Mission Hills

Today continued to be unusually windy for here and it was once again cloudy. We still thought it was perfect. After breakfast, we agreed that a good walk was in order, so we drove over to the Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage with the intent of doing some serious hoofing.

This is a club of which Bill and Brenda are members virtue of their home ownership and it's a pretty swanky place. The gardens are immaculate and the golf courses - 3 of them - are pristine, which begs the question, "What desert?"

Today they were gearing up for the first round of the first tournment of the season for the LPGA. All of the ladies were golfing today, each of them with a foursome of duffers who had paid $10000 for the privilege of being shown up by a young female pro. From what we saw, the women were indeed proving why they were the pros.

Of course the professionals walked the course as they do in competition, while their foursome roared from shot to shot in carts. This club has some pretty pimped up carts.

We walked most of the 18 holes, stopping regularly to watch the ladies do their stuff. As we walked, the temperature dropped and by the end of the walk, there was snow hitting the summits of surrounding mountain ranges. Clearly, everybody has uncertain weather these days.

We returned to their home after lunch at the club and left the opulence behind.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in the hot tub to avoid the chilly breeze. All I can think of is if it's chilly here, then it's definitely not very nice at home.

For dinner tonight, we headed into Palm Springs to a restaurant called Lulu. We sat outside and were very comfortable courtesy of heaters. We all had the three course meal with lobster ravioli for everyone else and chicken piccata for me. And that's, as they say, a wrap for today.