It was gray, cold, and rainy in our town of Sacramento. So when we got offered a week’s stay in southern California, we were more than ready. Petra‘s parents had a timeshare they would let us use, and we took them up on it. We had heard about how nice and warm it is in the Indio-Palm Springs area, even in the winter, so it sounded pretty darned inviting. Since it was a two-bedroom place, we mentioned it to friends Larry and Robin and they met us there and spent five of the seven days with us. From what I am told it was rainy, cold, and gray in our home town while we were gone too. Good time for a short vacation, eh?

Friday, February 13th
We got an early start since we had over 500 miles to go. But after a while on the road we were hungry, so we stopped at Pea Soup Anderson’s for breakfast. They are known for, guess what, their pea soup, but I don’t like pea soup and it was breakfast after all. A pea soup omelet? Pea soup waffles? Pea soup benedict? I don’t think so. We had a normal breakfast. Well, if normal includes waitresses that are very reminiscent of Frau Blucher (video) in the movie Young Frankenstein. And if you haven’t seen that movie then you must see it. Now. Meanwhile, full and happy, we headed onward toward the promised warmth of Indio. Imagine our surprise when we drove through  the “grapevine” portion of I-5. It was snowing! Holy guacamole! We got through the snowstorm and continued on. (and yes, pictures will be on the web site soon). We stopped later at a taqueria for a so-so snack. It wsa raining pretty steady now and the weather basically had been bad almost the whole drive. But lo, about a half hour from Indio the rain stopped and it was sunny! Yay! We used Petra’s Dad’s expert maps and thorough phone directions to get to the condo. He met us and we checked in. They were staying a little less than a mile away, for two months. That’s a l-o-n-g vacation. Anyway, they invited us for dinner. We waited a bit for Larry and Robin to get there, and then had a very delicious meal. Thanks!

Saturday, February 14th
We had a leisurely morning and Petra went for a swim. The pool was only about 12-15 feet from our door, which was very convenient. The swimming helps her since she is still felling the effects of the surgeries and recontructions of the last few years. Then we all headed over to nearby Palm Desert for the Palm Desert Street Fair, which was a bunch (a big bunch) of vendors selling everything from produce to kitchen accessories to quick food to golf stuff to well pretty much everything. We spent a little time there and all had a vegetarian hot dog for lunch. Then it was off to see some art galleries. We all enjoy doing that, and every gallery is different. Next was a visit to a few thrift stores. Larry was looking for a funky tuxedo for an Oscar party, but we all used it as an excuse to look at some throwaways and junk valuable collectibles. We also had found out about a nearby record and CD store, so we went there to check it out too. We bought a few assorted items. We always do! And of course all those activities had made us hella hungry. After quite a bit of searching, we found a mexican restaurant close to the condo and had a big meal. The service was slow but luckily we had a pitcher of margaritas to help with that wait. It did help, too. The food, though slow, was really good. Cheesy and tasty and large portions. Mmm. Then we went to a nearby mexican supermarket (grande mercado?) and picked up some food for breakfasts, snacks, some Captain Morgan for good measure, and headed back to our home for the week. we relaxed and visited and played some cards for a while too. A nice day, wouldn’t you say?

Sunday February 15th
We decided to drive to Idyllwild, about 45-60 minutes away and a long way up. Its a small town in the mountains with a lot of arts, crafts, shops, etc. And snow. About a foot and a half of it. Brrr. We went from about minus 22 elevation in Indio up over 6000 feet and down just a bit to get there. Desert/mountain whiplash almost happened, I’m just saying. Actually it was a lot of fun up there. We wandered around and looked at art, including some of the best glass art I had ever seen. On the way back three of us saw a huge Chihuly glass piece in the corner window of a buiding. We all yelled “turn around!” and once parked we went into the Imago Gallery, a very impressive high-end gallery with lots of Chihuly glass as well as a whole bunch of other art: painting, glass, sculpture, mixed media, a lot of it and really good. Of course we had to be hungry at that point and finally ended up at Ciro’s Italian Restaurant. It was pretty good too. I had a tasty salad and some killer vegatarian lasagna and a glass of Chianti and what’s not to like about that?! Then we headed back to the condo, had a few drinks, played some cards, and called it a day (which it was).

Monday February 16th
We decided to check out a nearby Indian casino. Like almomst all casinos, it was too smokey. And like most casinos, the cheap blackjack table was double-full, in hopes that you would play the empty high-stakes table. Nuh-uh, no thanks. We played some slots and lost a few bucks and that was that there. The four of us went to three or four thrift stores to see what kind of not-quite-necessary junk we might find. After that it was dinner time and Petra‘s parents had invited us all over to have dinner. Petra’s mom made a really good dinner and we visited for a while.

Tuesday February 17th
In the late morning, Petra took a swim and I joined her in the very warm pool for a few minutes. Larry and Robin were headed to Joshua Tree National Park to take a 5 or 7 mile hike. Yow! Too long and too much for us wimps. Petra and I went shopping for a bit with her parents, including lunch at Schlotzsky’s Deli. When we got back, Petra and I took a walk for a while, at which point Larry and Robin got back.The four of us went out to dinner, at a vegan restaurant that Larry had found, called Native Foods. None of us are vegan, but we are all vegetarians. The food was nicely presented and really good. The place was nothing fancy. But overall we all liked it. And then it was back to the condo.

Wednesday February 18th
Larry and Robin headed back home this morning. They left their Joshua Tree pass with us in case we wanted to go, and this afternoon we did drive over there. First, though, we had a nice breakfast at a local restaurant. Once at the Park, we took an interesting one-mile hike, then drove up to the high point, where we could look out for miles, seeing the Salton Sea, the San Andreas fault, the highest peak in Southern California, and more, including some snow on the ground. What was that, three times we saw snow on this desert trip? Then we stopped at a different part of the park and took a short hike, about a third of a mile. The first hike was better, with huge rock formations and rock hills. The desert is a weird place. They say the temperature can change 40 degrees or more in a day. But it was nice today and we enjoyed our visit. On the way back we saw a sign that said “Dig your own cactus – 59 cents“. It drew Petra in like a moth to a flame. But once we got in there, turns out it was not exactly true. Can you believe it? Yeah, ok, me too. Turns out you get to use a pair of tongs and take a small cactus froma plastic tray to a pot. Oooh, exciting, isn’t it? Well, they got us. We didn’t do that but did buy a couple small cacti for a few bucks total. Then it was back to Indio for a dinner with Petra’s parents. We visited and played a board/card game for a while and that was another day done.

Thursday February 19th
We had a short visit ot the pool in the late morning. Man, they keep the water so warm in that pool. Like a bath. Nice. Petra’s Dad had wanted us to take a visit to the local WorldMark property in Indio, so we drove over there and took a look. It seemed very nice too. Then we drove to nearby Cathedral City for a very tasty lunch at El Gallito, a family-owned Mexican restaurant. Next we went to nearby Perez Road where there were some galleries, consignment shops, etc to check out. Our next stop was down the road to the Palm Spring Art Museum. Admission was free on Thursday afternoon, and we took advantage of that. This was a really impressive museum. We had a guided tour of their glass gallery, where a docent explained about each piece. I enjoyed that. Then we saw their huge Wayne Thiebaud exhibit. The irony is, this artist lives in Sacramento like we do, but we saw his work over 500 miles away. I had only seen his pastry paintings, but here they had lots of other types of works, from sketches, to landsacapes, to some off-kilter cityscapes that we actually pretty cool. Then we wandered to the Robert Mapplethorpe exhibit of photos. These were portraits of celebrities and they were really good. I enjoyed nearly everything we saw in this art museum. Much recommended. And then it was time for the Palm Springs Villagefest. They block off four blocks of the road and it is lined with booths and vendors of all types. We bought some brightly-colored “rebar art” for the back yard. You have to see it to understand. We had some local vegetarian food there too, then it was back to the condo.

Friday February 20th
Today we headed home. We stopped midway at a pizza place for a lunch buffet. And. lo and behold, there just happened to be a new and used CD store right down the mall. We bought a small stack and headed back to our home. It was a nice week, warm and pleasant.

What do you think, any comments?