This blog is dedicated to events over our first 2 years in Palm Desert and the surrounding Coachella Valley region.
Nov 2018: PRIDE Events
We participated in the Palm Springs PRIDE 5k run and walk. Dave did great finishing 3rd for his age group. A sweaty selfie after the race.
Our first Palm Springs PRIDE parade.
Jan 2019: Morning clouds over the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa mountains.
Sunsets in Palm Desert.
Hummingbird flying around the lemon tree by the back patio. A hummingbird also built a nest in the lemon tree, but we don't believe that any babies were hatched.
Winter 2019:
During the winter Dave signed up for watercolor classes taught by Sonya, a resident of the development and an incredibly talented painter. Here are photos of Dave's best work from 2019.
Jan 2019: Palm Springs Health Run. Dave finished 3rd overall for the run; my time was OK.
Jan 2019: Dinner at Lulu's in Palm Springs with Chris, Meg & Brad.
Feb 2019: We met Eric and Lindsey Bennett, hosts of the HGTV show 'Desert Flippers'.
Feb 2019: Snow-covered mountains surrounding Palm Desert.
Feb 13, 2019: Thanks to an 'atmospheric river', that dumped an unusually high amount of rain, according to the National Weather Service, today was the third-wettest day ever at Palm Springs International Airport.
The real problem was not just the rain that fell in the desert cities but the 9+ inches that fell on San Jacinto mountains and drained into the valley. The Coachella Valley relies on an elaborate web of 16 storm water protection channels, dikes and washes to collect rapidly flowing flood water as it pours from adjacent mountains onto the valley floor. These structures connect to a 50-mile long storm water channel that runs from the Whitewater River in Palm Springs to California's largest lake, the Salton Sea. Although many roads suffered serious damage and remained closed for weeks and months, the channels functioned as intended. Here are pictures taken from the channel/wash under Portola Avenue located less than 1 mile from our home in Palm Desert.
DURING THE STORM
AFTER THE STORM
(next day)
Feb 23, 2019: Riverside County Fair and National Date Festival in Indio held in honor of dates, the region's top producer. The festival dates back to 1921.
March 16, 2019: St Patty's Day 5K road race in Palm Springs. Great race times. Dave finished 9th overall, 2nd for his age bracket with time 22:04. I finished 39th overall, 2nd for my age bracket with time 26:57. Beer and pancakes provided after the race.
April 2019: Desert Theatreworks of Indio presented Love, Sex, and the I.R.S. This play was a farce about two out-of-work straight male musicians who pretend to be a male-female couple so they can save money by jointly filing their taxes. Dave was cast as Floyd Spinner, the straight-laced IRS agent. Here's a backstage picture of Dave and Tiffani LoBue who played the mother of one of the male leads.
In over our 10 years together, this was the first show that I missed. I had flown home to MA for a few weeks to visit my parents. Here is a link to a rave review the show received Love Sex and the IRS.
April 2019: Weston and Mack at the Highway 74 overlook outside of Palm Desert.
After a great first winter, the end of April meant it was time to close up the condo and head back to New England. However, first some night time enjoyment in Palm Springs and our final pool-side mojitos.
We were back to spend 4-6 weeks in Palm Desert during the fall. It's a great time of the year with Halloween, PRIDE Celebrations and amazing weather.
Oct 2019: Pam and Pat visited for a few days. We enjoyed a great dinner at Lulu's in Palm Springs.
Halloween 2019: A cold weather front in the valley resulted in fewer Halloween events but we still dressed up as worker bees.
Nov 2018: PRIDE Events
We participated again in the Palm Springs PRIDE 5k run and walk. Dave finished 3rd for his age group and added another metal to the collection.
Street fair and stages on Palm Canyon Drive as part of an expanded PRIDE weekend. TLC was the closing act on the main stage.
Another great parade celebrating LGBTQ members of the community.
Nov 2019: We purchased tickets to the 2019 Margaritaville USA Pickleball National Championships held at Indian Wells Tennis Garden on November 2-10. The facility is home to the BNP Paribas Open – the largest combined men and women’s tennis tournament in the world. For this tournament the premier matches were played in the 8,000-seat Stadium 2.
You may not be able to tell by this video but pickleball is both a finesse and power game. These players are 'dinking' the ball softly across the net until one player makes a mistake the ball bounces too high and suddenly it becomes a rapid fire power game.
Pickleball is a great sport. We had never played until we arrived in Palm Desert. Now we love the game and play as often as we can. It's a sport that can be enjoyed by people of any age. Click on the link to the USA Pickleball Association to find out more about the game.