Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Today we just hung around the campground. Mel went to play pickleball and I rode my bike around the campground for 51 minutes and 6.6 miles (see screenshot below).
In the afternoon, I worked on my Iris Folding. Since I really enjoy this, I decided to try to design one of my own. This is when I created the teddy bear below (using an old book for the lettered folded paper for the body of the teddy bear and a brown paper bag for the ears and paws of the teddy bear).
Wednesday, March 20, 2024
Today started out sunny at 69 degrees and would reach a very balmy 86 degrees in the afternoon. Following I-10, we decided to head out to the Salton Sea, and then go to some casinos in the area.
The Salton Sea is now only 20 miles away.
The Salton Sea is a shallow, landlocked, highly saline body of water at the southern end of California. It lies on the San Andreas Fault within the Salton Trough, which stretches to the Gulf of California in Mexico. Over millions of years, the Colorado River had flowed into the Imperial Valley and deposited alluvium, creating fertile farmland, building up the terrain, and constantly moving its main course and river delta. For thousands of years, the river alternately flowed into the valley or diverted around it, creating either a salt lake called Lake Cahuilla or a dry desert basin, respectively. When the Colorado River flowed into the valley, the lake level depended on river flows and the balance between inflow and evaporative loss. When the river diverted around the valley, the lake dried completely, as it did around 1580.
The modern lake was formed from an inflow of water from the Colorado River in 1905.
Beginning in 1900, an irrigation canal was dug from the Colorado River to the old Alamo River channel to provide water to the Imperial Valley for farming. The headgates and canals sustained a buildup of silt, so a series of cuts were made in the bank of the Colorado River to further increase the water flow. Water from spring floods broke through a canal head-gate, diverting a portion of the river flow into the Salton Basin for two years before repairs were completed. The water in the formerly dry lake bed created the modern lake, which is about 15 by 35 miles at its widest and longest. The water of the Salton Sea has a salinity of 44 grams of salt per liter, which is greater than that of the Pacific Ocean. The Salton Sea also includes 130 miles of shoreline.
We noticed a sign pointing to the Salton Sea Beach, so we decided to drive down and take a look.
We saw several houses that had the pretty blooming bushes (see above) surrounding their property. When we arrived down by the beach, we could not go any further because it was all fenced off and locked. However, I did take the following pictures there and you can see all the dry sand.
Mel took the picture below of the Garmin screen, which showed that we were at -222 below sea level.
Salton City is a census-designated place in Imperial County, California. It is the largest Imperial County development on the Salton Sea coast. It is part of the El Centro, California Metropolitan Statistical Area. Although planned and developed as a large resort community with an extensive road, water, sewer and power grid capable of supporting 40,000 residents on 12,000 residential lots, demand for property in Salton City fell drastically short of the planners' expectations. Despite Salton City's higher population (5,155 in 2020) compared to nearby Salton Sea communities such as Bombay Beach and Desert Shores, the eerie, mostly-abandoned appearance of the area has led some to call it a modern ghost town.
We stopped to eat lunch at a Jack-in-the-Box, and then drove on to Desert Shores.
Desert Shores (formerly Fish Springs) is a census-designated place in Imperial County, California and part of the El Centro Metropolitan Statistical Area. Desert Shores has a subtropical hot-desert climate, with the coldest month of January having an average daytime high temperature of 63 °F and an average nighttime low of 35 °F, while July is the hottest month, with an average daytime high temperature of 105 °F and an average nighttime low of 72 °F.
We drove down to the beach and walked along the empty beach for awhile. The sand wasn’t sand but really skeletons of fish parts. Yuck!
Mel walked out along the penisula jutting out into the Salton Sea (see above and below pictures).
And then Mel bent over to try to write in the sand, while I scratched "Salton Sea" below.
On my way back to the truck, I saw the distress sign of "SOS" shown below. I wonder if that was someone signaling for help. Hmmmm. . .
There was also an old abandoned canoe with some vegetation growing.
On the way back to Palm Desert, we drove by lots of palm tree farms. Since we had planned to stop at a few casinos on our way back, our first stop would be at Coachella, CA (which was 15 miles away).
We arrived at Coachella. Coachella is a city in Riverside County, California. It is the namesake and easternmost city of the Coachella Valley, in Southern California's Colorado Desert. Originally a railroad town, Coachella is a prominent hub for agriculture and shipping across Southern California and the Western United States. By the 2020 Census, the population in Coachella was 41,941.
The city was founded as Woodspur in 1876, when the Southern Pacific Railroad built a rail siding on the site. In the 1880s the indigenous Cahuilla tribe sold their land plots to the railroads for new lands east of the current town site, and in the 1890s, a few hundred traqueros settled along the tracks. In 1901, the citizens of Woodspur voted on a new name for their community and at a town hall meeting settled on "Coachella". The origin of the name Coachella is unclear. Some locals believe it was a misspelling of conchilla, a Spanish word for the small white snail shells found in the valley's sandy soil, vestiges of a lake that dried up over 3,000 years ago.
Our first stop after lunch was at the Augustine Casino in Coachella, California. Augustine Casino was the first modern day business enterprise of the Augustine Band of Cahuilla Indians when it opened July 18, 2002.
We went inside the Augustine Casino and got signed up for the new player "Advantage Card" and Mel and I both got $10 in free slot play. Mel also downloaded the app and got an additional $15 in free slot play.
I won $8.63 on my $10 free play (see above).
Mel cashed out $20.19 from his $25 free play . . . but we didn't totally cash it out, because as we were walking to the cashier's booth, we spotted some of Mel's favorite machines, so we both sat down and played our winnings -- and lost all of it. Too bad, so sad and then we walked out!
Next, we drove over to the Spotlight 29 Casino which was also in Coachella, owned and operated by the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians of California. The casino is 250,000 square feet, with 1,600 slot machines and 22 table games.
Spotlight 29 Casino opened in January 1995 to the public under the right of the National Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, allowing Native American Tribes to operate casinos. In March 2001, the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians teamed with Donald Trump and Spotlight 29 Casino became Trump 29 Casino, opening on April 2, 2002. In 2006, the relationship with Donald Trump ended, and the casino returned to its original name, after which many renovations were completed including a new 1,200 vehicle parking structure and an expansion of nearly 150,000 square feet, updating the casino to include nearly 250,000 square feet for gaming, offices, meetings and conferences, dining and entertainment.
We walked in and went down the escalator to get signed up for a new player's card and we each got $5 in free slot play.
Spotlight 29 Casino was celebrating 29 years of service from its opening in 1995. But needless to say, we didn't walk out with any winnings!
Our next casino stop was at Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California. Indio is a city in Riverside County, California, in the Coachella Valley of Southern California's Colorado Desert region. It lies 23 miles east of Palm Springs. The population was 89,137 in 2020. Indio is now nicknamed the City of Festivals, a reference to the numerous cultural events held in the city, most notably the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Indio is within the ancestral lands of the Desert Cahuilla Indians whose headquarters are in nearby Thermal, California.
Railroad line construction east out of Los Angeles began in 1873. Trains were operated to Colton on July 16, 1875, and to Indio (then known as Indian Wells) on May 29, 1876. Moving on eastward from Indio, the railroad reached the west bank of the Colorado River opposite Yuma on May 23, 1877. Back then, Yuma was a village known as Arizona City prior to 1873. There was a delay in getting military authority to lay tracks across the Yuma Indian reservation, and it was September that year before the bridge was completed so trains could operate into Yuma.
The City of Indio came about because of the need for a halfway point for the Southern Pacific Railroad between Yuma, Arizona and Los Angeles, since the engines needed to be refilled with water. Since other areas had the name Indian Wells, Indio (after a Spanish variation of the word "Indian") was chosen instead.
After the railroad's arrival in 1876, Indio began to grow. The first permanent building was the craftsman-style Southern Pacific Depot station and hotel. Southern Pacific tried to make life as comfortable as it could for their workers to keep them from leaving such a difficult area to live in at the time. The depot was at the center of all social life in the desert with a fancy dining room and hosting dances on Friday nights.
While Indio started as a railroad town, it soon became an agricultural center. Onions, cotton, grapes, citrus and dates thrived in the arid climate due to the ingenuity of farmers finding various means of attaining water, first through artesian wells and later through the valley's branch of the All-American Canal. However, water also was a major problem for Indio and the city was flooded several times until the storm water canals were created throughout the Coachella Valley.
Fantasy Springs Casino is located southeast of Palm Springs near I-10 in Indio, California. It is owned and operated by the Cabazon Band of Cahuilla Indians. The hotel has 250 rooms and the casino consists of 1,800 slot machines and video poker, 40 tables and 100,000 square feet of special events center space. The Indio Bingo Palace opened in 1991. In 1995, the Indio Bingo Palace closed and became the Fantasy Springs Casino. In October 2000, the casino underwent an expansion of its casino space. In July 2003, Fantasy Springs Casino broke ground on a $145 million resort and a 97,000 square foot conference center. The Fantasy Springs Hotel and Casino opened on December 21, 2004 with a $200 million refurbishment.
We walked inside Fantasy Springs Casino -- hoping to fulfill a fantasy of our to win big! We had seen the advertisement that new players could play $20 and get $40 in free slot play, so that is what we did.
After we each signed up for a new player's card, we both scouted the casino out for our favorite machine to play. I found the Dancing Drums slot machine and played on it.
I took a chance and bet the maximum $8.80 on one spin and voila, I hit the "Dancing Drums" bonus and won $150.00! Woohoo!
And of course, I cashed out (see above). When I combined all of the vouchers that I had cashed out, my winnings total for the day at this casino was $164.60. Yeah!!!
Mel came over and tried his luck on the same type of machine I had played and was able to get a cashout of $20.50. The total amount Mel cashed out today playing the slot machines in this casino was $40.92. Good for Mel too!!!
Before I went to the cashier's cage, I laid out all the vouchers that Mel and I had cashed out today from the slot machines (see above) -- quite impressive to say the least. Total combined winnings were $205.52.
Since we had won big here -- we decided to stop and get pizza for dinner at the Pizza Kitchen.
The Pizza Kitchen in the Fantasy Springs Casino offered New York-style pizza. We ordered a large meat lovers pizza for $23.00. What a deal and how delicious it was!!!
We each ate a couple pieces and took the other 4 pieces home with us. We got back to the campground at 4:30 p.m.
Thursday, March 21, 2024
Today was a beautiful sunny day starting at a temperature of 64 degrees and would reach 86 degrees in the afternoon.
I went for a 40 minute, 6.18 mile bike ride (see screenshot below) while Mel again played pickleball.
Shown above are a few of the ladies at my table painting with me, while below is my painted wonder on a round piece of wood.
Above is my artwork in a little stand before I took it home with me.
Friday, March 22, 2024
It was sunny again today, starting out at 68 degrees and reaching a balmy 87 degrees. In the morning, we ran to Aldi's for groceries. Then Mel and I went up to the clubhouse to play Candy Bingo.
Mel won a total of three times. His first win is shown above for a double bingo.
He then won for having the word "Hi" as a bingo (see above).
And then in only 21 minutes after his first bingo, Mel won again for being the last man standing (see above) as the bingo caller called the bingo numbers. If you had a particular bingo number on your card, you had to sit down until there was only one person standing.
Shown above are the three Snickers candy bars that Mel won!
I too was fortunate to win a couple times at candy bar bingo. My first win was for the letter "C" as shown above. I picked the last Snickers candy bar.
My second candy bar bingo was for "Blackout" which I had on two of my bingo cards (see above). I selected a Baby Ruth candy bar.
After bingo, the activity director showed me one of the crafts (see above and below) that they were going to make after we had left the campground. It was a crushed tin can wall pocket (or pocket posey). Tin can wall pockets are all the rage! Tin can wall pockets or pocket poseys can be filled with beautiful faux flowers and hung on the wall.
If you want to try to make this craft, you will need the following materials:
* Tin cans with top and bottom removed
* Decorative paper napkins
* Mod Podge
* White Outdoor Paint
* Foam brushes
* Natural jute twine
I looked up the instructions so I could try my hand at making these later. The first thing you need to do is gather your tin cans, remove the top and bottom, and remove the labels. If you have any glue residue left on the can from the label, you can use a little goo gone adhesive remover. Then give them a quick wash to remove any leftover food residue inside.
For the crushed tin can wall pocket (or pocket posey), you will need a tin can that has had both the top and bottom cut out. Then you will need to crush one end of the can by using a workbench vice -- being careful to seal the bottom of the can by moving it to each side to crush the whole bottom of the can (see below).
Drill a hole on each side of the top of the can (see below) for the handle to attach to the wall pocket. Be sure to sand or use a rasp on the holes to remove any jagged edges.
Next, gather your favorite paint to paint the tin cans -- an outdoor white paint works well (see below). Let the paint dry fully before moving on to the decoupage technique.
Next up, you want to unfold a few napkins and separate the layers. Most napkins are either 2-ply or 3-ply. You will only be using the printed top layer.
Mod Podge should be applied generously to your smashed tin can's prepared surface with a paintbrush or foam brush in sections and lightly place the napkin on the can. Smooth out any wrinkles with the foam brush, or lightly with your fingertips. When you get to the top of the can, fold the napkin over the lip and secure it with more mod podge. Allow it to dry completely for about 20minutes, then cover all of the can with a good coat of mod podge to protect it.
When it is dry, stick the natural jute twine through the drilled holes from the outside to the inside of the can. You are now all finished -- and can put faux flowers inside.
Shown above and below is another example of a smashed tin can they had made.
Saturday, March 23, 2024
The winds came in strong today. The temperature started out at 64 degrees and reached 87 degrees in the afternoon. We spent most of the day inside the trailer trying to not get blown away.
The wind is really blowing the sand around today -- so we are taking cover inside!
Shirley & Mel
Congrats on the win!!! That's nice to win on their money and even just get to play a little here and there. Looks lime yall are ha ing a great time. Love all the news and photos. Your crafts are beautiful.
ReplyDelete