April 11th - Escape!! A Night of Mystery

Our first night away from the desert before heading home, and some of the family and I took on an escape room.  I'd not heard much about them, and didn't know how fun it would be.  My sister-in-law's grandsons would love it, though.

At Nightwalker Caverns, A very great guy runs the house with the aid of his family.  We were briefed on rules and how-tos, then got into it.  It was pretty fun.  The area was a puzzle to try and find clues to items we needed and where to put them.

Afterwards, we got a tour of the facility and had some great conversations.  I would definitely recommend them to anyone looking for a fun evening.

Their website is:
https://www.nightwalkercaverns.com

University Avenue

non-discript storefront  

strange creatures inside!!

Searching for clues

April 1 to 11 - Rio Bend last gasp

A final great sunset at the park.  My final shift in the cafe. Laurie does her last delivery.  Pack it up, close it up, hook it up, and move it out.  The park as a whole is clearing out.  They'll still be open, and some live in the oven all summer.  Not me, though, I have to worry that the Dakotas are still hanging onto winter.

We left and went to spend a night or two in Santee Lakes before heading out to North Dakota. The is to go home more leisurely then usual.

So, a last sunset, and a couple of pictures from scenic Seeley. California.

March 31st - DEUCE!!!

Is this month over, yet?

March 31st.  This is the second anniversary of one of our favorite craft Breweries.  Burning Beard Brewery.  In the middle of an industrial park in El Cajon, California, just south of Gillespie Field Airport.  The house music is primarily 80s punk, though the jukebox has other selections.  I've often felt the music was too loud, but lately, it seems to have been turned down a bit.  The woman who runs the front of the house is Shannon.  Shannon not only has a great bartender attitude, but she teachers her staff to be open and fun as well as knowing about the product and being able to talk about it.  Don't you hate going into a store and asking a person on the floor about a product and they have no idea?  That won't happen here.

But I digress.  BB celebrated their anniversary with a blowout event.  You had to purchase tickets before hand.  The sales were limited.  When we arrived, they checked everybody in and gave them tokens for beers and a package of swag.  The front door was closed off, and we went to the back to get in.  They had two food trucks back there and a stage for a couple of local bands throughout the day. 

There was a lot of good conversations and mass quantities consumed.  Some of the greatest people anywhere work here.  So much fun.

The Arrival

Shannon

March 28th - Karaoke

As the season winds down, we got in one last night of karaoke at the Portico with our musical host, Keith.  Down in the riverbed, a hot spot flared up but was put down quickly enough.  A number of Laurie's friends came by to spend the evening.  We thought it was going to be cold and windy, but it was pretty nice.

A couple of shots showing the burn areas

She went swimming and had to retrieve her credit cards from the bottom

March 25th - The Rio Bend Fire

The grounds here at Rio Bend are bordered on the south by a lagoon, and on the west by the New River.  This night, a fire broke out in the brush along the river.  It spread very quickly, and soon we were evacuated due to the high winds and flying embers. 

Thanks to the quick work by local fire agencies, the fire was contained and put out with no damage to the park except a couple of trees on the golf course due to embers.  At one point, the fire managed to get either under the water passage under Drew Road, or it just jumped because of the winds.

We got a room at the Quality Inn down the highway along with two of Laurie's nurse friends and their roommates.  We were able to return home the next morning.  Very exciting.

I only got a couple of pictures at the time, but I might be able to get some more and post them later.

March 24th - The Luau

It's the end of the season at Rio Bend, and they threw a big Luau for the residents.  They had a band that was pretty good.  The cafe catered a full dinner of chicken, tri-tip and lots of deserts.

Another great sunrise

Tickets for the soiree

Party goers.

March 20th - Riverside County

disappointments, fun, and good discoveries.  It was our intenion to visit this place called Pioneer Village.  An old movie set town in the back hills east of Palm Springs.  It takes a couple of hours to get up there, but what we didn't know was that the site is closed on Tuesdays.  We were disappointed, but we looked around a bit.  We drove back into the town there and ate at a Mexican restaurant for breakfast. Las Palmas.

After that little, we went on towards home.  There are a couple of craft places in the town of La Quinta.  We stopped at the closest one, but it wasn't open yet.  So we drove to La Quinta Brewing.  Trendy little upscale town.  The place there was a taproom of theirs but not where they brew.  We had a half pint and thought it could have been tastier.  We returned to the first place which was Cochella Valley Brewery.  Inside we found some really great beers.  I was planning on driving home, so I just had a couple of sips.  Really great taste.

CVB is located in an industrial park.  I found a geocache was just a block away, so I had to go get it.  In the last week or so, now, the owner of the cache has cancelled his account, so it's no longer a valid cache.  However, I still have the credit for the find.

Pioneer Village

Can't be a geocache here...

Oh, a pile of rocks behind it

There it is!!

A cool rock

Coachella Valley Brewing

Great Tables