The first order of business was to find out about the mystery box. According to the packing slip, the box contained two bar stools that were supposed to go to an RV dealer in East Lansing, Michigan. I called the dealer, who picked up the ball from there. Shortly, I received a call from Forest River, the manufacturer of my trailer and who had sent the bar stools, who tried to figure out how the stools ended up with me. After a second call, he gave up and simply told me I now had two free bar stools. They're nice, but we have no use for them in our trailer and we will take them with us to Williams.
For no stated reason, Brian cancelled our afternoon session at the gym. I'm becoming disenchanted with the people at EOS Fitness. It's good we're leaving the area at the end of the month, so I won't have to decide about a future with them.
Early Saturday morning I dropped off the dogs at The Grand Paw Pet Resort, we finished packing, and we headed for Los Angeles for the weekend. The first stop was at The Lazy Dog Café in Rancho Cucamonga so Becky could have lunch with Olga Contreras, one of her former secretaries.
While they chatted and chomped, I plied the aisles at the next-door Costco, actually buying all the stuff Becky had on my to-do list. I was so proud.
After stopping at the downtown LA Ralph's for my dinner supplies, we completed the run to the Jonathan Town Club, where we checked in for two nights. The dinner supplies were for me alone since Becky had a dinner date at the Jonathan Beach Club with Aileen Garrigues, a former Union Bank colleague, and Nancy Chestnut. We met Nancy when she and Aileen visited us at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon in 2009.
We were in LA for the celebration of Becky's dad's 89th birthday (post mortem, of course) and meetings with the family about his estate matters. The focus of the birthday celebration was the depositing of his ashes at various locations that were special to Bill Shelton. We first gathered at St. Alban's Episcopal Church in Westwood, the site of Bill and Nancy's wedding in 1951, for the first deposit, then moved to the Quad at UCLA, Bill's alma mater, where the second deposit occurred,
then on to the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house on Gayley Avenue, for the third deposit. Plans were made for Peter to deposit more ashes at the San Gabriel Country Club, where Bill had been a member for years (and which is located across the street from Peter's home), and for Becky to deposit more ashes at Bill's former weekend home in the '80s at Santa Rosa Cove, adjacent to the La Quinta Resort.
Sunday evening, we watched the (generally boring) Oscar telecast and ate pizza at Peter and Terry's home,
then crashed at the Jonathan Club.
Monday morning, we packed up and headed back to the desert, picking up the Ramsey and Kelsey before noon. We drove to the La Quinta Resort to deposit some of Bill at the former Santa Rosa Cove home (Mission accomplished!)
and getting back into our normal rhythm before heading for an appointment with my heart doctor---scheduled for 3:30. We arrived on time at Dr. Bagheri's Palm Desert office, then learned that the appointment was for his Palm Springs office, not his Palm Desert office. Becky drove the next half hour like we were on fire, then we cooled our heels for an hour or so in the doctor's office because he was not there yet---having an emergency of some sort at the hospital.
For dinner, I broke out the delicious Cioppino from Trader Joe's.
Tuesday was a busy day. Becky and I both got haircuts and Becky played pickleball for a few hours.
We had an appointment to see some old friends for dinner. We met Ellen and Mark Burson at Chef George's restaurant just a few blocks away. The Bursons brought along their friends Peter and Marilyn Lambert, with whom they were spending a few days in the desert. The six of us enjoyed a marvelous dinner at Chef George's, which is nominally a Hungarian restaurant but has a quite varied menu. Becky and I shared a gigantic (and wonderful) plate of Paella, a Spanish creation, along with a yummy Hungarian salad and a not-so-yummy Hungarian merlot.
Wednesday evening, we met Kathy Sage, her husband, Peter Shapiro, Richard Petrie, and his fiancé, Honoria Vivell, at the Arnold Palmer restaurant in La Quinta for dinner. Very nice (and very noisy) place, but the food was fine and we had a great time catching up with our dinner companions.
Later on Thursday, Becky headed for Pasadena and a couple of meetings relating to her father's estate. I cooled it with the dogs. Because Becky would not return in time, we cancelled our dinner with Karen and Stephen Sloat. I substituted a nice phone conversation with Karen.
Friday was largely devoted to a pickleball tournament for Becky (she took second place in the women's bracket)
and my preparing to leave the area on Sunday---picking up prescriptions, stopping at Trader Joe's for things we can't get where we're going, and packing up the stuff with which we adorned our RV site.
Saturday was a repeat of Friday, pickleball tournament for Becky (she tied for second place in the mixed bracket)
and my finishing up getting ready to leave, including the un-fun task of crawling under the slideouts to inflate the tires and disconnecting the sewer drain. In the post-tournament drawing, Becky won a free wash for our rig. We can't use it right now, of course, since we're leaving first thing in the morning and won't be back for at least nine months and the certificate expires in 2 1/2 months. Maybe we can extend its end date. Anyway, it's a nice ending to our stay here.
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