La Quinta, California: NOTE: Tomorrow (8 January) is the 24th anniversary of this blog. Can you believe it? I started blogging when Dave retired and we hit the road in our sparkling new Holiday Rambler Piece-of-Junk motorhome. I used to drag my laptop to RV park offices to use dial-up! Caveman days. Now I can blog on my phone. (After proofreading this post, not much has changed in 24 years. I still ramble on and on, and use lots of parentheses and exclamation marks. Ha.)
We spent December 25th celebrating Jimmy Buffett's birthday. (He would have been 78.) The usual Margarita and Cheeseburgers were served, but the Hebrew calendar threw in a curveball this year, as the 25th was also the first night of Hanukkah. Who needs a burger bun when you can have a latke?
Ya know... it wasn't half bad. Huge though. Happy Birthday, Mr. Buffett. Miss you.
Debbie and Mark invited us to golf at their club the next day and the weather was just perfect. My golf game was not.
The 4L's had been in Hawaii for ten days, but returned for the New Year and a little football game on New Year's Day.
Early the next morning, we loaded snacks and drinks into the back of the Traverse and drove out to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Pasadena has it going on - the Rose Parade traffic and Rose Bowl game traffic never meet. It must take a lot of organization to get thousands of fans into the parking lot (which doubles as a golf course most days) on a game day. (Did you know the Rose Bowl Stadium is the home field for the UCLA Bruins?) Again, the weather was just perfect, but we know as soon as the sun sets in this ravine, the temperatures drop and it can be miserable in the fall/winter.
And that was the last time you would see a Duck fan smiling for the rest of the afternoon. Ohio State scored twice very quickly, putting a damper on the west side of the stadium. The Ducks scored a few times, but then it was the Buckeye Show. Yes, we can say the Ducks had already beat Ohio State in the regular season, we can say the Ducks were undefeated all season, and were #1 throughout. But we still lost 41-21, and will not be national champions in football. The Ohio State fans were so nice! Polite. Good winners.
Getting out of the parking lot was a nightmare. All the friendly parking attendants waving flags to get us all into our $59 sites, must have gone home. Seriously 55 minutes sitting/idling in non-moving lines. Ugh. Didn't get back to the kids house until very late.
Thursday night, we pretended it was Wednesday and had a day-late Last-Night-of-Hanukkah party with Lenny's sister and her family. More latkes! Fun time with Leo and Lucy's cute cousins. On Friday morning, we loaded up our grandchildren and brought them home with us for a long weekend.
We have such gorgeous sunsets here (assuming there are clouds... which are rare). Aren't the kids getting so big? They had a great time in Kauai and received fun gifts from their family/friends. All Leo wanted to do while here was ride bikes, golf, or fish. No particular order. He also enjoys riding a bike up to the Starbucks (we have an actual Starbucks inside our country club!) to get a vanilla iced drink each morning. He and Bubba spend hours talking about fishing, rigging lures and hooks, tying knots, deciding which bait options they should use, and sometimes they even go down to the ponds around our golf course and catch/release fish. Leo will just use a hook to snag a bass or carp, but the massive catfish wallowing around the bottom of our ponds prefer meat... like sliced turkey from the deli or Lucy's leftover chicken. They are not particular.
Not wanting to heat the pool (the pool water was 57 degrees and it would take two days and a vast amount of energy/money to heat), so agreed to heat the spa (40 minutes from 57° to 101°). Lucy and I enjoyed the spa, but then she thought it would be fun to do a "Polar Plunge" by jumping in the pool, then back into the spa. Oh goodness, did this girl crack me up with her comments and antics. But she had to do this alone. No way was I jumping in that cold water. Honestly, I put my foot in the pool and thought we must be in Norway or something. How can 57° feel so cold? Leo returned from fishing (after dark Saturday night) she convinced him to plunge as well - and they both did it several times.
When Lenny arrived Sunday afternoon to spend the night here and drive the children home Monday morning (school begins Tuesday 7th), they convinced their dad to do The Plunge. Lenny did it a few times! Brrrrr.
We went to brunch at the clubhouse, and went to the Art Fair in Old Town La Quinta. We found a booth selling handmade notecards. Pelham's Paperie sews fabric to the back of notecards to make the cutest-ever stationery sets with color-coordinating envelopes. Lucy bought a box with Taylor Swift motifs, I found GO DUCK cards, and Leo found Cincinnati Bengal cards.
One night I pan-fried shelf-stable gnocchi, and topped the gnocchi with red sauce. (I recommend using De Cecco gnocchi, as no other brand I have tried works as well. This product can be found in the dried pasta section of grocers, and does not need refrigeration, so is obviously great for your RV kitchen.) It does take a while - 15-20 minutes - for the dumplings to brown when sauteed with olive oil - or butter, or a mix of the two - but the result is a gorgeous crispy dumpling with a soft interior. The kids ate 'em up. Another night, DT grilled boneless/skinless chicken thighs. We served them in flour tortillas (homemade by me) with onions and cilantro. Also devoured. The last night here we went with Lenny to Stuft Pizza in Old Town. This place has pizza, but we rarely order pizza there as they have a huge menu with burgers, poke, sandwiches, steak, salads... and anything else. Stuft Pizza in Old Town La Quinta must be the most popular restaurant in town. Prices are decent as well.
After a farewell luncheon at Tacos Gonzalez on Monday, we sent them off to Los Angeles with a homemade boule. Leo loves my bread and I love my Leo.
Until my next update, I remain, your "we are doing a lot of laundry now" correspondent.
The LA fire occurred after you posted this blog. Is your family okay?
Thinking about the 4 L’s and if they and their home are ok. Losing all to a fire is beyond devastating. Prayers said for them.