La Quinta, California: The kids love coming to visit us here in LaQ. They love riding their bikes, playing golf, swimming, and they love dining at the clubhouse. There is a Starbucks in our country club. Leo thinks this is the greatest thing ever. Every morning he rides his bike to the coffee shop and gets an iced vanilla latte. (It is free, according to Leo, as he only has to give his grandparent’s member number to the barista). Ah, the country club life!
Sunday Brunch at the Clubhouse: For the first time, we ordered the cinnamon roll. Apparently they sell-out every Sunday, but the size has always stopped us from trying this sugar-bomb. I would guess it is the size of a boule? A small head of cauliflower? Lucy took-down a bit, and we all gave it a try, but could not finish. So sad. It was very good.
We spent the afternoon in the pool as the weather was again glorious. 82 degrees! The pool was 90 degrees (because we heated it), and we all had too much fun, too much sun, and were starving by the time we left the house at 4:30 for our next adventure. First stop - pizza.
This was our first time to Bill's Pizza in Palm Desert. Our friends give it great reviews, so tonight was a good time to give it a try as we arrived early and snagged a table before the Spring Break crowds swarmed. The restaurant is casual and probably could use a refresh, but they serve a very decent pie with a thin chewy crust. We ordered three 10-inch pies and nearly finished it all.
We needed this fuel for our evening, because we would be walking several miles to attend Glow Park at the Living Desert Zoo. We saw a story about the Glow Park lantern-festival-type evet on the local evening news and bought tickets to attend while the kids would be here. When Lenny learned we were going, he decided to stay another night and join-in the fun. I was able to snag another ticket for him. Sorry, Lisa. We will return Lenny to you soon.
Since it is probably best to see a lantern festival in the dark, I ordered tickets for 7p. It still wasn't quite dark, and the animals were really active, so we took a quick spin past the critters before sunset. I am posting so many photos tonight - so only captions.
We also spotted leopards, camels, Big Horn Sheep, hyenas and so many other animals on display before it grew dark and we headed into the Glow Park.
I will leave you with a 64 second video:
As you can see from the above video and photos, it was just a fantastic event and so well done. We were all so impressed. Tickets were only $28 for adults and $18 for kids. Such a deal for this magical evening. Ticket entry times are staggered, so it is never crowded. There are a lot of interactive things for kids to do as well, like stepping on lit stars to make the colors change on certain animals and several animals spit-out bubbles that magically disappear into dust (?) - someone said the are frozen bubbles (?). Please go if you are anywhere near the Palm Springs area.
Until my next update, I remain, your enlightened correspondent.