Thursday, January 27, 2005 was a beautiful day in Twentynine
palms, CA. So much different temperature than when we here in July and August
of 2004. We had been at the 29 Palms Golf Resort and RV Park for two days now,
awaiting our son, Christopher’s return from a Marine Corps artillery training
class in New Jersey. He was ready to be out of the snow and we were anxious to
see him. On Wednesday we drove into Palm Springs and saw a lot of beautiful
landscaping around the city. Many brilliant flowers and well-manicured golf
courses. We stopped at Olive Garden for lunch.
Our son called on Thursday morning and he was finally back
at the Marine base, but would not be available to see us until Friday. On
Friday we got to the base in time to see the Marines in formation and got to
watch an awards and promotions ceremony. After the formation, we took
Christopher to Burger King on base and had lunch, then we went back to his
barracks to hang out with some of his friends.
On Saturday we picked up our son, Christopher and two of his
fellow Marines, Lee Calles and Jason Keppner and drove to the Spa Casino in
Palm Springs. The youngsters were fun to be with and made an effort to keep us
entertained. The boys really enjoyed the buffet. Lee won $300 playing blackjack
and was really excited during lunch. We stayed a few hours and had a great
time. Lunch was delicious, but a tad expensive.
We stayed home and did some housework on Sunday, then on Monday
we picked Christopher up at his baracks and he took us for a tour of the base. It
is a city unto itself – the Marines could stay on base all the time and have
everything they needed. There are some portions of the base we did not see,
such as the artillery ranges. Christopher also knew very little about the
Aviation Wing at the base. Christopher was on pre-deployment leave and he was
relaxed, but anxious about going to Iraq. Although he was on leave, Christopher
spent most of his leave time lazing on base. Kathi and I are not that much fun
when we stay at home.
February 1st was a Tuesday and we did our laundry
and read. A boring day for some, but good for us, since we had been moving so
often. On Wednesday we picked Christopher up so he could spend a few days with
us. We watched a whole season of episodes of “The West Wing.” That was a show
Christopher really enjoyed and we had some fun discussion with him about the
show.
On Saturday our oldest son, AJ flew into town and we picked
him up at the airport. The four of us stayed at the Howard Johnson in Palm
Springs and hung out together all weekend. We made a trip to a casino and AJ
had some beginner’s luck playing Baccarat. Christopher won $1,500 by getting three
of a kind and a straight flush playing three card poker. He shared his winnings
with us and I assume we had a great time, since the money was gone before we
returned to the hotel. We had a great time with the four of us together and
Kathi and I were exhausted after returning AJ to the airport for a flight back
to San Francisco and returning Christopher to the Marine base. Family is good.
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