Jojoba Hills

We were so glad to be able to return to Jojoba Hills. It is such a beautiful park with such a lot to do that it's a treat to be able to spend time there.
  This year we were there for Christmas Eve Chili Dinner as well as the Christmas Day Turkey Dinner Potluck, both of which were great times of getting to know people. George and Diana Ruelens took us under wing and made sure we felt welcomed and had plenty to do. Diana took us to the air rifle range where we got to make sure those bulls eyes had holes in them!
   We left after 3 days, going to Pechanga Casino for a couple of nights. Jerry watched the Seahawks game from a Sports Bar and Grill in the Casino while I went shopping and stocked up. I was very glad to return to the rig after braving the crazy traffic around Temecula. I thought I was used to crazy traffic living so close to Seattle, but this! Whew!


Skip and Sheila with the dance floor behind

Patrice and Norm, tablemates

  Returning to Jojoba on Monday, we stayed a week and got in on the New Year's Eve Party which was great fun. We started out sitting at different tables which forced us to talk to those around us, but eventually people made sure we were reunited. The prime rib meal was great and the live band and dancing was lots of fun. I was shocked to hear my name announced during a break from the dancing. "Who wants me and why?!" I was the first to win a door prize! It was a gift certificate for the charming Richie's Diner in Temecula, so we convinced George and Diana to go with us the next day and help us spend it. And, yes, I was able to find something to safely eat;  an excellent, slightly modified Cobb salad.
  I enjoyed many good walks around the park, while Jerry went for runs and then sat in the hot tub. I got a chance to watch a beginners pottery class in the new ceramics center as well as watch a class on wood carving. Not feeling the need to take up yet another hobby, I was content to watch and chat.


kumquat

  We made sure to stock up on the lemons hanging on the trees there, and we were also blessed with some lovely limes and grapefruit that people had grown in their yards. On one of my walks, I asked a man what the unusual small oval orange fruit was on a shrub in his yard. He told me it was a kumquat, something I had only heard of. He generously gave me one to eat, which you eat whole and it was yummy: tart and sweet at the same time. He has a gorgeous cactus garden, and now I regret not whipping out my phone and taking pictures of it! It's such fun to see what people with a green thumb can do.