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| Happy New Year! |
We celebrated the New Year at coffee time with Joe and Dianna and a Dutch delicacy called ‘oliebollen’. That would translate to ‘oil balls’ what really doesn’t sound too good but I’d say they’re sort of a doughnut or fritter and traditionally eaten on New Years day. James learned to make them from my Dad and he’s gotten pretty good at it over the years. They were delicious!
The weather so far has been pretty good. We discover it can be very windy in the desert and it does rain but practically every day starts out beautifully sunny.
We had a few downpours which are normal for this time of the year but overall it has been cooler than normal, which is something that’s been going on all over the west-coast for the last 2 years or so. We’re very happy with our roof structure; we can still be outside even when it rains!
Since this campsite is listed as being horse friendly but wasn’t really set up for it, students from the Americorps installed some horse corrals this month and James worked on 2 bins for the manure.
We’ve been taking some trips in the area during our days off. We went to Julian, a little town about 40 minutes from here at about 4000 feet in the Mountains east of
It’s known for its ‘world famous Julian apple pie’ from its many apple orchards and has a cute historical center with beautiful old houses from it’s heydays during the short gold-rush in the 1860’s.
Off course we have to try 2 different pieces of pie!
After touring some of the scenic mountain roads we did a little wine tasting at 2 of the vineyards for which this area is also known.
The weather was gorgeous and we can sit outside in the late afternoon sun overlooking the vineyards on the hills. Not a bad life!
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| This winery was called: 'the blue door' (surprise, surprise) |
We also brought a visit to the Anza Borrego Desert State Park State Park of California
It has a beautiful visitor center and the short video they show about the park is well worth watching to learn a little about this beautiful area.
It is close to Borrego Springs, California’s first Dark Sky Community. There are no big box or chain stores. It is a wonderful quaint, quiet home for many ‘snowbirds’, people from colder climates that stay here for the winter.
Personally I’d much rather be here than in busy Palm Springs for instance, where so many snow-birders seem to go.
Oh, ...and James celebrated another Birthday this month!
Are those some grey chest hairs honey .....?
