Vacation/Book signing

We just returned home from a much needed two week vacation and book signing. We went to Palm Desert where we had the most fabulous weather we have ever had. Day 1 was 98 degrees followed by record breaking 111, 106, 101, 101, 99-98-97. It never got below 97 degrees except at night - 87 degrees. Waking up to breakfast on our deck overlooking the fabulous pool, followed by daily tennis, iced tea time, walking, swimming - couldn't stay out of the water! We went shopping a little, to the  Living Desert, and looked at many different condos/homes. We went to the Deep Canyon Tennis Club and met MANY people. That place has the friendliest people I have ever seen. We were even invited to a party this summer at one of the couples homes.There, we looked at condos and Ron played some tennis with a few people. One day we were on El Paseo Dr. when we saw the Clydsdales! They were doing a little promotio the TV station was there as well as many onlookers. They unloaded the Clydesdales and hooked them up to the wagon, loaded the trailor with Budwiser, to be delivered to Pacifica and Tommy Bahama restaurants, and then the dalmation was put up on the seat where he posed for the crowd. It was then time to begin their two hour visit to El Paseo drive - parade and dropping off the Budwiser beer. It was fun to watch. One day we went to Escondido to see our friends. We drove with them to Carlsbad where we had lunch and a walk on the beach. It was NOT hot - in fact, my friend and I had to buy a sweatshirt. We had a fun day and then headed back to the desert. I had a sucessful book signing, Matt's Last Call: Surviving Our Protectors, at Just Java in Bermuda Dunes. Jessie did an outstanding job of promoting my book. I will be back there again in November. We also spent time with my brother and sister-in-law as well as some tennis friends. We headed to the Palm Springs airport at 5:00am Saturday, boarded on time only to find out there was a mechanical problem with the plane. We deboarded for a five hour delay - two hours I spent in line to rebook our Wenatchee flight as we were not going to make our flight. Lucky it was in PS as we sat in the sun the whole time - nice and warm. I met a great gal in line, a bodybuilder, who was suppose to be in Seattle for a competition. Long story - we had fun getting to know one another and will keep in touch with each other. When we arrived in Seattle it was 4:00 ish we had to go to the customer service desk to find out where we would be staying. We ended up at the DoubleTree - fun time minus the fact the only luggage we had was my books - no clothes, make-up, well you get the picture. All luggage had been sent straight to Wenatchee. Lots of phone calls home to our neighbors to drop a vehicle off at the airport, hide the keys - we didn't have any!! We had dinner in the bar at the Doubletree after we sat by the pool for a while. Oh yes it was sunny and hot!!! in Seattle. I called our son-in-law to tell him where we were as he was headed to the airport to pick up our daughter and granddaughter who had competed in gymnastics at Westerns in Sacramento. They showed up at the bar to say hi. Lexi did an awesome job competing and had her USA warmup jacket on and her leo in hand. Her favorite thing was having a number on her back for competing!! Just like the Olympics. We left Seattle around 9:30 am and as we boarded the plane the Wenatchee Wild  hockey team was right behind us. It was great seeing such great young men and they were so well behaved. We arrived home around 10 Sunday morning to great weather. YEA! We brought the good weather home.