Well after a month cruising down the west coast, and another 2 months by the sea in Oceanside, we finally detached ourselves from the ocean and made our way inland to the desert, just two hours East to the Palm Springs area.
Upon arrival to the desert, a few things became very apparent:
Just like they say, it’s extremely dry (as dry as a popcorn fart as my dad would have said). How can one’s mouth and throat be so dry?
The whole area is like a giant waterless beach, with so much sand it’s unbelievable. It’s like the sea dried up and left it behind. Rylie doesn’t seem to mind though, she and Nixon take turns digging holes in the endless sand dunes.
We are the youngest people around by about 4 decades, making Rylie a huge novelty. In fact, we repeatedly hear comments like “wow, there REALLY is a REAL baby in that stroller (cuz there are ALOT of dog strollers around). We were warned. And don’t think weekday morning grocery shopping is a good idea either, because with all these retired folks, its just as busy at 9am as a midday Saturday back home.
One thing is for sure, our campground is not dog friendly, or kid friendly. It’s the biggest seniors golf course community, I mean campground, I’ve ever seen or heard of with over 1200 spots, but they have a teeny tiny dog run between the nasty dumpsters and the laundry building for them to poop. NOWHERE else are they allowed to be except on the road. Others are lucky enough to take their dogs on their golf carts beyond the gates, but we have to leave the property and walk him beside the freeway to take care of his morning business. There is not a playground or a free piece of grass to be seen around here that is available for a toddler to explore and play. Instead, she runs in the gutter along the road, and smells people’s flowers, while her parents are hoping to avoid getting a discerning stare from a grumpy old fart. Then, she rides her little strider bike up and down the concrete driveway.
The day after we arrived here, Grandma Pat surprised Rylie with a visit to the trailer. Her face was priceless when Grandma walked through the door. It was a mix of “what are you doing here?” and ” that’s okay, I missed you.” After sitting down, she crawled right up and snuggled into her lap for a long, lingering hug. It was so cute, and I’m sure grandma didn’t mind one bit. She had grandma very busy helping her ride her bike, and practice walking, and swimming, and playing.
We’ve already visited the condo a few times where Grandma is staying. With all sort of great amenities like 11 pools, a courtyard full of hammocks, awesome fountains to circle the ledge, flowers to smell, REAL kids to play with, tree leaves to crunch, stairs to climb, and blue curbs to sit on. It’s located in La Quinta, and area is very picturesque, and nestled at the bottom of a mountain.
On our first walk around the area, we came across a little wee Disney Princess kitchen sitting outside a dumpster, just waiting for our little princess to find it. How perfect?! With it’s many tea making accessories, of course we had to snap it up for her so she could be busy and “make tea” for us inside the condo and to keep her out of trouble.
All in all, I think we are missing the ocean, and our friends in Oceanside, because its just not the same here. But, we’ve got enough things to keep us busy here for a while. There’s a zoo, lots of swimming to be done, a workout room, shopping to do, grandma’s to visit, and we’ve got a couple of overnight trips booked so far. When the desert gives us lemons, we will make lemonade! And, well, we all know Rylie loves lemons.
