Coping With Some Unusual Weather

Our second and third week activities here have had to be planned around some unusual weather events, specifically rain which has been absent from this part of California for several years. We have had six of the last fourteen days with some rain and high temperatures in the high teens C.

Last week I went to my first Camera Club Meeting. It looks like an interesting group of people of various degrees of expertise. I should be able to learn a bit attending the meetings and talking to the members. As I was driving home I noticed the moon rising over the mountains and spent a bit of time trying to get a nice full moon photo.

Thursday was my second time at Men's League Golf. The putting got much better but the driver failed me. After golf, I spent some time trying to figure out why the golf cart was running slow. I bought a cheap hydrometer and voila! Three of the six batteries have one or two bad cells. I contacted the owner and he will be ordering and installing a replacement battery bank for us.

Saturday was a nice but cool day. While enquiring in a hobby shop about a good place to fly the drones I have borrowed, I found out about a Radio Controlled Aircraft Show near Thermal CA. We decided to take a drive out there mid-morning. The theme was Warbirds, all military style model planes. Some of these were quite big models. There were about 50 aircraft and we stayed for an hour or so to watch several fly. Some outstanding models.

Driving around the Thermal area we saw many fields of vegetables and had fun trying to identify what was in each field.

From Thermal we drove to the Cochella Valley Preserve near our place and did a short hike to the 1000 Palms Oasis. There are several trails starting from this location so we will have to return and explore further.

We played our second game of golf on the North Course at Shadow Hills. I matched my score of the previous week. The weather was nice and we got home in time to watch the football games.

This Monday was a cool day so we thought it would be a good day for a trip to Joshua Tree national Park and do some hiking. The park is at a much higher elevation (3000') than the valley where we are staying. Hence, it was only 10C when we arrived at around 10:30. We hiked the Lost Palms Trail at Cottonwood Springs, 13.2 km. I was a nice desert hike with about 300 m of elevation change.

That's the Sultan Sea in the distance (above)

We decided to stay in the park a little later and spend some time on photography at the Barker Dam area. I got a few nice photos after the sun went down but damn, did it get cold. It was 4C when we returned to the car and we have no "winter" clothes.

The next day, it was up early to join the Shadow Hills Hiking Club on our first outing with them. We went to an area near where we hiked a couple of weeks ago and did the Hopalong Cassidy Trail. A nice group of people and we got lots of suggestions for future outings on our own.

This week, the Thursday Men's Golf League was rained out and Friday ended up an all day rain. We got all caught up on shopping and errands.

Yesterday (Saturday) we took advantage of a sunny day to attend the PGA Careerbuilder Challenge Golf Tournament. This used to be the Bob Hope Classic. It was sunny, a bit cool and windy. We were amazed at the low number of spectators in attendance. The players are spread over three local courses so I guess that explains the ease at which you can get a prime spot to watch at any of the greens. We picked the Stadium and Nicklaus course to watch. You had to take a different bus to go to the LaQuinta course where Canadian Adam Hadwin tied a tour record of 59. Missed it.

Phil Mickelson walking onto the green (just before I got in trouble for taking pictures with my phone)

Week One.... Finding our Way Around the Valley

After a few day of getting oriented, we started a busy week of activities. Tuesday of last week was our first "Tuesday Putters" event. It was a lot of fun and we got to meet some people from the community. At one of the clubhouses, they have an 18 hole putting course with some long contoured greens that don't yield too many two putts. The objective is obviously get a low score but I believe the true purpose is the dinner and BYOB served after the "golf".

I did manage to sink a one-putt for which I received a grand prize of $4 off-setting the $10 cost of the supper. A lot of fun and it looks like this event happens every other week. We will be back...

On Wednesday we decided to try out one of the local hiking trails in Palm Desert. This was a relatively short trail (about 6 km) but a pretty good climb. It yielded some good views of the Palm Desert valley and got us outside and moving again after travelling in the vehicle for a week.

Thursday was my first day of Men's League golf. I can report that they don't have to be concerned that the handicap they gave me would end up with me taking all of the prize money. Most of the game was OK but I just couldn't putt on the greens.  They are pretty quick and I didn't seem to be able to read them with any reliability. I will have to spend some time on the practice green before next week! A trip down the street to the pool and hot tub got me relaxed after the golfing disaster.

On Friday we drove to Borrego Springs to do some exploring of Anza-Borrego State Park, a huge park that is a combination of mountains and desert. We started off with a hike of the Palms Canyon Trail. A hike up a canyon to an oasis.

After the hike, we did some driving around getting acquainted with the Borrego Springs area. We discovered some great metal critter sculptures just out of town in the desert. There are over a hundred of these here and you have to drive off-road to get to some of them.

Following that we did another drive into a canyon on an off-road trail but ended up turning around when the going got a bit too rough (no skid pan under the engine). The shadows are really nice as the sun starts to get near the horizon.

We will be back to this park several times as there are many things to explore here.

Saturday was a leisurely day. We went out for supper with John & Judith and then to the Casino to see a Beatles Tribute Band. This was supposed to be the band from the L.A. Beatlemania but man, were they terrible. Paul could either a) not sing; b) was really pissed and smoked a lot; or c) had severe laryngitis.

Sunday was a nice sunny day and Chris and I tried out the Shadow Hills North Course. This is a really beautiful 18 hole par 3 course with challenging holes. We had a really good time and my putting seemed to improve a bit. At least no 4 putts.

Monday we had some unseasonable rain in the morning. No where near as much as some of California where they have had severe flooding. A good day to go and do some shopping. Another quiet day on Tuesday. I finally got a chance to sit in the sun and read my book on my Kindle.

That's it for this week's report. Looks like it will be warming up a bit more over the next seven day with highs in the low to mid 20's. Its still cool early in the morning. Today it was 6 at 7:00 am.

Arrival in Indio

After spending a couple of days with our friends Brian and Linda in Phoenix, we were on the road early on New Years Eve for the four hour drive to Indio. There is not a lot of scenery on I10 once you leave the greater Phoenix area. As you approach the California boarder the landscape turns a bit more mountainous and you see the odd patch of farm land.

After passing Joshua Tree National Park we arrived in Indio and after 4400 km from home, found our way to Sun City Shadow Hills. The owner of the house we are renting was there to meet us and give us a briefing on all of the amenities of the home and a tour around the community. It looks like the community will be lots of activities for us to pick from. Two golf courses, three pools, two large recreation/club house facilities and about 50 activity clubs/groups available to join if we wish. http://www.scshca.com

The street view of our house....

Looking down the street at the snow capped mountains....

The back yard complete with fire pit, outdoor kitchen and pergola....

And the view of the golf course.... the par 3 17th hole

We spent a couple of hours unpacking before hopping in the vehicle to get some essential groceries at the local Walmart. It gets dark here at around 5pm this time of year so it was time to find the outdoor lights and fire up the grille for a New Years Eve BBQ. I managed to get supper cooked despite the unusual rain that started as I was grilling. We didn't make it midnight as we had another time zone shift today.

New Year's Day was spent getting organized and taking a walk about the neighbourhood even though it was cool and windy. We had a visitor in the back yard, a roadrunner which are pretty common around here.

We were invited to our friends John & Judith's for supper, just a few blocks away. Nice to have some friends to get us oriented.

Monday was major shopping day with a morning trip to Winco, Costco and Ralph's. I think we have enough food for a month now! In the afternoon John and Judith took us for a driving tour of Indio, Palm Desert and La Quinta. All three cities are essentially one and appear to have just about anything you could want. On our way home, a hot air balloon almost landed on the highway!

Tuesday the HOA office opened and we were able to get our resident passes and vehicle transponder so we can get in and out of the unmanned gates and use the recreation facilities. It is still unusually cool with morning lows of 6 C and highs of only 15 C. John took me to the Shadow Hills Golf Club to get signed up for the Men's League and the CanAm Tournament in February. With our resident pass, we get reduced green fees at both of the golf courses here.

Chris and I took the golf cart out for a spin around the community. This will be handy. I can take it to the golf course and Chris will have the Highlander available to her so she can go to other activities while I golf on Thursdays. It's also handy to take to the pool and hot tub at the club house. We are about four blocks away.

We signed up for the "Tuesday Night Putters" not knowing what it was really all about. It was fun. There is an 18 hole putting course at the golf club. There were about 150 people taking part. Essentially you play your 18 holes then retreat to one of the banquet rooms in the Club House for buffet supper and whatever drinks you brought. They have a bunch of prize draws and food for $10! What a deal. I won $4 for getting a hole-in-one (a one putt).

That's about it for this post. We are planning on doing some hiking and golf later this week and I will update early next week.