Dec 31st to Jan 3rd - Mesa to Desert Hot Springs

Dec 31st – Fri - Mesa
Terry continued to pack up stuff while I made cookies and did some cleaning. After a late breakfast, we dropped a couple of items off at Garry & Stephane’s and I ended up helping Steph with her computer for about 45 minutes. Next I traded a couple of books at the library, Terry picked up the mail and we stopped for a few minutes at Ernie & Dianne’s before going to Big Lots for a couple of items.
We picked up Dennis & Gloria at the airport at 4:45. They are very happy to be back to sunshine after a couple of weeks in Minnesota with snow & cloudy days.
The New Year’s Eve dance at the park started at 8:30. Our special rate to stay here included the tickets which sold for $30 each. The theme was “Jewel of the Nile” so the decorations were Egyptian. A belly dancer provided entertainment before the band started. There was a buffet of hot & cold hors d’oeuvres and desserts and we provided & drank too much of “what makes you happy” as the activities director refers to BYOB. We danced nearly every dance until the band quit just after 1.

Jan 1st - HAPPY NEW YEAR!
When our alarm went off at 6:30, we knew we had too much fun last night! Pat & Rick had to drop Kim off at the airport and then were coming over for breakfast. I had time to get pots of chili cooking before they got there. After coffee & catching up, we had breakfast and then went on a tour of the park which included seeing a frozen fountain. Rick had been giving us a bad time about playing bocce ball so we got out a set of balls and played a game. To his surprise, Rick enjoyed it – and did very well.
We had to scramble a bit to finish getting food ready for our party and got it to the room that we reserved just as everyone was arriving. We all had a good time chatting, eating and playing LCR. For my future reference, the attendees were: Rick & Pat, Ernie & Dianne, Dennis & Gloria, Garry & Stephane, Gary & Diane, Larry & Julie, Neal & Judi, Billy & Lauri, Neil & Robin, Phyllis, Bill & Jan, Larry & Norma and Bud & Shelley.

Jan 2nd – Sun – to Desert Hot Springs
We pulled out just before 8 and had a nice drive with no traffic due to it being Sunday. We met friends Clem & Marlene in Quartzsite for breakfast and then had to take a break at the Spotlight 29 Casino! Terry got $25 in free play for his birthday – in addition to the $5 that we each got –and turned it into absolutely nothing!
As we were checking in, Terry saw our friend Grace and when we were setting up, we saw Lynn and then Terry & Eileen passed by as they were taking their dog to the dog park. So we feel right at home already. We didn’t set up anything outside and ended up eating dinner and going to bed early as we forgot about the hour that we gained when we changed to PST. It is as cold here as it was in Mesa the last week.

Jan 3rd – Mon – DHS
We got our annual golf passes so we can golf to our heart’s content at the course right here at the park. And then it was too cold later in the afternoon for wimpy me to want to golf! When we were at the pro shop, we spent quite a bit of time chatting with Paul (our backyard neighbor who works there) about Mesa and the RV parks there. Paul’s wife is going to retire in the fall and they are thinking about leaving this area.
We checked out all the upcoming activities and had time to come back for a late breakfast before going to line dancing lessons. There was a large crowd and the new instructor took us through 4 dances in an hour which was about one dance too much. We headed for a grocery store as we had to get a light bulb for our reading lamp and a couple of grocery items were on the list. We have to remember to remove the bulb when we travel as a bulb went out on one previous trip. There is a Burke’s Outlet store (the same as Bealls Outlet) next to the grocery store and we found the coffee cups that we were looking for. As we were checking out, Lynn came in with Judy who has a park model here and who we got to know last year. We took a long walk around the park and then relaxed.
Gloria called to say they missed us and that it was really quiet with the group leaving and then another group going on a 3 day casino trip. Then Barb (from Monroe) called. They are on their way down and will be here Wednesday. We thought their trip might be impacted by snowstorms but so far, so good.