Emerald Desert Lazy

Today was a lazy day around here. I sat around reading The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson on my Nook.  I have finished the first two of the series, this is the third and last.  I highly recommend these to anyone who loves mystery and suspense. I was sorry to find out, Stieg Larsson died before he finished the forth book of the series. His common-law-wife has the manuscript and wants to finish it, but his estranged family has blocked her in court.

Debbie was busy taking out the zipper on a pair of pants she just bought. She said it was in backward and she had trouble zipping it up.

Not sure what Ty is doing or thinking.

There are hotdogs on the barbeque for lunch. 

We narrowed down a date for our return trip here next year and reviewed the cancelation policy.

We have tickets for tomorrow for the Palm Springs Tramway and reservations for dinner at the Peak restaurant on the top of the mountain.

Desert Willow Golf Club

This morning we drove over to the Lakeview Terrace Restaurant at the Desert Willow Golf Club.  The weather has much improved and we enjoyed an excellent breakfast on the terrace.
After breakfast I took some photos from the parking lot of the snow on the mountain tops, left behind by yesterday’s storm .


I programed into the GPS six or so RV resorts in the area to go check out and compare with were we are now in the Emerald Desert Resort.  Well nothing compares. This is just a example of the kind of sites we saw.
 









We happened to drive by and stop at the Coachella Valley Visitor Center.  The center was closed, contrary to the signs, so we really didn’t know what was there.  The area was very rustic and there were several trails leading in various directions. We walked down one which led through a palm forest.  Some of the trail was over wooden trestle which ran over a swampy area created by spring run off.

We came upon some quail busy eating.  First time I’ve I seen quail that they haven’t been a blur.

Meanwhile, back at our ‘home’ Debbie is checking out a can of high-end oak chips (after all we’re in Palm Springs) for the Weber.

This evening I BBQ’d a couple of steaks.  I wanted to get a picture of them because they were so beautiful but I guess I got hungry and I ate ‘em before I got a picture.

Palm Desert Bike Path

Dusted off the bike today and rode a few miles out of the RV park.  Most of the main roads here in Palm Desert are divided four lanes with Bike Path/Golf Cart lanes.  I stopped to take a picture of the beautiful roadside. As you can see there is very little traffic, only an occasional car on Frank Sinatra Dr.

We mostly hung out in and around the rig today. The weather was turning windy and cool. 

Debbie and I walked around the park and looked at sites we might want to spend a month at. We think we might try to come down for a month next year.  There are so many restaurants in the area it will take more than a month to try them all. That being said we ate lunch and dinner at “home”.  Debbie made great tortellini for dinner tonight and it looks like she made enough for the rest of the week.   We still have the steaks we bought on Sunday. We were going to have them tonight but the weather was just too awful.  We’ll shoot for tomorrow.

Tomorrow we’re going out to look at some of the other RV parks in the area. I have a list of four or five that might  be less expensive that where we are now.

Emerald Desert RV Resort

We arrived here yesterday afternoon after an uneventful drive from Santa Maria Elks. Traffic was light to moderate for the six hour drive. We fill up at a Valero truck stop just south of King City. When we arrived here at Emerald Desert, we still had a little over half a tank left. We are going to try to avoid stopping for fuel until we get into Arizona where diesel is below four dollars, at least it was today.

Our site is surrounded by green lawn and we have a large patio. 

Debbie putting Ty inside prior to leaving for lunch.

We drove over to Palm Springs, about a ten minute trip, and stopped for lunch at the Blue Coyote.  We had lunch here several years ago. They have several seating area and we ate in the front patio. The weather yesterday and today has been around 80 degrees with a light, cool breeze.

On the way back we stopped at a upscale market a pick up a couple filet steaks for dinner but after the big lunch we didn’t get that hungry so we’ll try again tomorrow. The forecast for tomorrow is high wind.  Our next door neighbor planned to leave tomorrow but because of the wind they are staying another night.   

Far Western Tavern

Last night we drove the ten or so miles over to to the Far Western Tavern in the small farming community of Guadalupe .  We hadn’t made reservations but it was only around five in the evening so we didn’t anticipate a problem getting a table.  The dinning room was empty when we arrived and filled half way up shortly after.  Debbie ordered ribs and I ordered the steak special they call the Bullseye Steak. Its a large ribeye steak  that I had a year or so ago and thought it was the best steak I had ever eaten.  The meal started out with an antipasto plate. Our waiter informed us that they had hired a new executive chief about six months ago and he had added some specials to the original menu. The specials were mostly steaks with sauces. 
We both ordered soup and it was delicious followed by garlic bread and beans. Deb’s ribs arrived and my steak.  It didn’t look like a rib eye and I questioned the waiter and he assured me it was.  When I took a bite it didn’t taste right, it was a little tough and stringy and was almost a rectangle. It wasn’t marbled at all and defiantly was not a rib eye and I told the waiter.  He told me the reason was that it was cut off the small end of the roast, but he would re-fire another one “if I wanted”. I did and the new steak was a rib eye, in flavor, texture and a more familiar round shape.   Today I got on the internet and and researched beef cuts.
I think what I was first served was a Chuck eye steak which is described by the Certified Angus Beef LLC as “a good low-cost  alternative to the ribeye, though slightly less flavorful and tender and is cut from the chuck eye roast.
I have not doubt that they tried to pass off a cheaper cut of meat on me.  I don’t know if it was the delay of the meal, but when the Bulleye arrived, it was a disappointment and nowhere near as good as the last time.
I have to say it was not anywhere near as good as our meal at Jocko’s and it was twice the price. Well now we know why Jocko’s is so crowded and we’ll just put up with the wait there. Defiantly won’t have to make a drive over to Guadalupe again. Far Western Tavern joins Alex’s BBQ as a used to be good.
We leaving Santa Maria Elks tomorrow morning and driving over to the Emerald Desert in Palm Desert where we’ll spend a week.

Checking the House

Yesterday we drove up toward Pismo Beach to check on Deb’s folk’s house. They are spending the winter in their home south of Tucson.  We’re heading that way and will spend a week with them.

We had just arrive at the house when Bruce, their neighbor, dropped in to visit for a while.  We then headed over to Monarch Dunes Golf Club for lunch at the Butterfly Café. The weather was gorgeous, sunny and warm, around 80 degrees. We ate out on the deck  overlooking the first tee. They always provide a great meal.

We did a little sightseeing. We checked out the Elks lodge in Oceano.  They also have a nice RV area and it was only about three quarters full. Most of the time its so full there isn’t room to park a bicycle.  We continued down to the nearby beach parking lot to take a look. Orange construction fencing has been installed between the lot and the beach and it blocked the view.  Next we drove down the main street of Pismo Beach to the pier and beach parking. The view here was blocked by a small farmer’s market.

On the way back to the Horizon we stopped at Walmart and pick up a few necessity's, including Robitussin for Debbie. She seem to be quite a bit better.

This evening we are planning on dinner at the Far West Tavern where a year ago or so, I had the best steak ever.

Will try to remember to bring the camera today.

Hanging at Santa Maria Elks

Our dinner at Jokos Steak House last night was fantastic. We both ordered filets which arrived cooked perfectly. The filets were so large, mine was about four inches thick, that we only ate about half and brought the rest home. Jokos steak was almost as good as the steak we had at Far West Tavern a year or so ago. Planning to try theirs again tomorrow!

Today we just loafed around the Horizon. Debbie is coming down with some kind of muck and we decided to rest up and hope she feels better tomorrow.  We have a really nice site here with full hook ups.

Yesterday when we arrived I only connected the power cord so today I finished connecting the water and sewer. When I went to dump I discovered the fitting on the sewer hose no longer fit tight and kaka started leaking out. Fortunately not too much. I cleaned up the bottom of the compartment with diluted bleach and then replaced the broken fitting using the one from the extension hose.  A cautious test proved the replacement made a tight seal and I completed the tanks dump.

Debbie and Ty went out for some fresh air on the lawn behind the Horizon. 

Ty looks serious.

Our Campsite at Home

This is our RV site at home.  We park here when we’re not on the road traveling. The cat’s rear is just to the left and our house is further to the left.  We have a canopy to set up that covers the rear “grass” area and gives us some shade if we’re here during warm weather.

We recently added a fancy BBQ grill from Lowe’s. In the picture it’s under the black cover.

It has a large shelf on the left folds down and on the right side is a searing unit. It also has an IR rotisserie burner. So far it’s been turning out some incredibly good stuff.

 

While we were home I knocked out several projects, the descriptions of which I’ll post in future blogs.

Finally On The Road

We left town yesterday at three in the afternoon and made our way down to the Camping World parking lot in Gilroy. Traffic was light as expected for the middle of the three day week-end. We found a parking space behind their building which blocked the traffic noise from Hwy. 101. There were two others overnighting in the front parking lot.  
This morning we got back on the road and made our way to the Elks Lodge in Santa Maria.   Along the way we counted around ten Highway Patrol cars located a few miles either side of the turn off for Monterey. It was early morning and they were catching people leaving for home after the weekend.  All but two had cars pulled over. The perfect end to an otherwise enjoyable weekend!  We made it through the gauntlet unscathed.
Tonight we have reservations for dinner tonight at Jocko’s Steakhouse.  In the past we have always gone to Alex’s BBQ but the last few times our experience has been disappointing.  The quality of the food had really gone downhill. We kind of surmised  in talking to the waiter that the restaurant was experiencing hard times, but we noticed that it was still open as we drove by. 
We will be here for several more days which will give Debbie an opportunity to visit her favorite yarn shop. And me, a chance to explore a few more restaurants.