A weekend in the middle of the month of February

This last weekend was definitely another good one with me. Why? My oldest son joined us out at our desert house for some fun. Michael's work has been a little slow and for the past year he has been attending the police academy every weekend. Therefore he had been super busy and he had never been out to the house with us. John was unable to join us, due to a commitment in Lakeside on Saturday, however, he was going to join us out there Saturday night. So, Michael, Kevin and I left Friday afternoon after work and headed out to the Riviera. All packed up and squeezed into Nelly (my red Jeep) Oh, and we had Roxy and Dude aka deet da dee with us. The past few trips, Dude aka deet da dee has become a nervous traveler, so I had to go get him some natural calming tablets from Petco. It seemed to do the trick. Even all crammed together in Nelly, we had a good time heading out. Michael entertained us with songs from his ipod. I insisted changing over to my ipod once we hit Borrego Springs. He was okay with my song selection. See? I am a cool mom.

Once out in the desert, we unpacked, called up Debbbie (our Escondido and desert neighbor)and her group of kids and we all headed out to dinner. Our destination? The Red Earth Casino. This casino is a tiny casino about 5 miles from the Riviera. They do have a really cute little restaurant called the Beach Club Cafe. The food is pretty good and reasonably priced. After dinner, the kids headed to the arcade and Debbie and I took Michael into the casino (he's 22) and donated a few dollars. Well, let me re-phrase that, Debbie and I donated a few dollars, Michael actually came out ahead. He walked out with 80 bux. Lucky kid!

The next morning, the boys and I got up and headed out on the desert toys across the desert over to Ocotillo Wells. Kevin's Girlfriend, Cierra and her family were out for the weekend and we joined up with them to go on a ride. That ride took us back towards the Salton Sea via Cut-across trail and Tule Wash, then to the am/pm market for a snack. The boys and I broke off from their group and headed back to the house.

Zack, Michaela, Cierra and Kevin ready to go riding


A little later in the afternoon we went out geocaching. Michael and Kevin decided to ride the smaller bikes (they complained about sore butts and legs the next day) and I followed in the Rhino. One of the caches was located under a bridge over a dry pond in what used to be a golf course in the 60's. Salton City was supposed to be the next Palm Springs and sadly that never really happened. I've seen vintage video of this very bridge with water under it, greens and a golfer swinging a a ball in the foreground. Now the area is desolate with a bridge that is not safe to cross over, an empty pond and Palm trees with no tops.

The cache was located right under the bridge here.


Kevin riding around the "rim" of the "pond"


Michael riding in the "pond"


Dude aka Deet da Dee and Roxy joined us for the ride. Dude aka deet da dee does much better in an open Rhino then a closed up car. Hmmmm.......



After some more geocaching in a couple of washes in the area, we headed over to the Truckhaven area and the boys took the "baby" bikes up some pretty big hills. It was fun to watch them. Especially Michael on the 50. Half-way up the hills he has his feet down assisting the bike up the hill and eventually getting off the bike and just walking it up. It was funny.

Michael struggling to get up that big hill on the little 50


Kevin had no problems with the hill. But, his bike had a bigger motor.



Sunday morning we went out on a ride with my husband leading. He took us through Tectonic Wash and then across the S22 into the Freeman Ranch property.

This is a rare moment when both of my boys are smiling for a picture.


On the way home I took a couple of pictures from the S22 towards Borrego Springs. The sky was just amazing. It was nice and sunny in the desert, however, as we headed up Montezuma Grade into the mountains, it started to rain.

The view that greeted us on the way into Borrego Springs via the S22


And rain it did all the way home. We did make a stop at Dudley's bakery to pick up some Bread. Dudley's bread is SO yummy. If you've never had it and you're in the So Cal area, make a point of doing a trip to Santa Ysabel. You will not regret it!