Mar 9th to 13th - Desert Hot Springs

Mar 9th – Tues – Desert Hot Springs
It was still windy enough this morning to cancel the Ladies’ club golf.
Larry knocked on our door at 8 to say that his ice maker was not working and to see if Terry had any idea why. They couldn’t figure anything out so about 10 Terry went with Larry to return the unit and get a new one. I took the opportunity to surf the net, including finding a recipe for a crock pot dinner so I invited Larry & Barb over for dinner.
We holed up for the rest of the day and listened to (and felt the buffeting of) the wind. After lunch and too many games of Hearts, I decided it would be a good day to start a new project. We brought along one of our large photo albums with the thought of transfering the pictures to the computer. Our new printer is also a scanner and we figured out how to scan 3 pictures at once to separate files and have Picasa pick them up. It is going to be nice to get rid of the albums but it will take many hours.
We had a nice dinner with Larry & Barb and showed them a bunch of our pictures. I love connecting the computer to the TV so visitors can be comfortable on the couch and view pictures.

Mar 10th – Wed – Desert Hot Springs
We spent a few more hours scanning pictures from our photo album and then getting them rotated correctly. We already have 367 pictures and still have 12 pages to go. When we go to Spokane later this year we will pick up the rest of our albums – 5 more!
Cliff & Pauline asked us to go out for Chinese food for dinner. The restaurant was full but we were glad that we waited about ½ hour as the food arrived quickly and was very good.
Then we went to Spotlight 29 Casino for a while. Cliff likes to gamble more than Pauline so he was happy to have someone else to go with. And Cliff ended up being the only winner!

Mar 11th – Thurs – Desert Hot Springs
We have wheels again!!!! Terry called and chewed a chunk out of someone before he got to talk to the service rep and found out the truck was being taken for a test drive right then. They took their sweet time to send the shuttle but it appears as if the brake light problem has been solved.
I went to a line dance “rehearsal” as I am taking part in a little “talent show” here at the park on Sunday. We are actually providing a break so the tap dancers can change costumes. Sound exciting?!
We went to see Wayne & Joyce to ask them over for dinner. We had a beer with them which meant we didn’t have enough time to boil the baby backs all the way so put them in the crock pot and went to play golf with Larry & Barb. Of course, the play had to be really slow and even though I putted out and hurried home, Wayne & Joyce were waiting on our “patio”. The ribs had cooked too much and it was a challenge for Terry to keep them together on the BBQ. But we had a great dinner anyhow.
Just as we were finishing our meal, Gilbert & Grace knocked on the door to get directions for a hike. They joined us for a drink and Terry showed some of our jokes & U-tube files on the computer. Great evening.

Mar 12th – Fri - Desert Hot Springs
We had 8:50 & 8:58 tee times in the scramble today. My team ended up with 3 instead of 4 as the lunch prep got messed up and our 4th player had to make lunch at the last minute. Terry did not contribute much to his team except on the last hole when he finally connected with an amazing drive and then sank a birdie putt.
We had a while before lunch so we took our clubs back, sorted out laundry and drove back to the clubhouse. I put the laundry in and almost missed lunch as it was served while I was waiting the last few minutes before putting the clothes in the dryer.
We took advantage of having the truck back (and wanted to “test drive” it a bit) to run a couple of errands and pick up some groceries. We had a quiet evening for a change.

Mar 13th – Sat – Desert Hot Springs
After breakfast, I put together a lunch for an outing today. Terry went to see Gilbert & Grace while I went to visit Larry & Barb for a short time before we picked up Cliff & Pauline for a trip to the Painted Canyon and Ladder Canyon.
We had an absolutely wonderful hike through the 2 canyons. We walked a short ways up Painted Canyon and then turned into Ladder Canyon. Fairly quickly you arrive at a ladder down an old waterfall. Cliff has a fear of heights & ladders so he wasn’t sure if he would be able to complete the hike. The first ladder was short and he did OK. Then you are into amazing, narrow slot canyons. A couple more ladders take you up 2 dry waterfalls and you continue a slow assent before coming to the top and incredible views including Salton Sea and snow topped mountains.
Cliff was not looking forward to the return trip and going down the 2 longer ladders. We spoke to a guy at the top and he told us that we could take an alternate route back that was longer but included only one ladder. So we followed his directions and set off. We climbed even higher with more expansive views, stopped for lunch and started descending through Painted Canyon. I ran out of superlatives a short ways into the canyon. There are so many different colored rocks on sheer walls. We “oohed” and “aahed” all the way down. Turned out there were 3 ladders with one that had bent at the lower end and involved a slide to the upper end so Cliff really had to face his fears.
It took us 3 hours for the 4.7 mile walk and lunch. Wonderful weather – sunny with a slight breeze to cool us off.
We stopped at Spotlight 29 Casino on the way back to take advantage of another free $29 slot play. After gambling for a while, we ate at the buffet (with a ½ off dining card provided by Cliff) and then gambled some more so Pauline could play Cliff’s $29 while the guys returned to the 21 tables. Cliff & Pauline did very well and Terry & I had a lot of fun for $14. We had a drink with C&P when we returned – can’t miss a happy hour!!