Geocaching anyone??

Friday, December 26, 2008

Ramiro starts the day by making pancakes and while the clothes that have been taken out of the washing machine are tumbling around in the dryer, we all go for a long walk to find our first Geocache. It turns out to be quite a long walk, but I certainly enjoy it.
After lunch, back the RV park, Kai and Bella decide to go in the pool while the rest of us go for a drive to Salton Sea.
It’s a beautiful sunny day, a bit breezy, but 18 degrees. Don’t you envy us?

There is lots of traffic on the road as we drive through citrus country. Lemons, oranges and grapefruit orchards everywhere.

After 20 minutes we see the Salton Sea. Once there was the dream to make this California’s Riviera. RV parks and roads were built, even street signs placed. Several motels and restaurants now sit there boarded up. What happened?
It turned out, that the water was very selenic and bad for anyone’s health and the people stayed away. The beaches were deserted. There are lots for sale but no buyers.
The minerals in the water are so strong, it kills the fish and builds up on anything. Instead of sand, the beach is covered with barnacle. The smell is somethting else altogether. The pelicans seem to be happy here and there are millions of birds to the delight of many photographers.
You can learn more about the Salton Sea at www.saltonsea.ca.gov/histchron.htm

Further down the road is another cache waiting for us, right at the border of the state park. It’s a quick find. We would have done more caches, but the connection at the RV park is so slow that it takes us for ever to get from one website to the other.

We want to be home before dark and turn around. On the way back we stop at Oasis Date Farm and sample the dates at 70 calories each. We even purchase some.
I never knew that dates grew on palm trees. See, you learn something new every day.

Before we return to the RV park we stop for groceries. By the time we return it is happy hour. After dinner we prepare for our departure. Tomorrow we take the kids to Phoenix where they will board a plane back to Portland and we continue our journey to Mexico.