Wed. Jan 12th 2011 Los Algodones

Join us as we travel North America in our Holiday Rambler Vacationer, 

 since August 2006

      Another great sunny day, starts with coffee, computing and a walkabout to check out some of the new coaches that were brought into the resort. A local dealer brought in a half dozen nice coaches, in hopes of selling a few, but they did bring a nice supply of coffee and donuts and "Free" does attract a lot of us snow birds.

Larry the security guy

      Meet Larry the security guy that sits on his golf cart at the main intersection of the resort with his red roof light flashing, checking for speeders (5mph). He kinda reminds me of a certain Larry we know that drives around on a golf cart in Ontario selling RV's.

      This morning a new neigbour Mike and Vera, pulls in beside us from Ontario. We go to say hello and find out their home park in Ontario is Galvin Bay Resort same as ours, small world. Chatting for a while and sharing a few bits of information we departed to make a short 5 minute drive to Los Algodones, for a bit of shopping and local flair. Well the parking lot had thousands of cars in it, and the streets and shops as busy as we have ever seen. Dentists, opticians and pharmacies all have huge lineups. Checking out the colourful clothing and pottery and the packed food court with live entertainment was fun and especially my new straw hat, that I bartered the vendor from $25.00 to $10.00 (good deal), then he wanted a tip? A stop at the liquor store for a bottle of Tequila, then to go stand in line for customs. Now this line is probably 1/4 mile long and 2 abreast we have stood in before for over 2 hours, but today we were moving slowing and only took about 30 minutes a very pleasant surprise, while chatting with the snowbirds around us. But you know something, after spending 3 months in (real) Mexico last year, small towns and villages Algodones is (in my opinion) an Americanized version of Mexico, but still some excellent deals to be had for glasses, dental work, alcohol some trinkets and a few good restaurants, if you barter.

     Now back in the car we headed to the Quechan Casino about 1 mile away to find them directing traffic around the very busy parking lot. We had heard the buffet here was very good. So find a parking spot we entered and walked about the crowds. Now there is 4 restaurants here and located the Ocotillo Buffet. By this time it was 1:30pm and we are getting hungry, we stood in line about 10 minutes and looking at the 25 or so people ahead of us in line waiting and the huge lineup inside at the buffet decided this was bad timing so went to the Sidewinders lounge for a nice lunch of a burger and fries for Suzie and a French dip for me. This was very tasty, filling and the same price as the buffet so we were happy.

      After this nice excursion back home to enjoy the sunshine, our books and fresh air. Really nice now we can sit outside in shorts until almost 6:00 pm, gotta love it. How do you like my new hat?

Wednesday's Pictures

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