Week One.... Finding our Way Around the Valley

After a few day of getting oriented, we started a busy week of activities. Tuesday of last week was our first "Tuesday Putters" event. It was a lot of fun and we got to meet some people from the community. At one of the clubhouses, they have an 18 hole putting course with some long contoured greens that don't yield too many two putts. The objective is obviously get a low score but I believe the true purpose is the dinner and BYOB served after the "golf".

I did manage to sink a one-putt for which I received a grand prize of $4 off-setting the $10 cost of the supper. A lot of fun and it looks like this event happens every other week. We will be back...

On Wednesday we decided to try out one of the local hiking trails in Palm Desert. This was a relatively short trail (about 6 km) but a pretty good climb. It yielded some good views of the Palm Desert valley and got us outside and moving again after travelling in the vehicle for a week.

Thursday was my first day of Men's League golf. I can report that they don't have to be concerned that the handicap they gave me would end up with me taking all of the prize money. Most of the game was OK but I just couldn't putt on the greens.  They are pretty quick and I didn't seem to be able to read them with any reliability. I will have to spend some time on the practice green before next week! A trip down the street to the pool and hot tub got me relaxed after the golfing disaster.

On Friday we drove to Borrego Springs to do some exploring of Anza-Borrego State Park, a huge park that is a combination of mountains and desert. We started off with a hike of the Palms Canyon Trail. A hike up a canyon to an oasis.

After the hike, we did some driving around getting acquainted with the Borrego Springs area. We discovered some great metal critter sculptures just out of town in the desert. There are over a hundred of these here and you have to drive off-road to get to some of them.

Following that we did another drive into a canyon on an off-road trail but ended up turning around when the going got a bit too rough (no skid pan under the engine). The shadows are really nice as the sun starts to get near the horizon.

We will be back to this park several times as there are many things to explore here.

Saturday was a leisurely day. We went out for supper with John & Judith and then to the Casino to see a Beatles Tribute Band. This was supposed to be the band from the L.A. Beatlemania but man, were they terrible. Paul could either a) not sing; b) was really pissed and smoked a lot; or c) had severe laryngitis.

Sunday was a nice sunny day and Chris and I tried out the Shadow Hills North Course. This is a really beautiful 18 hole par 3 course with challenging holes. We had a really good time and my putting seemed to improve a bit. At least no 4 putts.

Monday we had some unseasonable rain in the morning. No where near as much as some of California where they have had severe flooding. A good day to go and do some shopping. Another quiet day on Tuesday. I finally got a chance to sit in the sun and read my book on my Kindle.

That's it for this week's report. Looks like it will be warming up a bit more over the next seven day with highs in the low to mid 20's. Its still cool early in the morning. Today it was 6 at 7:00 am.