The Tent is up!

If you look carefully just beyond the RVs in the background you can see what looks like a number of flagpoles with pennants. These are the main poles that will hold the tent up.

After getting things organized on the ground for several days the actual tent went up in a matter of hours. It covers 69,000 square feet! There is double that amount of outside display area!!

The tent is up! This means that the RV show is now just a week away!! And our departure date from Quartzsite is approaching quickly....


But back to the show which opens on January 21. It's billed as the largest show of it's kind. Here's a link to the official website:


http://www.quartzsitervshow.com/rv/rv-general-info/

There is anything and everything for sale. Most have some direct relation to RVing but there's lots of stuff that has only the most tangential relation!!  


We continue to enjoy the amazing sunny, warm days but we're wishing the nights were a bit warmer...hopefully there will be more warmth on the Baja. We've found the Baja Winters page on FaceBook and have been enjoying the photos they are posting from the trip now in progress. However, some of the people in the photos look sorta bundled up! Oh no!!


Speaking of Cabo....we have now found out where we will be staying when we reach the Cape...here's a link:


http://www.gaviotasportfishing.com/

Looks wonderful....I think I'd like to stay there longer than four days!!


Ross wants me to talk about some of the other Quartzsite experiences that we've enjoyed particularly the amazing food we've had....

We've gone a couple of times for free pancake breakfast at one of the larger RV dealers here. Believe it or not they take over what appears to have been a restaurant adjacent to their lot and every morning they serve hundreds of happy campers coffee, juice, pancakes and syrup! Free! There is also a free lunch but we've yet to try that one on for size....


There is no shortage of eateries in Quartzsite. One of our faves is The Grubstake which isn't the fanciest or the quietest but has great food at reasonable prices.  Then of course there's the Crossroads in Parker (about a 45 minute drive) that has the best chicken fried steak in the world!


A new favorite this year is John's Texas Barbecue.http://www.bigjohnstexasbbq.com/   John is native to Dallas...but he's OK  ;-} he's now based in Flagstaff and Page AZ.  He serves up amazing brisket, pulled pork, ribs and all the fixin's from a huge trailer equipped with everything he needs including a ginormous smoker at the back.  He's in a parking lot right on Main Street and it's really hard to not stop in when we're up that way.....

We stopped in yesterday and in addition to John we met his wife and four year old daughter who was busy 'taking orders'....everything was 'Five Dollars' but the best part was when the couple in line behind us asked for a chocolate chip cookie she said 'You don't need those!'  Mother later explained that that was what she was told when she asked for  cookie at an inappropriate time!


There of course are all kinds of RV parts stores, RV dealers and between them you could buy anything you need to assemble or fix your own RV of just about any size!


We only have a few more days here but plan to make the most of it wandering the stalls (some 'junque' some treasure--in many cases we have better stuff at home that we should be getting rid of!) ogling the many colorful rocks, fossils and other amazing stuff!


Bye for now!

Free electricity from the sky!

That's right! Those of you who are faithful followers of this blog know how appealing we find the fact that with a relatively small investment in solar power equipment you can gather free electricity from the sun!


Needless to say it works better in sunnier climes (like the desert) but of course works anywhere the sun shines!  It's the boon of the boondocker (those who live in RVs where there are no plug ins) a necessity even!


Two years ago we bought a single  solar panel and upgraded our battery pack and were able to run almost everything we wanted to (not the microwave :-{  ) without having to engage the generator and burn up more dead dinosaurs.


Since neither of us were thrilled with clambering up on the roof of Prince Reindeer we just chained the solar panel to the ladder pointing at the sun.  Our resident wizards (Buck and Bruce)  wired it in so we just had to plug it into our battery array and voila! We had free electricity from the sun.


This year we decided to bite the bullet. The prices of panels have come down significantly so we went to the handy-dandy local solar dealer and bought a new panel and had both mounted on the roof and wired in permanently. They also installed a nifty controller that tells us the level of the charge in our batteries, the voltage of the array and the amps that we're downloading. As I'm writing this we are getting about 8 amps of electricity from the sun! Did I mention the word  F-R- double E?? Or for those of you who prefer it full out:  F-R-E-E...the long way!  (if you haven't seen 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum' you won't get that reference!)


We also decided to give Prince Reindeer a new awning. The old one was very tired, and the wrong color and we just hated it.  There's a place here that does new awnings in your choice of colors and then comes to you out in the desert and installs them.  


We ordered a new awning in a color much more in tune with Prince Reindeer's color scheme on Monday and the installer was here on Tuesday!  We all stood in awe as this (obviously) very experienced professional removed the old awning and installed the new one in jig time!  It was very impressive! So much so that we were so engrossed that we forgot to take pictures.


However, Buck is getting a new awning on Saturday so perhaps we will post some photos of that!


Till next time! Stay Warm!

Greetings from Camp Santa!

People always wonder what we do in the desert.  I mean, after all, it’s the desert……what’s there to do??  We can honestly tell you  that we don’t know where the time goes, but we always seem to be doing something and before you know it the day has gone.

Prince Reindeer parked next to the Kringle at Camp Santa. In between is Salle Manger Nouveau  de  Quartzsite  in the middle and Buck and Heather's Cardinal fifth-wheel in the rear

Mornings come fairly early around here, sun is starting to rise at 7AM and it starts getting warm-ish about 8….just in time to start to coffee and have something  to eat.  The dogs are taken for a walk, then it’s down to business.  We have been very fortunate to have good broadband service and can check mail, etc. So most days Ed is busy reading his papers, checking his email, and of course conversing via Facebook.  Ross usually sits around reading books, conversing to our fellow campers, or just watching the world go round.  We get water via a 45 gal drum that we fill at the “watering hole” then fill our tanks, we dispose of the waste by calling one of the “honey” trucks to siphon away our black and grey water,  we have two solar panels  that recharge our four storage batteries, and we have a generator to give us enough power to run most of the electrical “toys” (microwave, coffee grinder, cell phones, and the computer). 

At the moment a rock and mineral show at the “fairgrounds”.   A large open area approx. 2 sq. miles is covered with large tents and lean-tos that house massive tables groaning with rocks, gems, minerals, and assorted supplies for making jewelry, etc.  Huge geodes that are large enough for us to stand inside, rows and rows of polished stone, rough rocks, jewelry, and chains, clasps, pendants, statues, coffee tables, bowls, plates, etc. ……all made out of some sort of rock.  In the next few days the rock and mineral show will move onto Tucson and a massive tent approx. 2 acres in size will be erected to house the annual RV show.  We are already seeing the multitude of trailers, motor homes, trucks, campers, vans, and cars bringing RVers to the area where a sleepy town of about  3500 will swell to over 50,000. 

It is this show that recreational vehicle owners love to see.  Anything dealing with camping/motor homing can be found in and around the tent. (And a lot of gee-gaws that have only the most tangential connection to RVing!)   If you want you can find enough parts at this show to build your own RV and then have lots of people telling you the best places to stay on the North American continent.

In our almost two weeks here we have been to Yuma for shopping at the large grocers and bargain hunting at the old dog race track, wandering around the rock and mineral show,  driven to Parker for a great breakfast (chicken fried steak the size of a large platter with home fries, toast and eggs all for $7.95) and shopping at the local Wally World, sitting outside the motor home reading, or just vegetating,

The days can be warm (in the high 70’s or low 80’s) but when the sun disappears it gets down right cold (near freezing) so we can go from  a light jacket and jeans in the morning, to t shirt and shorts in the afternoon, to heavy pants with sweaters and jackets in the evening.  Dinner is at about 5:30 (early for us but the others like it and anyway, by 7PM we are ready for bed!!!), and we each take a turn.  We have had a spiral cut ham with all the fixings, bean and ham stew, BBQ steaks with salad, chicken with rice, hamburgers, roasted chicken, etc. and whoever made the dinner cleans up the dishes. 

Moonrise over Camp Santa sittin' by the fire!

 Of course there is always plenty of libation and we have had many an evening where we were thankful we didn’t have to drive home!!!  Wine, beer, martinis, Manhattans, port, and rum, lots of rum all have been enjoyed.  And with the libation we have shared some chips and salsa, cheese dip, blue cheese, pistachios, wasabi almonds and peanuts  and solved the world’s problems.  Last night we were able to have a campfire…..perhaps soon we will have S’Mores.

Santa Bruce, Santa Buck, Santa Ross and  (seated) Santa Jim from Houston TX

Our fellow campers are friends of ours…..Bruce Ferrie from Sooke, and Buck and Heather from Victoria.  Both men are Santas so we all have lots to talk about as you can imagine!!  They are also retired naval engineers so can fix anything (a blessing for us who know nothing about mechanical stuff) or teach us about dry camping (meaning no facilities like water, sewer, power, or cable).  And as we solve worldly problems the night comes in quickly, the temp drops, and we head to our beds about 9PM (this is quite early for us too!!).  So what do we do in the desert?  Not much, but again we are tired and ready for bed early each evening so we must be doing something!!!!

Settling in to life in the Desert

Well, we finally arrived in Quartzsite...New Year's Eve...in plenty of time for dinner drinks and a 'Happy New Year' or two!


January 1 is Heather's birthday so we started out with pancakes, Jimmy Dean, Fresh-squeezed OJ (from tree ripened oranges!) and TJ's Champagne....The day ended with a lovely ham and scalloped potato dinner...with broccoli and Queso of course!  Chocolate Birthday cake and Mondavi Port rounded out the event!


Subsequent days have been warm and sunny...the big excitement was putting up the 'Dining Salon' The old one was destroyed in a wind storm two years ago so Bruce ordered up a really skookum new one.

The question is, how many Santas DOES it take to put up a tent??


Of course Heather's birthday would not be complete without a few objets d'arte that featured cardinals.

Here's the gang in the 'Salle Manger Nouveau de Quartzsite' showing off some of Heather's goodies!

The next day Buck wired the Salle Manger with some Christmas Lights and by adding a few candles voila! We have a glowing beacon of civility in the desert!!


Till later, here's a view of the moonrise over Quartzsite to enjoy....

Well Christmas has come and gone and we are looking at a brand new year……..but wait there was a lot that happened in Fresno so let’s recap a bit.

Ross was doing his Santa gig at Fashion Fair Mall as usual this year, and when we arrived at the mall the “cave” was ready for him.  We call it the cave as it is really a storage room for all the blueprints of the mall.  They put in a sofa, carpeting, and Ross has hidden a mirror behind some racks of blueprints.  In case you don’t remember the description of the cave…….about 40’ square, concrete floors, very high ceilings, no power (except what is brought in from an outside plug), no running water, and no bathroom.  So the area manager supplies a space heater and we supply the rest.  It can be very cool, especially when changing in 47F weather!!!  Anyway, as we said the room was ready for Ross, complete with a case of water.  We had a meeting with the crew, district manager, and Brett (my employer and area manager).  We had a new set manager, Candice, who is a long-time resident of Fresno and a photographer in her own right.  She turned out to be friendly, supportive, caring, and an all-around great person.  The day before opening the crew was being trained on all equipment – something that was lacking for the last couple of years – and Ross got to have a little bit of time to get to know everyone.  And the meeting with the marketing manager went very well.  Last year she was difficult to deal with, but this year is a breeze.

A few short days after opening the set we had the “Wake Up Santa” breakfast.  Ross has to be ready to go by 6:45AM, get settled in the chair and pretend to be asleep.  Children and their parents are allowed into the mall at 7:30, Mrs. Claus reads a story, and everyone screams Santa’s name until he wakes up and leads everyone in a rousing carol or two!!  Then breakfast and photo op with everyone. 

Anyway, the season was long, tiring, satisfying, and wonderful.  Crew was easy to get along with and we regularly had giggles, laughs, and even a couple of silly season events (where everything is funny and everyone reverts to about 6 years old).  We had 2 marriage proposals, lots and lots of little ones and quite a few older folk.  The youngest this year was 1 week old, the oldest was three off being 100 years old.  We estimate that Santa had about 12000 to 14000 people meet with him.  And this year, instead of candy canes, we gave out a book about Santa saving a circus train that was rolling through the North Pole – we gave out about 8750 of those.  Apparently Mrs. Claus has put everyone on a diet up north, so no sweets for us!!!

A great thing happened about the end of November.  The mall found a vacant store that we could occupy until the end of the season.  And the store was great………lots of room, warm, dry, with electrical plugs ++, and best of all, a working toilet!!!!!  We all loved it!!! 

Santa heard all kinds of wishes…….the usual (dolls, toys, games, electronics) and some unusual (a hamster, a juicer, a unicorn, Rudolf, all the reindeer, a signed picture of Mrs. Claus, snow!, etc.).  He had a gentleman bring in a diamond ring so Santa could sign the proof of authenticity “Santa said you would like this.”  And of course, we had some heart wrenching times…….a mother asking for some help in supplying her son a gift, world peace, a sister to be brought back to life, a father to be re-united with the mother, a return of a soldier overseas, and surprisingly “nothing, thank you”.  The good news was we were first in sales of all the malls Brett has and we made well over our goal this year!!!!  Everyone was happy about that.

While Ross was at the mall, Ed kept himself busy as well – shopping (he can explain about that more), spending time at the gym, walking the dogs, and keeping Santa happy…..or at least out of trouble.

The RV park we stayed at was close to the mall and some of our other haunts, but the Wi-Fi connection was “iffy”.  Sometimes we had raging hot internet connection, other times it was dead.  Ed took to taking his computer to the mall when he dropped me off and then having a coffee at Starbucks while downloading his email.   

Christmas day we had a leisurely breakfast then walked the dogs at Woodward Park (about 300 acres of park, lakes, trails, and lots of smells for the dogs……….Oh, and geese aplenty)!!  Beautiful weather and the dogs got to meet lots of water fowl!!  Boxing day we collected all Santa’s stuff from the mall, and the next day said goodbye to all the crew, the set manager, and Brett.  On Dec 28 Ross had his Santa locks and beard tamed and cut to a reasonable length.  All in all a great year and we will be back in Fresno next year I think!!!

On Dec 29 we packed up the motor home and headed to Bakersfield (a huge 2 hour voyage!).  We had been noticing the little car acting up…..starting well enough, but not wanting to go into an easy idle, then the motor would die.  It intensified when we tried to go out for dinner in Bakersfield to the point we couldn’t even get out of the park.  So spent one whole day having the car towed to a garage, having the mechanics crawling all over it, and finally after close to $100 there could be nothing found wrong.  Ed drove the car back home and we spent another day in Bakersfield!  Out for dinner at our favourite Mexican seafood restaurant  and back to the RV to hook up the car.

Dec 31…….where has the time gone?........Isn’t it June?  Anyway, we are off WAYYYY earlier than we normally travel – hit the highway by 7AM!!  Even beat the sun!!!!  Easy drive on fairly good roads/pavement and made it to Quartzsite by 3PM.  Not bad for 450 miles!!!!  Met up with the other two Santas and one of their wives, had drinks, dinner, and then port with bleu cheese and fresh table grapes.  HAPPY NEW YEAR’S EVERYONE……..MAY 2012 BE BETTER THAN 2011 AND MAY YOU ALL HAVE A GREAT YEAR!!

Where did November go??

Wow, where did a month go? The last entry in this missive was October 30 as we were leaving Lodi to head to Fresno and here we are staring down the barrel of December.  I guess that’s indicative of how busy we’ve been!

We arrived in Fresno on Halloween under sunny skies and shorts temperatures. Even though we were a day early we were able to move into the spot that was reserved for us which is right next door to the spot we occupied last year. We’re at the quiet end of the park, lots of trees and very pleasant.

Of course we had to check out our favorite restaurant and do a bit of exploring…not much new!

The next  couple of  days were busy with settling in, getting Santa’s gear into the cave  and meeting the new crew.

As of November 4 Santa was ‘in the chair’ and we were both back on the treadmill! A major flurry of tax problems (for clients not us!!) and lots of mystery shops coupled with keeping the home fires burning has left us pretty dead by nine o’clock each night!

November 12 was ‘Wake up Santa’ which requires Santa on the set by 7AM then the invited children (several hundred of them!)  join everyone at the front of the Santa set.  Santa has fallen asleep waiting for everyone to show up so Mrs. Claus reads the story “Wake Up Santa Wake Up”.  


At the end of the story the children are asked to yell to " wake up Santa."  It takes three tries but finally Santa rouses, stretches, and suddenly realizes there are children waiting for him!!  Nothing to do but apologize and sing a couple of songs, then wade through the throng of children and parents in line for breakfast all the while smiling for the thousands of photos.  Of course Santa gets a 30 minute rest and is back on the chair for the rest of the day.  It’s a long day (14 hours) but fun.  


Set crew and manager are all  new this year and are great to work with.  Santa is very pleased with the change in crew and they have been making goal most days.  Lots of little ones, some bigger ones, a few adults, and  a smattering of seniors.  All in all it’s a much better time this year. 


The last couple of years this older Sikh gentleman with a gorgeous beard has come by the set and always made eye contact and we waggled beards at each other but I finally got him to come in and have a 'chat' with Santa.

Turns out (as explained by his friend as he speaks little English!) he is a very revered Guru at the local Sikh temple! And I'm sure he's wondering what's up the the guy in red and white at the Mall!




Also on November 12^th and 13^th is the Madera Wine Trails event.  Madera is just a few miles north of Fresno and a major grape growing area….hundreds and hundreds of acres of them! There are also a few dozen wineries including Quady  and Ficklin. So while Santa was inundated with kidlets I went wining!

Quady of course makes the yummy Elysium a dessert wine made from the Black Muscat grape and Essencia made from the orange Muscat. They also make lovely Ports that of course they can’t call Ports so they have copyrighted the name ‘Starboard.’  


On Wine Trail Event days they devote  one large barrel  room to the Port tastings and have cigars available so you can enjoy a glass of Port and a cigar on a comfy couch with a football game (well , it can’t all be good!)  Interesting that no one was actually watching the game!

They also had a mobile pizza oven selling absolutely yummy artisan pizzas….it was a sunny warm day and a great day to sit outside! 

After that I figured I should visit at least one other winery on the ‘trail’ so I stopped in at Ficklin Vineyards whom I’d heard also had some first rate ports.  My information was correct…their ports were lovely as were their infused ports! Flavors of Black Cherry, Chocolate, Raspberry and Hazelnut infused into the port to make yummy treats!  If you blend a bit of the Black Cherry and the Chocolate it’s like a Black Forest cake!!

But Ficklin had other surprises! They too had cigars and an onsite barbecue featuring tri-tip but  a local cat sanctuary was using the occasion to raise some much-needed funds and brought one of their denizens ‘Tango’ for a visit. Here’s  a photo of Tango:

We are trying to get all the details organized for our trip to Baja. Mexican Insurance, a CB Radio…mandatory!  Oh yes, and we had the motorhome washed and waxed for about 10% of what they wanted to do it back home!!

The pups are fine...enjoying lots of walkies and probably more attention here than at home where they just come and go as they please. Though sometimes Mojo gets kinda stressed when other puppies walk on his street. He has decided that the motorhome's huge dashboard is his special perch where he can survey his world.  Here's a photo of him when he's not feeling so stressed:

Unfortunately the rest of the time has been work, shopping, more work and it’s become a real routine! But we’re at the halfway mark right now and the time is going by very fast!


Tuesdays are pet nights at least in November and here's our annual visit with Santa.....

On the road again!

October 22 – We have closed our show “Mesa” at the Janet Ritchie Centre Stage in Summerland. We had great houses for all shows, standing ovations from every audience, and hopefully some profit at the end of it all.  It was a great show and what an amazing cast and crew.  Thank you to all who participated.

October 23 – Back again to Summerland but this time it’s for the cast party.  Summerland Singers and Players always amazes…..no matter what the occasion, where the event takes place, or even why we  having the event, there is always lots of people, huge amounts of food, and lots and lots of laughter.  Truly great to be a part of this gang.  Off  to Marg’s  for dinner and last minute stuff then home to continue packing and to bed.

October 24 – We think we have everything (and probably too much of some things!) and we are off like a herd of turtles.  Good trip to Richmond/Surrey and settle into the RV park that is about 2 miles from the border.  Met up with Carolyn, Emily, Alex, and Angie.  We had a great dinner of sushi and sake, and got caught up on all the comings and goings.  Emily is now speaking in two or three word sentences and apparently is learning both English and Spanish phraseology every day.

October 25 – No pressing things to take care of today so we have dim sum for a late breakfast (or early lunch) then off for a bit of shopping.  About 2PM we traded cars with Carolyn and picked up Emily from school.  Ross was expecting a bit of fuss from her about leaving school and going with these two weirdo grandparents……but she calmly helped Grandpa Ed find her coat and things and we were off to explore.  We decided to go for a walk at Garry Point Park in Richmond (along the dyke) and Emily got to hold Mojo’s lead while we walked.  Not sure if Emily was actually leading or just holding on for dear life but there was lots of squeals and laughing so apparently everything was OK.  Stopped for ice cream (she can say Grandpa Ed and Grandpa Ross so Grandpa Ed has to honour his promise of ice cream when Emily could say our names!!) and then home for more Chinese food…..and sake.

October 26 – Off to Centralia, WA but first we have to wait in line to cross the border……about 60 minutes!!!  We really started to sweat when we saw it was a young female officer in the booth, but she only wanted to look at our passports, ask us where we were going, and see our faces.  We had an easy drive in good weather and, after  a quick trip for some groceries, we settled in for the night.

October 27 – Off to one of our favourite RV parks Seven Feathers in Canyonville, OR.  We had a quiet trip and the weather is still holding up – sunshine, and only a slight breeze.  Seven Feathers is on the Umpqua Indian Reservation and has a casino, hotel, multiple restaurants, and an outstanding RV park with level lots, huge landscaped sites, pool/hot tub/showers, library, and a free shuttle to the casino. 

We had a quick dip in the hot tub (and endured a rather outspoken braggart who knew everything about real estate)  then back to the M/H for clean clothes.  We made the call for the shuttle, AND as it was Thursday the feature is a seafood buffet!

Shrimp, crab, prime rib, scallops, cod, and shrimp, shrimp, shrimp!!  Good dinner (not as good as previous times, but still good) then off to have a little fun at the one armed bandit.  Both of us are kinda chicken when it comes to betting, so the penny slots are made just for us!  We start out with $20 each and off we go.  Ed went through his money rather quickly but for some reason Ross started making money, and even more money….to the tune of about $70.  This is a guy that NEVER wins, E V E R!!!  Nice feeling I must say!

October 28 – Feeling rather flush we fill up at the Seven Feathers casino (52 gals at $3.81/gal – you can do the math-so much for the ‘flush’) and leave the casino grounds somewhat poorer!  But the day is bright with no hint of clouds or rain in the forecast.  Off to Corning, CA but first have to cross over the Siskyou Pass – several climbs and descents through the Monashee and Coastal mountain ranges.  We get to the Rolling Hills casino with plenty of time to head over to the Olive Pit – another of our favourite places.  This store has a huge, I mean H U G E selection of olives in all sorts of configurations.  We got a few more groceries (remember we can’t take much fresh stuff across the border) and then back to the M/H. 

Instead of staying in the truckers lot as we have at times we sprung for a space in the RV park.  Got cleaned up and into the casino.  Again this casino has a hotel, a few restaurants, RV park, etc……..certainly not at the same scale as Seven Feathers, but very nice just the same.  The seafood buffet (yes, Rolling Hills has a seafood buffet every FRIDAY……now you  know why we plan our trips so carefully……..the seafood buffets!!) is much better than Seven Feathers this time around and we had a great feast. 

The casino gods are smiling down on Ross this week as he won over $170 on the penny slots!  Again remind yourself that Ross NEVER, E V E R wins…….at anything…….at all!!!!  Back to the M/H, only half-heartedly joking about needing an armed guard – although the couple sitting next to Ross were winning four and five times as much as he was – those machines must be tired with all those lights flashing and bells ringing.  Anyway, all Ed could do was stand there and watch in amazement.

October 29 – It is now official shorts weather (high 70’s and low 80’s) and we are not complaining.  The dogs are happy to be with us, but the heat is a little too sudden for them we think.  Teddy is panting most of the day, but again they are happy to be with us.  We are off to Lodi today and to Flag City RV park, with an easy drive on surprisingly good roads for the main part. Flag City is another huge park with high-end amenities.  It also has a “winter pool” where spring run-off goes, so there is a massive indentation surrounded by a fence and is a great place for the dogs to run – if ever Mojo can get over his aversion to grass! 

After we settled in it was off to find some dog food and maybe something for supper.  We found Pet Discounts which is the size of any large pet supply store and has comparable brands and prices.  The cashiers were friendly but suddenly became a bit concerned when Ross decided to use a John Hudson quote……………”Hi there, did you find everything OK?” “Yes, thank you…….yes, Grandma loves this brand of food…….it’s her favourite”!!!! 

We were actually looking for a Safeway when out of the blue we came across a Mexican grocery – Rancho San Miguel.  Great store and incredible smells.  BBQ, fresh seafood, wine and beer for very low costs, tortillas being made right there, bakery pushing out delicacies that you just wouldn’t believe.  Back to the M/H for a soak in the hot tub, a walk with the dogs, and a quick game of Scrabble.  Then dinner of roasted chicken and tomato/cucumber salad.  We are here for two days.