Pat's Birthday Borrego Springs

Our good neighbors Duane and Rose, in Kingman.  They have dances in the back yard, this is the band stand.   Actually (true story), it's a platform to dirve gold balls out into the desert.

We just pulled into Yuma.  Now the work starts.  Cleaning, unpacking, organizing, etc.  We'll be busy for awhile.

Steven (Rogue) has a nice garage.  In fact, their whole home is beautiful!

A large, landscaped dessert yard.  The only price you pay is living in 120 degree heat in the summertime.

Downtown Borrego Springs.  Waiting for the Fly Over.. (in honor of Pat's Birthday)

Mexican pots.  Looks like South of the Border, but the prices are a little higher.  And the ladies on the street are a little lighter.

The whole property is surrounded with "Texas Ranger" plants.

The house was designed to be an RV port.  Large, open floor plan, but since it's only one bedroom (a VERY large one) they bought this pull-trailer to use as a guest room.  It's very comfortable as well.

Kelly waiting for the parade.  

The fly over was 6 planes, different models.  Most had woman pilots.   It's very difficult to get good pictures.  Couldn't see the LED screen in the bright sun light.

Another lady pilot. They use this plane for fire fighting.  And, sometimes for spreading chem trails to wipe out the Winter population when the town gets too crowded.

Waiting for the parade to start.  Very nice small town.

The Real Estate lady that Rogue used has become a friend, so we had very nice seats in front of their business on Main Street.

Cool name for a Real Estate Office

There were 4 or 5  marching bands in the parade.  ALL were excellent!  After the parade, they had some competition in the city park.

Cute kids in native costumes

There were 60 some entries, I'm only posting a sampling

Impressive Marine Color Guard.

A dance routine.  All the kids were very good

The teens and the Miss Borrego contestants went 2 to a vehicle. 

All the bands had some good routines...not just straight marching. And they all did a good job.

This float was being pulled by a local garbage truck.

There was a Harley group in the parade, probably 10 or 12 bikes.

Mule ridin' lady

There were some Borrego Beauties hidden back in those hearts

Probably the most fun of any parade we've been to in years.

More Harleys

The Queen contestants were all so happy!

A LOT of off on/off road vehicles in this group.  They were doing burn:-)out going down the road (those that could:-)

The Black History club of Julian was there.  Interesting facts we learned from the MC about their club

Strutin' their stuff!

Luxury portable recliner

Another band.  All were good

Hi Society in the Dessert

All good, but this was my favorite.  From El Centro, CA.  Lady Band Master.  Very disciplined marching and playing 

One of the baton twillers

For a small town, this parade was Excellent!

The Dog dog did a fine job of driving these dessert beauties around :-)

Love the sounds of the big Bass!

These high steppers are on the way to Radio City Music Hall!

Nice uniforms.  Probably a little warm out today though.  It was in the high 80's today here.

All the kids looked so happy...I guess things aren't bad all over.

The Real Estate Company had a very nice snack buffet.  I limited myself to one two plates, this was the small one.

A court of something

Ray Mitchell.  Our VROC friend.  The parade is over, we're packing up the chairs.  Ray is engrossed in the snacks....he hasn't realized yet that the parade it over :-) He's having a grape and Pineapple skewer.

Canyon Cruisers.  This is a locale hot spot for good food.

After the parade, there was a "Battle of the Bands" in the city Park.

There were several bikes in town today

I think Pat is enjoying "HER" Special Day!  Was nice that the city put on this nice festival for her Birthday :-)

A couple other local bands played too.

Sue Mitchell just had to twist this nice doggies year :-) (actually it was just a little petting)

Nice little carnival of the Day

The park is full of nice shade trees

Lots of shopping in there, and some good food vendors

Funny T-Shirt.  I think there were a few of these "toads" in town today :-)

Group Therapy?

Kelly needs a stuffed Animal.  She'll have one after dinner later on.

Pat, Kelly, Sue, Ray, and Steven.  Finally got everyone together so we can move on to other stuff.

Perfect location for a small town festival

Lemonade booths were popular doday

This band was very good!

Youngsters at play 

Nice vegetation here in Borrego Springs

Steven, our Host of the weekend

The town clown

She may look a little like Olive Oil, but she sure can sing. A very pleasant voice. The whole band was good.

Fat Bacon wrapped hot dogs

The bacon is sizzling on the grill

More food booths

Quack, Quack....here, ducky ducky ducky..........

Steven found this Scorpion in his garage.  It's now a pet.

We're in Rogue's truck, headed for Font Point.  This Ford is pretty stuck.

The Ford driver appeared slightly out of it.  This little Toyota hooked on and pulled him out of the sand.  A little too much "Road Soda" we think

Steven and Kelly having a Mountain Top Experience

Some beautiful erosion

Steven is really quite svelt, but he's trying to look a little heavy in this shot

Now he's back with his "boyish" figure

Ray, Sue, Pat (the birthday girl), Kelly and Steven.

Same group, with Sherm in the picture

Speaking of "road soda", here's one with an ice bucket someone left up here.

Lonely Ocotilla on the skyline

An eagle in flight...oh, wait...that's Rogue

Almost back to the truck

One of the planes used in today's fly over...it's a lady pilot of patrol duty.

A fun ride out to the Point.  We're almost back to civilazation.

A local landmark.  You can only get there with 4 wheel drive, and the last 10 or so yards you have to walk.  It was worth it!

A Palm line drive to get to Rogue and Kelly's place

Old "Rain in the Face", or Indian Rock.  The view from the house

Dinner will be at this Resort.  

The Arches.  It turned out to be very nice

Very elegant.  We chose to eat early at 5 PM, so Ray and Sue could drive back to the San Diego area.  By the time we left, this room was full.  The piano player hadn't come on duty yet.

All the windows had a view of the golf course.  As the sun went down, the bunnies and coyotes started the nightly chase.

We all enjoyed out dinners.  This was the first real food I've had all Summer, and it was worth the wait.  Will be back on left over Nutrisystem food in the morning.

Steven's Pasta with lots of Seafood in it.  He didn't leave any :-)

Pat and I both had the 20 oz. Herb crusted , slow cooked, Prime Rib. It was excellent!

Steven and Kelly had make prior arrangements so Pat would have this "Triple Chocolate Delight", a most wonderful dessert.  The male waiters came and sang Happy Birthday to her, in a very classy way.  It was a nice surprise, and pleasant way to end a good meal and Birthday for Pat.

There was a crowded bar we passed on the way out.  All decked out in Halloween theme.  This waiter was pretty stiff.

VERY strange!  When we got back to the house, I snapped this picture of a very bright moon.  Have no idea why it turned out this way.  I couldn't duplicate it again.
The night sky over Borrego Springs, California.  And the end of a most pleasant Day!  A big "THANK YOU" to Steven and Kelly for making it happen.

Our Quarters at the "Rogue House".  A nice touch.  Pat ate her chocolate bar, I left this for the next guest.  After yesterday, I'm never eating again!

Private guest room WITH WiFi!  What more could you want......

Does this look good?

A Gourmet Kitchen, and a Gourmet Chef, is a hard combination to beat.  Kelly does such a good job.  The "Hostess with the Mostest"

The house is very open.  I didn't do it justice with the few pictures I did take, but you get the idea.  It's nice    :-)

It was hard to turn down the wonderful looking French Toast with Pure Maple Syrup and peanut butter, but at least I don't feel guilt again today about the food intake.  Still have about 4 more pounds to lose to meet my final goal...

Early morning sunshine at the "Casa RK"

The Green Lizard, about ready to scurry home so we can get back to work (After the nascar race:-)

We've seen these Texas Ranger plants before, but never knew what they were named until yesterday.  They make a nice privacy wall.

Every little corner is landscaped.

The original opener did a very nice job of setting this property up..it's just right!

You can probably tell we were impressed with the "Casa RK"  We counted 3 Chimineas, and one extra fire pit.  Nothing like a small fire for comfort on a chilly 60 degree evening.

The front entry.

The Master Bedroom is larger than some houses I've lived in!

Just a skinny little Biker

There are over  a dozen sculptures on the outskirts of Borrego Springs.  We'll just post a few.

Excellent quality!  I would like to have had several pictures of east one from different angles and lighting.  But time was a concern

With our heels kicked up, we're on our way out of Borrego Springs..the end of a most perfect weekend.   Unless things change, we'd like to do it again next year!  Rogue and Kel mentioned the possibility of a "Mini Rally"  Wouldn't that be cool!