First full day in Palm Springs

It is so HOT today and will continue to be in the 90's to 100 this week.  I am NOT complaining mind you.  Just saying. hah

Did I mention that yesterday we stopped at New York, New York on our way through Las Vegas?  Well we did, and Joe took a picture of me of course.                                 And the Statue of Liberty.

This morning I woke up with a splitting headache.  I think all altitude changes for the last few days is hard on the old brain.  Joe went for a walk while I recovered and got ready and then we went walking down the main street where all the shops and restaurants are located.  We found a fabulous hat shop where I bought a large brimmed hat which you will see in the following pictures.  We had lunch in a Mexican restaurant and sat by the window with the water mist spraying off the roof.  Again, picture to follow.  Oh heck, here they are.  If you get your magnifying glass out you will see that I have on a huge hat.  I'm in the picture on the left by the way.  On the right is Joe.  This Marilyn Monroe statue is 26 feet high and weights over 38,000 lbs.  It is beautiful, but some OTHER tourists have been taking picture of them (the men) looking up under her skirt.  Pigs. Joe says she is wearing panties, I wonder how he knows that!

     The restaurant we had lunch in is on the left with open windows.  The spray comes down and cools the air so you are comfortable.  And it works, even when the sun is on you.  Pretty nifty eh!  And all the restaurants along the street have the same thing.  Well may not Starbucks that charged us $6.00 for a bottle of juice.  What a rip!!!    




After that we went for a swim in the pool and sat on the "cushioned" lounges for a while and read after spending some time in the pool.  The water temperature was perfect.

Here is a picture from our balcony.  And that is just the lower section of the mountain.  Very unique.

Bonnie and Joe on the go for another day.            

Palm Springs

Finally arrived in Palm Springs. We saw hundreds of windmills on the way here so I guess that is the main source of electricity now.   The resort here is beautiful, and our apartment is really nice with two balconies, a kitchen, one bedroom and two bathrooms.   We do look out onto a rock face however, but now we can leave the shutters open and walk around nude if we want to; which we don't. lol.  

We went into the main street, just a few blocks away and had lunch at a pub.  Then came back and went for a swim (jog for me) in one of the three pools and into the hot tub.  We'll check out the other ones tomorrow and walk back into town to check things out there.  It was too hot this afternoon to go far so I am hoping that the morning will be cooler.  Already met some nice people who have stopped to chat at tell us what is good to do in the area. It feels good to be settled into a spot for a week and take a break from driving.

Bonnie and Joe still on the go, but stopping for a rest on the way.

A good day.

Good drive today through LasVegas and on to Henderson Nevada.   More amazing rock formations and some fog on the way which was really a cloud sitting on the mountain. Then flat terrain for a the rest of the way with the mountains in the distance.

We reserved a room and the Holiday Inn Express.   We went to the outside pool, which is shared with the hotel next door.  The water was really cold, so we went into the hot tub and sat in the sun for a while. Nice and relaxing.

Off to Palm Springs tomorrow.

Exciting day

Well if yesterday's driving was boring, today's was anything but!
    We drove through Denver and the elevation is about a mile, hence Mile High Stadium where they play football. But you would never know you were that far above sea level.
    In the distance we could see the mountains.  They are absolutely totally AMAZING!  When we first entered them they were rugged and beautiful.  Awesome does not even describe them.  Of course they change at every bend in the road as does the sky.  We had sunshine, clouds and very heavy rain.  The rock formations were astounding and then there were smooth mountains with scrub brush on them which looked like freckles on the face of the mountain.  Some looked like sand dunes, and layers of multicolored rock.  A few were on a 90 degree angle and looked like someone or something had come along and tipped them over.  The roads were excellent.  Always at least two lanes in each direction, and sometimes three lanes in each direction.  The sky always had some kind of clouds, but always many, many kinds of clouds.  Once there was a huge cloud that looked like charcoal grey cotton batting and hung forward over the mountain edge like it would come down and pour rain on you.  We got by that one, only to have it pour rain anyway, and I mean you could hardly see in front of you.  The good thing is there was never a lot of traffic and sometimes in Utah there were no other cars on the road that you could see.  Utah is different than Colorado and the mountains more rolling but then rocky as well.  AWESOME!.

Now we are in Richfield, Utah, having our usual glass of wine and relaxing.  They have a pool here but it is outside and closed because of the rain.

Bonnie and Joe still on the go.

Second day of travel

We arrived at the Comfort Inn about 60 miles east of Denver Colorado around 4 PM.  Very boring drive through Iowa, Nebraska and now Colorado.  The terrain has been quite flat, the grass yellow and the trees mostly bare or with dead leaves on them.  There was some color in Nebraska and although it is not obvious as you drive, we are at an elevation of over 4000 feet.  Interesting my dear Watson.

I did some knitting.  I finished a hat I was working on, then started a scarf.  Didn't like it and ripped it out.  Started it again with different stitches.  Didn't like it and ripped it out.  Now I have started a scarf with different wool. Oh well, it makes the time go faster.

The pool here was not as beautiful as the one last night, but the water temperature was perfect and the spa was also good.  I discovered something amazing!  Last night I started walking in the pool as I do not swim.  Then I got more energy and did some jogging in the pool.  The amazing thing was:  I didn't cough!  I thought maybe it was just a good day for my asthma.  Today I jogged in the pool, back and forth at a little over 4 ft deep and didn't cough.  I actually got out of breath but NO coughing.  This is great because I have not been able to do any aerobics before and it is so good for you.  Also after sitting for hours in the car, it feels wonderful.

Enjoying a glass on wine now, and off to bed early to read my book, William May, which I am really enjoying.  Oh yes, Joe is with me, I just get talking about myself all the time.  He did a great job driving and is enjoying his wine and the ball game.

First day on the road

We were up and out at 3 AM.  Drove through Sarnia and for the next 2 hours in the rain.  Not fun at night.  Then drove (I use the term loosely, because Joe drove) for 14 hours total and put 1300 K behind us.  We checked into the Holiday Inn in Des Moines, Iowa and went down the the pool for some exercise.  What a beautiful pool they have here.  It is quite big, two walls are covered with a huge mural with an outdoor scene of trees, rocks and waterfalls,  two large windows, lovely water temperature and to top it off a spa!  What a great way to end the day.

We don't have to go out to get dinner.  We ordered four chicken wraps at McDonalds for lunch thinking they were the mini wraps.  Turned out they were big.  So we have two left for dinner.That's good because we are pretty tired.  We will have a glass of wine and then dinner and bed.  At least I will, Joe may watch some baseball or something.

October , 2012

What a great summer we had.  The weather here in Ontario was beautiful.  We saw Laurie, Rob, Matthew, Jamie and Sarah almost every week.  They made us dinner and we played a game afterwards, mostly Texas Hold'em poker.  We also had Joey with us since May.  He is living with us here in Ontario for a while and is going to be looking to buy a place in Hamilton when he can.  We love having the family around us, and will miss them all when we head south.

Having said that, we are heading south on Oct 10th!  We will leave early (3-4 AM) on that day and will go straight to California.  We have booked a place in Palm Springs for a week and while we are there in California, we will drive up north to see Uncle Morris and Aunt Irene.  Uncle Morris just turned 90 years old and his health is failing.  They are going to move into a Seniors Residence where they will have a two bedroom apartment and have all of the facilities of meals, medical care, activities etc.  It sounds like a great place for them to be.

After California we will go to Scottsdale, Arizona which is near Phoenix. During our week's stay we will be checking out the weather to see if my breathing is any better there than it is in Texas.  I had a bad bout with a lung infection in March and we had to head for home earlier than we had planned.  We are hoping all will be fine this year as we love Texas and have good friends there.