Wednesday, January 23 through Sunday, January 27, 2019, Jojoba Hills SKP Park

Jojoba Hills was a beautiful park with spectacular views of the valley below. From the highway in the valley, you would hardly believe there was such a large park hidden in the rocky hills above. Unlike most other Escapee parks this was a resort park with nearly 300 sites and all of the amenities you could expect. One of the volunteers, Bill, gave us a two-hour tour of the extensive facilities. There were two spas and a beautiful lap pool surrounded by a large party deck.

The chairs are facing a breathtaking view of the rolling hills.

Poolside there was a large community gathering hall with a huge kitchen, card rooms, exercise rooms, showers and sauna, a billiards room and a very nice library. Elsewhere around the grounds there was a well equipped woodworking shop, welding shop and garage (for working on RVs or ATVs or golf carts or whatever), an air gun range, a track for R/C cars, a strip for R/C airplanes and drones, miniature golf, horseshoe pits, four pickleball courts and a golf driving range. A pottery studio and art classroom were recent additions. Bill informed us that a lapidary studio was in the future plans.

I'm sure I have forgotten something, but Bill made it clear, if they did not have something and you had an interest, you could probably get support for adding it to their activities list.

The site below belonged to one of the founders of the park. In 1989 he planted a small pine tree that sat on his kitchen table that year as a Christmas decoration. His care and watering resulted in one of the largest trees in the park and certainly the largest tree overlooking Pond #2 (maybe they could name their ponds something better than Ponds 1 through 6).

It was probably just the time of day but I was struck by the beautiful silence in the park - nothing but a few birds and a light breeze.

Our friends, Della and Barry, were staying very close by across the highway at another park. They introduced us to their friends staying in Jojoba Hills, Gracian and Bruce, and we were all able to attend the dinner and dance held on the last Friday of each month. It set us back $5 each and we filled up on some truly fabulous food before listening to some tunes from the 50s and 60s played live by a talented local band.

Can you believe it, table 11 was called first to hit the food line! 

David put his dishwashing skills to good use.

One day we met our friends, Bob and Dorothy, who live in Murietta (about 20 miles away). They lived in Hendersonville, TN, many years ago and were good friends with my parents. It was great to spend the afternoon catching up on everything since we last saw them. They showed us around the adjacent city of Temecula and we visited a small museum filled with the local history.

The model of Temecula below showed us the town in the late 1800s. As we drove around old town, Bob pointed out many of the same building still standing today.

Lucky for me the horse below was not easily spooked and he let me saddle up with no objections. Probably the only time I will ever "ride" a horse.

We thoroughly enjoyed our far too brief stay at Jojoba Hills and were very happy to have the chance to explore this beautiful park and the surrounding area. Unfortunately, the park did not strike us at this time as the place to settle or even visit annually so we chose not to sign up for membership yet - but maybe, someday!