Travel Tuesday: Merry Christmas!

Someone clearly spends too much time on Pinterest!

 Merry Christmas from the desert west of Yuma. This is a favorite place of ours, perhaps because it was the first place on our very first Snowbird trip that we got into the actual desert wilderness and then fell in love with the desert. Off of Ogilby Rd and American Girl Mine Rd, we sit in this spot with wide open spaces ringed with mountains. You can see for miles here! The distances are deceptive; things seem so much closer than they actual are. Lots of room to walk and jog. Lots of sky. And of course the sunsets are spectacular!
     We are with the Boondocker BOF group, but there aren't very many of us here. Only three rigs for the most part, although we had 2 come and go at different times. For our Christmas Potluck (that we had on Christmas Eve because of the forecasted wind for Christmas Day), we had a couple of people drive over and join us. Between us we came up with a tasty meal. As you can see, I had fun with my veggie tray! I also made some gluten free brownies and the Avocado Grasshoppers, along with a delicious squash soup and green salad.

Sunrise, rather than sunset, coming up over the mountains.

Looking in the opposite direction at the same time, this was the moon set.

     Before coming here, we spent a week at Jojoba Hills Resort near Temecula, CA where we caught up on laundry (loads of laundry!), shopping, and visiting with friends. One couple have a wonderful electronic keyboard in their motorhome which I was invited to play whenever I wanted to.Yes! I also got to stock up on some fresh, organic lemons and limes right from the trees that grow in a common area for people to enjoy. Can't get them any fresher than that!

Shields Date Farm Garden with Date Palms.

     We headed back to Indio for a few days and met up with another friend. She and I went to Shields Date Farm. They have a lovely restaurant where we had lunch and a gift shop stocked with several different varieties of dates (Who knew there were so many types?) After lunch we strolled through their beautiful garden along the Stations of Jesus's Life walk which had scenes depicting different events in Jesus's life.

My Christmas rock, 2-1/2 " long!

Even though we had planned to stay a few more days in Indio, we quickly took off for Kofa Ko-op Escapees RV Park in Yuma when we heard that a fellow Boondocker was in the hospital there. Of course we wanted to visit him and make sure he was OK. While we were there, I was able to enjoy a few activities; some social gatherings, Church on Sunday, plenty of walks, and some line dancing. My favorite, though was the Christmas rock painting.