Another winter season at the Fountain of Youth Spa and RV Park has come to a close. It has been a good season with lots of friends, family visits, and happenings. With all good things there seems to be a time to move on - and that time is now. The fact that the temperatures are hanging in the 90 degree range may have something to do with that, too. (Cooler weather here we come!)
Leading up to this point in the season, we had the opportunity to see Air Force One with the President come in for a landing in Palm Springs. (He wanted to play some golf – I can’t even imagine the price the tax payers contributed for this little presidential jaunt.) We just happened to be visiting at our loving Sister and Brother-in-Law’s place as the plane flew over headed towards the airport. For those of you who don’t know, Air Force One is the official air traffic control call sign of a United States Air Force aircraft carrying the President of the United States. This is one rather big symbol for the American presidency and its power. This particular aircraft (there are two of them) was made during Ronald Reagan’s presidential term and actually had the interior designed by First Lady Nancy Reagan.
During our play time in the desert and visits with Kathy and Leo, we took a road trip one weekend that included Quartzsite, Yuma, Los Algondones, and the Center of the World (Felicity, CA). As we were traveling from Quartzsite to Yuma, Leo made a sudden stop because of this mile marker. It seems that we all had something in common with this little sign – the number 62. We all will achieve this milestone number this year. (Yes, I know we are all younglings to quite a few of you but to us it is quite significant!)
We continued on down the road to visit Yuma, Arizona for a night and make our way across the border to Los Algondones to do some shopping and pick up some new prescription glasses for me. Los Algondones is a small border town that caters to the American and Canadian snowbird population of the area with its dentists, eye doctors, pharmacies, ‘what’s it’ shops and liquor stores. We have never felt uncomfortable there and the streets and area has always had a reputation of being safe.
As we were headed back to our homes, we made one last stop at what is touted as the “Center of the World”.
It was time to recalibrate ourselves as we drove just west of the border between Arizona and southern California and stopped in the Sonoran Desert – reputed to be one of the hottest and driest places in the U.S. (It was cool and windy when we were there.) There we toured the grounds of this unique place with its gift shop, history, engraved timeline monoliths, church, and, of course, the pyramid that houses the Center of the World disk. Inside the pyramid you can stand on the metal disk and have your picture taken by one of the attendants and given a certificate stating the fact the you were at the “Center of the World”.
While we were visiting one afternoon in Rancho Mirage, we noticed this cloud just hanging around. I hadn’t seen anything quite like this before. It seemed to just hang around for awhile then slowly came apart as it headed north.
My brother, Gary, and his wife, Regina, came to visit and stay with Leo and Kathy for a week this winter so we went in for a visit as well for a few days. Good visit with lots of talking and way too much to eat. Bet you can’t guess which one is my brother. (I'm the one in the light grey shirt.)
We took another small road trip in the area a couple weeks ago and headed towards Borrego Springs to do some picture taking and for Linda to do some geocaching. Along the way we had to stop a few times to view the blooming Ocotillo that was rather abundant in the area. The little spiny guy in the forefront of the picture is a Cholla cactus that photo bombed me as I was taking this photo. You do have to watch out for the Jumping Cholla - they are always looking to sneak into the photos.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the various forms of the cactus family, the Cholla (pronounced choy-a) is one of the most hated and feared cacti in the southwest desert. If you have the misfortune to fall, bump, brush against, or run into one, you will have a very sudden and painful learning moment. The plant has pads that separate easily from the main stem and the nasty little spines easily attach to your clothing, your skin, your shoes, or anything else that touches them. You can always tell if a pet dog has been in the desert for a while, as when they are out and about and see a Cholla they take a very wide berth. Since the plant is covered with spines, it's rather difficult to grab and remove the pad that has found a new home with or in you. Unlike other cacti, Cholla’s have hollow spines and can easily attach to whatever they touch with those super sharp little things. If there is moisture, such as with skin, the tips actually curve once they have made contact, locking their spines in place just underneath the skin’s top layer, something like a quick acting fish hook.
Here is a close up of an Ocotillo bloom we were able to get on our way to Borrego Springs. Their vibrant colors certainly do lend a bit of color to the desert!
One of the main reasons we had decided to stop at Borrego Springs again was the wonderful and unique sculptures of artist, Ricardo Breceda. Ricardo is the creator of this whimsical collection, which is spread out on three square miles of desert land surrounding Borrego Springs.
These sculptures definitely add to the area with something a bit more unique than just the desert wildflowers and the wonderful Anza-Borrego Desert State Park which already attracts 
The artist brings life to his sculptures by capturing each creature in motion. They are so still, yet all you see is movement.
As you drive along the roads that weave through the area you'll see sculptures of wild horses in a nearby field, saber tooth tigers in pursuit, scorpions readying for battle, and desert tortoises that seem as if they're crawling through the brush.
All too soon it was time to leave Borrego Springs with all of its interesting artwork and scenery. We had taken our pictures, Linda had completed some geocaching, and it was starting to get pretty warm. So we climbed into the truck and headed for the higher mountains and the culinary promise of some excellent apple pie in the California Apple Pie Icon City of Julian.
The little town of Julian started with a gold rush in 1870, with hundreds of men and women rushing to Julian to stake their claims and get rich – which very few did. Fairly soon after that other people followed bringing other 
Yes, they were some of the best tasting pies I have ever had – it was worth the trip up the twisty mountain roads to get there.
Our next little jaunt took us from the very comfortable guest room at our relatives place in Rancho Mirage up the mountains (very twisty roads again!) to the little town of Idyllwild.
Idyllwild was known originally as Strawberry Valley because of the wild strawberries that grow there along the creek that runs through the town, Strawberry Creek. Shepherds regularly brought their flocks of sheep to the valley to graze and also as a retreat from the summer heat. Later on in its history, during late 1960s and 1970s, there was an influx of hippies in Idyllwild which changed the nature of the town and alarmed many longtime residents. Timothy Leary lived on a ranch nearby, with the ranch serving as the headquarters of The Brotherhood of Eternal Love, which was sold to and is now operated by Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times as a year-round retreat for children with cancer and their families.
This isn’t a skiing community but has been developed over the years into a hiking, mountain and rock climbing, horseback riding, and artsy small town with a flair of its older “Hippy History”. It is considered one of the better mountain getaways in southern California.
While we were there we had to stop at one of the local wine and beer tasting establishments because of the little sign out front that attracted my attention -“Belching Beaver Peanut Butter Stout” - it had my interest. We had a very nice lunch with some good wine and the “Belching Beaver” which was like drinking a liquid peanut butter cup with a kick - good stuff! Then it was across the street for some ice cream and the trip home. A very unique day with a bit of geocaching thrown in for good measure.
Also in Idyllwild I noticed that they had a bit of a fascination with fiberglass deer, painted in unique and gaudy designs – maybe it’s a throw back to the Timothy Leary days. 
So then it was back down the windy, mountain roads with the unfettered anticipation of a nice hot spa and a soft bed waiting at the end.
On our way back to the RV park the next day we just had to stop at
“The International Banana Museum - North Shore, California”
We had heard of this quirky place and seen it many times as we traveled between the Fountain of Youth RV Park and Rancho Mirage but had never stopped – this time we did with camera in hand. We saw the large, stuffed banana sitting in the chair in front of the place which indicated it was open so we shelled out our dollar apiece and were overwhelmed with yellow, yellow, and more yellow! Before we came here I had no idea how much a person could like a banana. You really have to like bananas to own over 20,000 banana related items and make a museum out of it. The owner, Fred, also has Banana Soda Ice Cream Floats, Banana Milkshakes, Sundaes, and Frozen Chocolate Dipped Bananas for your refreshment. It’s located southeast of Palm Springs in North Shore, California and is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records for having the largest collection dedicated to a single fruit.
The museum was started back in 1976 by a different owner, who called himself the “Top Banana Man”. He also started the banana club, wrote books about bananas, had been on talk shows to talk about his banana obsession, then he sold his collection to Fred, who currently owns and operates the museum.
The museum has everything from stuffed bananas, banana key chains, banana toys, banana photo album, banana chair, banana car, banana jacket, banana shirt, banana everything else you can ever possibly imagine. The posters on the walls are absolutely hilarious - as long as you have an open mind about bananas that is.
“The Wisdom of Oreo”
Oreo - our 15 year old Tom Cat, has lived and traveled with us for quite a few years. He has been part of the Blog for some time and has provided a few purr-fect bits of wisdom with a cats eye view and observations for all the blog readers out there as well as a few off-paw comments about the antics of his pride members and life on the road.
People are so weird, my pride members brought me home to protect them then every once in a while they close up all the windows, lock up my house, and leave me – alone - for days at a time. They say they are visiting family or friends but I don’t believe them – I am their family! I shouldn’t complain too much though, my pride members did arrange for me to meet some new people (part time pride members) to talk to me and feed me while they were gone. A couple of them had a distinct odor of dog though, but since they weren’t trying to feed me poodle or long-haired wieners, I was OK with that. (I helped raise a Keeshond a few years ago.) I also got all the peace and quiet that I deserve for a short time while they were out “visiting”. My pride members have told me we are moving north in a couple of days, leaving the desert and heading for the high mountains of Wyoming (wherever that is!). So I want to thank all my visitors from this past season - especially Dave & Alice, Bob & Ardell, and Dick & Annie – I really appreciate the fact that even though you had problems with the locks you kept trying to come see me!
Oreo
So with another winter season behind us, we are in the process of packing up once more and heading north. Our travels will take us to places like Oatman, AZ; Las Vegas, NV; the Extraterrestrial Highway; The Bonneville Salt Flats; parts of Idaho; and then on to the Jackson Hole area of Wyoming for our summer volunteer positions. It should be an extremely interesting and fun summer, and we hope to see some of you up there.
With that, we leave you with one last sunset from our winter home called ‘The Fountain of Youth’ and a couple words with a lot of meaning behind them for us - “We don’t stop playing because we grow older, we grow older because we stop playing.” (unknown)
Home Is Where We Park It!
Lee & Linda
