Change of Plans

We have had a big change in our plans. Kathy took my Mom to the Wound Care Center at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak yesterday because she had a few blisters on her leg. Well, they admitted her right away to start IV antibiotics. Today the doctor came in and tried to clean the one area that he is most concerned about and couldn't do it in her room, so he scheduled surgery for tomorrow afternoon. He thinks it is a hematoma that may have gone to the bone. So, we are planning to leave in the morning and head straight back to Michigan. We will stay at my parents' house with my Dad and help out with him. At this point, we have no idea how long she will be in the hospital. Bob is planning to drive as long as he can each day, so I'm thinking (barring anything unforeseen) we'll be back in Michigan late Friday.

Joshua Tree National Park

View from Key's Peak -
The depression near the top
is part of the San Andreas Fault


A Joshua Tree


Interesting rock formations


Skull Rock


Yesterday we spent the day at Joshua Tree National Park in the Mojove Desert (it is considered the "High Desert"). It was a beautiful day and the park had many varied and interesting rock formations. The park is a training ground for rock climbers to "learn the ropes" and several climbers where there yesterday. We went to the top of Key's Peak (5,185 feet) to enjoy the view. We could see San Gorgonio Mountain, at 11,485 feet it is the highest mountain in Southern California. We could also see Mt. San Jacinto, which is the 2nd highest at 10,831 feet. They were both snow-covered. Although they were twice as high as where we were standing, they seemed to be about the same height. The temperature Key's Peak was only 43 degrees and it was extremely windy up there. It was about 80 degrees in Desert Hot Springs, where we are staying this week. When we left the park we went to Twenty-Nine Palms, CA where they have "An Oasis of Murals". They have about 20 murals painted on the sides of the buildings around town. It was very interesting.

Connor Wins Gold & Bronze!

Connor with his boards


Connor (center) accepts his GOLD medal



Connor and Jillian had a karate tournament today. Unfortunately, Jillian has been sick and she missed it. Connor won a gold medal in the Weapons Form category and a bronze medal in the Board Breaking category. Congratulations, Connor!


We moved today from Menifee, CA to Desert Hot Springs. It's a nice park and this will be our last week in California. :-( We will be heading to Salome, AZ next Saturday and then to Casa Grande, AZ the following Saturday. We drove to Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert this evening. Whew...you would never know there was a recession going on when you are there! We even saw a Bentley dealership in Rancho Mirage...don't think I've ever seen one of those before.


On Thursday we met Gwen & Jim; their son, Michael; their daughter, Jamie and her hubby and children; my cousin, Mari and her friend, Jim for dinner near our park. It was a great evening! I had not seen their son or Mari yet, so that was another great reunion. We are planning to meet up with Mari & Jim and Gwen & Jim this week for another visit before we leave. I spoke to Cheryl & Paul last night and we are also planning to get together with them this week before we leave California. They have been in Nevada getting their new motor home repaired for the past 2 weeks, so we haven't seen them in a while. This will be a fun week, but also very sad. It has been so great to see my cousins and get reacquainted with them after 40 years. We have had a wonderful time and they all made us feel so welcome. We will be sad to leave here, but we are definitely planning to return here in 2 years. (If they don't have our pictures posted at the border so we can't get back in.) When we return we are planning to go further north in CA and visit Yosemite National Park and a few other places. Have I mentioned lately that "THIS IS THE LIFE???"

A Day with Gwen & Jim

Mike and his car in the pits


Loading his car in the trailer

Yesterday we went to the Pechanga RV Resort at the Pechanga Casino in Temecula to meet up with my cousin, Gwen, and her husband, Jim. They took us to the Pala Casino near there for the brunch buffet, which was excellent! We all played the slots for a while after lunch and ONE of us did really well...that would be GWEN! She also had done extremely well at that casino Friday night. Gwen & Jim's daughter, Jamie, called and wanted us to meet her at the race track last night. Her husband, Mike, was racing a super stock car for the 1st time last night. His dad has a race team and he just built a car for Mike (Mike is a California Highway Patrol Officer). He has 2 brothers that were also racing. His 17-year-old brother was racing with a broken arm (cast and all). So, off we went to Irwindale to the race track and had a great time. We just never know when we get up in the morning where we will be headed that day! (Have I mentioned lately that "THIS IS THE LIFE"?) We are going to get together with Gwen & Jim and her sister, Mary next week. We haven't met up with Mary yet, so it will be great to see her after 40 years. The last time I saw her she was only 10 years old.

Diamond Valley Lake - Hemet, CA

Diamond Valley Lake

Diamond Valley Lake

Mt. San Jacinto in background -

the 2nd highest mountain in S. Cal.

Whoops! Rattlesnake that

didn't quite make it across

the road near the lake. It

was still squirming. YUCK!

On Friday we drove to Diamond Valley Lake, "The Jewel of California Lakes". It is a man-made reservoir that provides water to the area when there is an earthquake or drought (which they are in right now). It took 4 years to fill it and the water level is down 50% over the past 3 months. When they excavated the site they unearthed "Max", the largest mastadon skeleton ever found. It was a beautiful view and we enjoyed the visitors center.

The Pacific Ocean and Miscellaneous

Surfers in the Pacific

California Sunset

But it's a DRY HEAT! :-)

This Canadian Goose was on the

roof of the park model trailer across

from us this morning before we left.

After we left the San Diego Zoo Wild Animal Park today (Thursday) we went to Oceanside, CA to see the Ocean. We were surprised to see so many people surfing and swimming, some did not even have wetsuits on. It could not have been that warm!!!

San Diego Zoo Wild Animal Park

Cheetahs

Baby Cheetah born 02/19/09

Okapi - Only living relative of

the giraffe - it looks like it's made

up of several different parts :-)

Baby elephant born last Friday

Lion


Giraffe - whew that's a long way down!

Rhinoceros

Gorilla

Gorilla in "time out" :-)

Today we visited the San Diego Zoo Wild Animal Park. What an incredible experience. The zoo is 100 acres, the Wild Animal Park is 1,800 acres. We enjoyed this park much more than the zoo.