Tuesday, January 17, 2012

More from Sunny SoCal

Today is our last full day of this vacation. We are sad to have to go home tomorrow. It has been a great break, and a great start to our 40th anniversary year. We plan to pull out all of the stops this year, and this trip is just the beginning.



I found too more images from our raid of the gated community that Bubby wanted me to post. Another photo of the lake. I can't believe I took this one with my phone.



It's easy to imagine that I took this one with the phone, because it is pretty bad. Bubby looks good, though.



Yesterday I partook in a little bit of nostalgia. There is a municipal par-3 golf course within walking distance of our accommodations, and I decided to play it. When I was growing up, there was a similar course (Twin Lakes Golf Course)located a few miles from our house, and Uncle Dave and I spent a lot of evenings with friends playing par-3 golf under the lights. Bubby and I didn't play long enough to have the lights be a factor, and the course is nothing compared to the Sand Hollow course I played at the end of December, but it was fun for me. The best part, 18 holes, $25! Many of the high profile courses here cost in excess of $100 plus cart. I can spin for the golf, but I am not playing well enough right now to deserve it. I need some serious summer golf to get my game back in shape. I spent too much time on the building last summer, and not enough time on Cedar Ridge.



Bubby is insisting that I include this photo, so let me put that disclaimer out right now. This is what life is like in the lazy river. Bubby says it is just her style. My concern in posting this is that it will show up somewhere and lead to embarrassment at some future date, but what the heck. I guess if you dish it out, you have to take it once in awhile.

We are going to start early tomorrow for home, hoping to be in Las Vegas for lunch. I have some things to do in Cedar City tomorrow before I leave for SLC on Thursday morning. One of the things is an appointment with the optometrist so I can get some new glasses ordered.

Buboppy

Monday, January 16, 2012

Checking in from Indio

We are having a terrific break here in Indio. We did have a serious snafu to deal with on Friday, but things have settled down since then. We spent the night Thursday in St. George, did some initiatories in the Temple, had some dinner, and planned for an early departure on Friday morning. Somehow, my aging glasses frames got broken right in the center of the nose bridge. It was too late on Thursday, and we planned to leave too early on Friday, to do anything about it, so we left SGU at 5:30 AM, me driving in my sunglasses.

Once we got here and checked in, we started searching out who might be able to help me get my nighttime vision back. The frames are titanium which means they can't be welded without special equipment. No one had a frame that would fit my lenses, and we kept being told a week to 10 days to solve the problem. Since we are staying only that is not going to work. We finally found out that if we drove to Riverside, about 75 miles away, we could get someone to laser-weld the frames, so off we went. The upside was a great salad and the Cheesecake Factory while we waited for the fix-it guy. We got it done, and were installed in our accommodations for the evening at about 9:30 PM. A long day. Bubby was fried.



On Saturday morning we took a long walk and did some exploring. We were early, of course, for most the stores to be open, but I was snooping for adventure. We decided to have a 99 cent chili dog from the Weinersnitzel (don't ask, it's a memory for us) and I noticed one business with a bunch of cars out front. We walked over to investigate, and it turned out to be a fast food place that serves breakfast, 24/7. It is called Goody's and this is what the store front looks like. We decided to try it for dinner that night, and it didn't disappoint. It reminded me of the great fast food breakfasts we discovered at Angelo's in Oceanside.

Sunday we went to the Bermuda Dunes ward for church, and BBQd on our back porch for dinner. It was fun and relaxing.



Nancy had encouraged us to take a look at the housing development immediately south of our location, and we explained that it was a gated community. No access. We kept snooping around, and finally found out way in. There is a huge lake in the center of the development with a bridge that we walked across.



Of course there are some seriously high-end homes as well, which would be a draw for Nancy. We had a nice stroll around and and snooped everywhere. The lake has fish in it. We saw a kid fishing, but didn't see him catch, or sight any cruising fish (probably bass).



This morning we woke a took a long walk. Bubby was impressed with the little puff ball blossoms on these trees.

We are having fun in the hot tubs, the lazy river, and much more. I am playing golf this afternoon, Bubby is walking the course with me. We'll have more to report.

Buboppy

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Great Happenings

I realize that we are really slacking off on this blog, but we need to check in, anyway.

Bubby and I are getting ready to head out for the first of many celebrations of this, our 40th wedding anniversary, year. We are headed to Indio, CA, for a few days at the WorldMark located there. Our friends, Ron and Nancy, hooked us up when Trisha informed them that she was looking for somewhere warm to get a break from winter. We will post some photos of our adventures there so our readers can see what fun we have cooked up.

It has been a crazy week, as most are aware, when you know you are leaving town for a few days. Dozens of meetings to do before leaving, packing and preparing at home, Relief Society Enrichment, etc., etc. Bubby also has to squeeze in a haircut and piano lesson.

I did receive a good bit of news at work this week. We have been working with a donor for about five years, initially as the major donation for the recently completed SUU Center for Health and Molecular Sciences. For a variety of reasons, we have not been able to get the donation into the bank, but wonder of wonders, two days ago, a check for $3.2 million arrived from the donor, with almost $500 K to follow. We will be naming the College in honor the donor, and the money will go into an endowment, the interest of which we can use to enrich the educational experience of our students. I called the son of the donor to thank him, in light of the passing of the honoree, for whom the College of Science and Engineering will be named. These are great people who love SUU, and the difference it made in the lives of their husband and father. I will have more details to release later, but the whole thing is quite exciting.

Buboppy