Hemet,California--Jan.18th-Jan.24th

Hemet,California--- Jan. 18th to Jan. 24th

Jan. 18th

We drove 1/2 hour to Diamond Valley Lake-a man made reservoir 21 miles around supplying emergency water to 18 million people in southern California. It had a great panoramic view of the valley,lake and mountains. We had lunch at a local bar. The 4 of us enjoyed a free wine and cheese reception at our resort. The resort is lovely and so convenient to everything we decided to stay another month till Feb.20th. We had a good meal at a Mexican restaurant in the evening.

Jan. 19th

Another beautiful day 22 Deg.C. We spent the afternoon at the swimming pool and hot tub. (living the life of Riley especially after hearing that Calgary had snow and -25 Deg. C).Karilee e-mailed us. After 24 hours on the plane she arrived in Sydney, Australia-- safe and sound and very hot weather.

Jan. 20th

In the morning we drove a hour to Palm Springs. We passed hundreds of windmills for generating power. 25 Deg. C. We had a good time shopping at the College of the Desert Street Fair.Great shopping but some things a bit pricey.We had lunch and took a different route back to Hemet. Switch back highway through the mountains-- a bit scary but beautiful scenery. Terrific view of Palms Springs golf courses from the top of the mountain. Idykweiss had some snow at the 5200 foot level.

Jan. 21st

Rainy,cloudy and a cool 14 Deg. C.--laundry and grocery shopping were the order of the day.Gerald and Bev ( friends of John and Lynda's arrived). We all went for cocktails (byob) and spaghetti dinner $6.00 in the resort ballroom (it was good).

Jan. 22nd

It rained throughout the night. We drove to the Western Center for Archaeology and Paleontology Museum near Diamond Valley Lake(similar to the Drumheller's Tyrrell museum). Fossils,dinosaur bones and items were collected when they dug the Diamond Valley Lake. There was also a exhibit on the Ancient Treasures from the Middle East on display.It was all very interesting. We toured the Winchester Cheese Factory and bought some gouda cheese. We invited John,Lynda,Gerald and Bev for happy hour and listened to Newfie music.

Jan. 23rd

Lynda,Bev and I walked to the Target store and did some shopping. At 5:30 we went lto a wine tasting and a theater production"Love Letters" $5.00 each in the ballroom.The wine was great but we left at intermission from the play.Not so good!

Jan. 24th

Rainy and cool 10 Deg. C. We did some shopping at Wal-Mart and Pay Less Shoes.Ralph put up a bird feeder in our tree--dozens of different species come to the feeder. John's and Ralph's hummingbird feeders are attracting the little ones too. I am getting a cold/flu again. I went to bed and the rest of the crew went to play shuffleboard.

2:42:00 PM
by Ralph and Marie