Green Grass, Flowers, Dates, and Golf

It must be Palm Springs!

We are now in Desert Hot Springs on the west end of Coachella Valley (Palm Springs area).

Doug and Lael have rented a condo in Palm Springs for the month of February. Mel and Louise (also from MN) have joined them for a couple of weeks. We have visited the street fair and enjoyed the eclectic mix of music, products and people.

We have enjoyed meals together including a very good "outdoor" dinner at Casuelas, a ham dinner at the condo, and free hotdogs at a golf outlet store.

And we have learned about the sex life of a date... What would a trip to Palm Springs be without a trip to Shields for the movie and samples of dates and, of course, a date shake. The four posed at the Date Garden.
Once we pryed Louise away from the "Sex Life of the Date" movie, we headed to one of our favorite places - The Coachella Valley Preserve on the east side just off of Dillon Road. This is one of only a few stands of native palms in California. In addition to the palms, there is a beautiful water oasis created by the San Andreas Fault; this whole preserve lies on the fault line.

"What's down there? What are pupfish?" The rare and very petite pupfish that inhabit Death Valley, also inhabits these waters.
The bearded palms dwarf the visitors.
And today, we headed to the New Vineyard Golf Course on the east side of the valley. Louise enjoyed piloting the cart while Mel showed us all up.

"Where do you think the flag might be?" "Just on the other side of the sand traps and water hazard, I think."

Nice form, Lael.

Parts of the course were very challenging, but it was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
Tomorrow, the guys head out for 18 holes and us gals hit the shops.... more on that later.