WILDERNESS GOES HOLLYWOOD

Larry and I were able to attend the 14th annual line dance rally at Wilderness Lakes TT from March 14 to March 17. It was very well done, with great teachers, great decorations, and well organized.

Paul Dornstedt in front of the well decorated fireplace in the family center.

Movie posters were hung from the ceiling with all the "star" teachers pictures and names.

Rhonda was the organizer of this rally and she did a terrific job. Mike was the DJ at the family center all day long and also for the evening dances. Thanks to him we had the music to dance to.

Each morning we gathered at the family center for demos of the dances that would be taught that day.

On Thursday everybody was dressed up for St. Patrick Day. Sue is on the right and I enjoyed dancing with her during the week.

Terri Slemmons demonstrating the dance she would be teaching that day.

Sharon Langford showing us It Will and Is Baby's Radio On. She teaches older ladies and gave us some beginner dances to learn. I enjoyed getting dancing and talking with know her.

After seeing the dances for the day some of us (30 to 40) headed to the gazebo for the beginners/easy intermediate dances. ( some were not so easy with up to 64 counts with lots of turns and tags) The floor was concrete and a little hard on the legs for dancing for three hours.

Ken Lubin was the DJ at the gazebo and he did a very nice job.

Karla Dornstedt teaching us Mi Rowsu.

Terri teaching us All Night Long. It didn't take us that long to learn it. (just was starting to feel that way)

We had a very good fried chicken lunch Tuesday afternoon and every morning there was coffee and doughnuts.

Thursday night was the Hollywood Theme Dance finale. We enjoyed an hour of dancing and then we enjoyed some entertainment by some of the teachers and dancers.



"Naomi Judd" showed up and sang to us.

Two of the "Little Rascals" danced and sang to Lollipop. (Frey we could do this)

Wow, even "Marilyn Monroe" entertained us.

Paul dressed as Delila, Marilyn's long lost sister. He sang a song about what he had left from his romance as he produced them out of his blouse.

The show stopper was the zombie dance to Thriller by Noel Castle, Kathy Van Luven and three other dancers that came from Mount Vernon, Washington.

Beauty and the beasties? A whole lot of talent.Here's to all the teachers this week. From left to right Terri Slemmons, Karla Dornstedt, Kathy Van Luven, Paul Dornstedt, Rueben Luna, and Noel Castle.
Dorothy Lubin, Anna Maria Prach, and Sharon Langford. Connie Frey, Gene Morrill, and Lou Ann Schemmel also taught but were not here for the closing.

I really enjoyed learning the dances from so many different teachers. It was fun seeing each ones teaching style. I picked up a few hints on how to help someone learn some of the steps. There was a girl in our group that had never danced before, so they were very patient with her and helped her with the basics. She was catching on pretty fast by the last day.

I don't think I will remember any of the dances, but the step sheets were given to us so I can go back and review them. It was a fun week and I'm glad we had the opportunity to do it. I hope my path will cross again with many of these dancers.

GET DOWN

Godiva continues to enjoy her "vacation" here at Mountain Shadows. She found out she could climb up the lattice on the arbor. What a nice view from here but the awning would even be better. Remember she is on a lease, I think we need to shorten it!

This is a short post. We have been having fun dancing every day and I'll be posting a lot of pictures about it in the next few days. Keep tuned.

CHANGE OF PLANS

We drove over to Palm Springs last Wednesday. We took a free golf lesson at the First Tee. Then I had my hair colored and highlighted at the beauty school while Larry had a doctor's appointment. We decided to come back to Hemet on route 79, up over the mountain to Idyllwild and down to Hemet. These pictures were taken from one of the overlooks half way up the mountain. Look closely and you may see the switchbacks of the road we traveled.

Idyllwild (5,000 feet) is a lovely little town, unfortunately it was too late for us to spend some time exploring it. We drove over to the Thousand Trail preserve (6,000 feet). We were thinking of coming here to camp next week but the snow and the sign that said chains required quickly changed our minds. The road with all the switchbacks and curves was another good reason not to bring the RV up here. I even felt car sick by the time we reached Hemet.

On Saturday we were scheduled to go to Mountain Lake, an ROD park about 60 miles north west for a week and then back to Indian Waters in Indio.

Friday Larry and I went up to do the line dancing at Wilderness Lake. There is going to be a country line dance rally here all next week, so many of the teachers for that event were in the park and Rhonda was teaching. We saw Paul and Karla Dornstedt, choreographers and line dance teachers. We had met them at Mount Vernon TT,Washington when we came out of Alaska in Sept. 2008. There was a line dance rally there that week and they kindly welcomed us to join them. We never thought our path would cross these dancers again. When they heard we weren't staying for the rally because of having to leave the park (we had been here three weeks so we had to leave) they offered us to stay at the site they own at an RV park in Hemet (11 miles away). So we will be at Mountain Shadows until March 22 and then we will go back to Wilderness Lake before we head to Vegas.

Godiva made herself right at home as soon as we got here.

Karla and Paul own this site at Mountain Shadows. We really appreciate them letting us stay here while they are over at Wilderness Lake.

Saturday night there was a line dance at Wilderness Lake. From the left is Rhonda , Paul, and Karla. We are now going to be doing a lot of dancing all next week for we are part of the Rally.

A FULL DAY

On Friday we were invited to visit the Wrisley, people we had met at church in Indio. They have a home in La Quinta but also have a family homestead in Valley Center. It is near Escondido, about 60 miles south of where we are camping.

We wondered up a unpaved road for about a mile to find their home. The house is amazing. The original structure was the stone tower in the back. It was built in the early 1900's. It reminded me of a Frank Lloyd Wright house. You could hear the waterfall from the creek below on the back porch. Some of the windows and the shower door had been covered with stones by a famous artist (when he was starting out).Their home was full of unique furniture and art. Their dining room would have held two of our motor homes. Unfortunately the home needs a lot of upkeep and they are getting to old to do it. So if you would like a million dollar home I think you could purchase this property.

Bud and Marcia outside of their home. We enjoyed a very nice lunch and visit with them.

We took the scenic way home. Up and down hills. What a view. They are citrus groves.

In Temecula we stopped at the Pechanga Casino. We each received $10 to spend on food, slots or gas. We played the Poker slots. Larry lost all of his money and I was able to cash out at $10.50.

We then went to Old Town Temecula. We had never been in this part of town before.

We parked the car and ate here at Sweet Lumpy's BBQ. Larry ordered pork and I ordered beef BBQ. It was some of the best I've ever had. There was even enough for me to bring home for another meal.

We went dancing at the Temecula Stampede. It was a very nice large dance hall with line dancing on Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. It was $5 to go in before 7 and $10 after that. They also charged $3 to take the dance lesson. We did a little dancing but most of them I didn't know ( or I use to know but couldn't remember).

We left about 9, it had been a very full day.

SIGNS OF SPRING

Last week we went to Temecula to the car dealership because our car leaked when it rained. We had noticed this problem on and off for over a year, but after the rain last Saturday we found all the boxes in the rear were soaked so we had to do something about it. They found there was a leak around the sun roofs and the drains in the roof were clogged. In a few hour all of it was fixed and best of all they did not charge us for the repair. While we waited we took a walk down the road and I saw this lovely field of purple flowers with a hillside of yellow flowers right behind it. Wild flowers are really starting to bloom around here.I needed some flowers in the RV so we bought a bouquet at Costco.

There were enough to fill two vases. Unfortunately they didn't last too long.

This Saturday the weather was summer like so on with the sandals. These are the new white ones I just purchased. (You have to buy white sandals when you see them and they have your size.)

Strawberries are in. A road side stand were selling these beauties on Sunday. $12 for the half flat. We ate quite a few then made some strawberry margaritas. The lady at the stand said to keep them for a week or more put them in an air tight bowl with a paper towel on the bottom.

At the craft sale on Saturday a lady was selling out her stain glass. I fell in love with this hummingbird. The price was right at $7.50 so it now hangs in my front window. We have seen many hummingbirds at our campgrounds, so it is a little reminder of our stay in CA.

Sunday afternoon we went across the road to Menifee Lakes Country Club.

This is the driving range where we hit a bucket of balls. I'm not sure if I'm getting better or not.

Here we could practice our chipping and putting. I enjoy putting.

Sunday night the weather turned windy and colder. I spent the evening putting a jigsaw puzzle together. It was a pretty easy one.