors alike can spend their day with an open-air shaded shopping experience second to none. They had everything you can imagine. It happens every Saturday and Sunday from 7am - 2pm. We got there at 9am and spent a little over 2 hours and bought a few things. It was pretty crowded and when we left there were still a whole bunch of people coming in.

After that we went to a shop called Glossy. I got a good tip about this store. All swimsuits $29.00. Of course I bought a suit! The suit I bought normally retails for $60-$70. It was hard to limit myself to just one.

Bob & Joe teaming up

Mar 05

We've been enjoying our time here at Caliente Springs. The past few days have been kind of chilly but we still manage to hit the pools everyday. The mineral waters are so relaxing, can't get enough.

We went to learn pickleball this morning and had so much fun. The people here are so friendly. The instructor Bob was so patient with the newbies. There's pickleball every morning so I think we'll get out there a lot this week.

Joe enjoying some pool time

Mar 06

We just love it here. Pickleball in the morning, then right after, I go to a water exercise class, then just relax in the hot tubs and pool for about an hour. By this time, it's time for lunch and some relaxation at home. We try to have an early dinner then back to the pool in the early evening. What a life, I could do this everyday!

Joe grilling our dinner

Mar 07     Joshua Tree National Park

This morning we drove to Joshua Tree National Park about 45 minutes away. We stopped at the visitors center to get some information and buy some souvenirs.

Our first stop was the Hidden Valley hike. A 1-mile trail that winds among massive boulders through this legendary cattle rustlers hideout.

Next, we did the Barker Dam hike. This dam was built around 1900 to hold water for cattle and mining use. The dam today forms a small rain fed reservoir used by park wildlife. Birds abound!

Barker Dam

Joshua Tree National Park is huge, over 792,000 acres. We just did the main loop through part of the park. We made a stop at Skull Rock, then had lunch at Split Rock. I wanted to do another hike but we were both exhausted. We came home and soaked in the hot tubs. What a great way to end the day.

Skull Rock

Split Rock

Mar 08

Another day of pickleball, water exercise, and pool time. This is our last night here. We enjoyed ourselves so much, we booked another week here. We have reservations at another park for two nights, then we'll be back on Sunday.

Desert sunrise

Indio, California

Feb 26     Laughlin, Nevada - Indio, California        200 miles     4 hours 15 minutes

It was very cold when we left Laughlin this morning, around 35 degrees at 7am. We topped off the gas in Bullhead City, Arizona and headed to Southern  California. The roads were real good and so was the weather. We made good time and got there around 12pm.

We checked in at Indian Waters RV Resort in Indio. Very nice resort but kind of expensive. For 3 nights we paid $199. That's with the 15% FMCA discount. About $66 per night. Pretty nice park and they have some activities that we might participate in.

The bathrooms are nice

Feb 27

I went to a yoga class this morning, was real good. After that we walked around the whole resort and checked everything out.

We drove around the area and found Trader Joe's and Sprouts. I love shopping at both markets.

Feb 28

This morning we both went to the water aerobics class. Was pretty good, lots of old futs!

Just finished our water exercise class

For lunch we drove to Shields Date Farm. The restaurant is real good and Joe tried a date shake. He liked it, I thought it was very sweet. After lunch, we watched an old movie about Mr Shields and the start of the date industry in the valley, very interesting. Then we walked through the gardens which was very relaxing.

Mar 01      Indian Waters RV Park - Fantasy Springs Casino      3 miles     10 minutes

I went to a yoga class this morning which I really enjoyed. I think I'm taking up yoga when we go home. Afterwards, we moved up the road a few miles to Fantasy Springs Casino. It's dry camping at a gravel lot. There's a lot of RV's here and it's free. We're staying just one night.

We entered the blackjack tournament at the casino. Buy in was $25, 90 people playing. I got out on the first round but Joe made it to the second round. Then we went to dinner at the buffet they have at the casino. Kind of small, $19 per person, and excellent food. I wouldn't mind eating here again. We ended up gambling a little on the machines and made a little bit.   

Laughlin

Feb 25             Las Vegas - Laughlin            81 miles     1 hour 40 minutes

Pretty chilly again this morning, around 46 degrees. We filled the RV & Kia with gas at Costco and took off for Laughlin.










We made good time and pulled into the Riverside Casino. They have free rv parking, it's dry camping in the parking lot but it's free so all good. We found out that we can stay up to two weeks here, just need to check in with security. We're just spending one night here, kind of anxious to get to Indio.

Spring 2018

We are not travelling too far for our Spring trip. Probably less than 300 miles to the Coachella Valley. The Coachella Valley is a desert valley in Southern California. The valley contains the resort cities of Palm Springs and Palm Desert, as well as Indio, La Quinta, Indian Wells, and Cathedral City. Joshua Tree National Park is also in the area so lots for us to explore in the next six weeks.

Las Vegas

Feb 18   We arrived in Las Vegas at 630am. I'm not sure why we always take the red eye because we don't sleep on the flight and by mid morning we're exhausted. It was very cold and windy when we arrived and the weather is supposed to be like this for the next few days. Winky picked us up, we went to breakfast then picked up the car and rv at our storage in Henderson.

We checked in at Las Vegas RV Resort in Boulder. This has become our favorite place in the area. The surrounding area is kind of ghetto but the park itself is nice, with a secured gate.

Our site for the next week

The temperature tonight dropped down to low 40's, very cold for Vegas. I must have picked up a bug or something on the plane because I'm not feeling that great.

Feb 19 - 24   This past week has been very cold for Las Vegas. The temperature dropped as low as 32 and high was about 55. Very windy and they even had snow in parts of the area. We both have not been feeling great. I was so sick, our friend told us about Oregano Oil and how it fights all kinds of bacteria. I found it at Sprouts and it took about 3 days but I finally started feeling better.

Even though we were not feeling great, we spent the week getting everything ready to hit the road.