Digging the Quarry

During our fun-filled week in the Desert, friend Duane invited us to visit Doyle and his home in The Quarry. Golf course developments don’t get any more exclusive than The Quarry, and it’s always a delight to see Duane's brother Doyle. Needless to say, Duane didn’t have to ask me twice.

Doyle’s home is absolutely gorgeous, and the garage that houses his classic Lincoln Continental is WAY cleaner than my kitchen. The art, furnishings and pool are stunning, but the most spectacular feature of Doyle’s place is his cactus garden. He is clearly a master gardener, and my pictures don’t do Doyle's creation justice.

The Quarry features incredible homes built around perfectly manicured golf holes. In fact, at one point we counted 10 workers meticulously mowing and trimming a single golf green! Memberships at The Quarry don’t come cheap. It costs $350,000 to become a member – and another $350,000 if your spouse wants to join, too. Guests are welcome to play the course – but only in the company of a member. Interestingly, Quarry guest Phil Mikelson made the mistake of playing part of the course by himself. The PGA champ subsequently applied for membership but was blackballed for breaking the law by playing The Quarry without a member.

A Date with Shields

No visitor to the Desert is worth their salt if they fail to visit Shields Date Garden. With 88 years under its belt, Shields is a virtual institution. The huge knight in front of the store is called “The Guardian of Quality,” and he firmly points visitors to front door of the store and café.

Apparently, the date is the oldest known cultivated tree crop. According to Shields, it is also the most expensive crop to produce. One can sample multiple varieties of dates at Shields, and, predictably, Tom tried them all. My personal favorite was the blonde date – only available at Shields Date Gardens!

Everyone bought dates to take home. But before leaving, we got in line to order Shields Date Shakes - beyond fabulous and worth every single calorie.

La Quinta Arts Festival

We sure picked the right week to visit the Wilsons in the Desert. In the midst of everything else, the Annual La Quinta Arts Festival was happening. And it certainly was a happening place. This Under the Umbrellas arts festival is beautifully situated around a park lake in the heart of the City of La Quinta. Now celebrating its 30th anniversary, the Arts Festival currently holds the distinction of being ranked the #2 Fine Art Festival in the Nation!

More than a step above Coeur d’Alene’s popular Art on the Green, this event features nationally-recognized artists representing every genre of art, including ceramics, drawing, fiber, sculpture, glass, jewelry, etc. We spent an entire afternoon wandering through hundreds of booths - genuinely appreciating the impressive work of artists at the top of their game.

We didn’t buy any art this day, but I was particularly enamored with Seattle-based artist Marcio Diaz and his style of painting called bubblism. I made a mental note to visit his studio next time we make the 5-hour drive over the Cascades.

There’s SO Much More to the Desert Than Playing Golf

Most of our friends who winter in the Desert come here to play golf at world-renowned courses. I do play golf (or at least my version of the game), but playing a round or two did not make my short-list of Desert activities during our week at the Wilsons. Warm weather exercise, however, was a priority.

Tom and I found a couple of easy hikes that gave us a bit of a workout along with incredible views of the desert valley. We enjoyed the Randall Henderson Trail so much that Teri and Phil joined us for a repeat hike.

Randall Henderson was instrumental in the development of Palm Desert and was the visionary behind the famed El Paseo, a.k.a. “Rodeo Drive of the Desert.” With outstanding views of the Santa Rosa Mountains, the trail was dedicated to Henderson in 2005. A nicely developed visitor’s center is staffed with an amiable bunch of retired folks who moved here to spend their golden years. I think one of the guys moved here to dish out his version of Palm Desert history and gossip. Of course we ate it all up.

The trail is nicely signed, and an interesting brochure gave us a good appreciation of the desert vegetation, wildlife habitat, and geological history of the area. I was stunned to learn that there are hundreds of different kinds of catci, and I swear we saw 80% of them.

Unfortunately, we were too early in the season to spot the still-hibernating Desert Tortoise, and we also failed to spot any Bighorn Sheep on the steep, rocky slopes. However, we did have one notable sighting – the infamous Desert home of Duane and Lola Hagadone.

The bane of many Desert residents, Hagadone’s sprawling $30 million mountain estate has been highly criticized for its over-the-top size and ostentatious appearance.

Its copper roof covers 32,000 square feet of living space. Even at a distance, the naked eye has no trouble picking out the complex with its out-buildings, multiple water features and trademark red geraniums. Naturally, we zoomed in with our binoculars, and I’m pretty sure I saw Lola vacuuming one of the bedrooms.

All the Sense in the World

There are a number of highly recommended restaurants in and around Palm Desert, but we hit a home run when we chose to eat at Sense. I had a good feeling when I called for reservations because the person answering the phone recognized my (208) area code and said she used to live in Idaho!

Teri, Susan, Tom, and I, were warmly greeted by Andrea who operates Sense with her husband/chef Robert Douglas. Interestingly, the couple lived in North Idaho while Chef Robert cooked for Coeur d’Alene’s upscale golf course Gozzer Ranch. They left Idaho four years ago to open Sense, and Robert has been winning rave reviews for his inventive menus ever since.

Locally grown and produced foods are featured every night, so it was nearly impossible to choose from the diverse range of offerings. Everything served is made from scratch, but the highlight of the evening for me was Chef Robert’s incredible Blue Cheese Cake dessert.

We were delighted to meet the chef and personally give him kudos for our fabulous dinner. Better yet, Chef Robert kept a promise he made by emailing me his Blue Cheese Cake recipe a week later.

Tennis, Anyone?

Day 2 of our Desert Classic Vacation took us to Indian Wells Tennis Garden, home of the BNP Paribas Tennis Open. Thanks to a thoughtful invitation from good friend Susan Jacklin, Teri, Tom and I were able to experience the hoopla for an entire day.

Every March this 2-week tournament attracts the top professional singles and doubles tennis players and over 350,000 spectators. Under the leadership of Charlie Pasarell, the Paribas Tennis Open moved from Tucson to La Quinta in 1981. With a construction pricetag of $78 million, the Indian Wells Tennis Garden is phenomenal!

Sitting on 89 acres, the venue boasts multiple tennis courts, state-of-the-art technology, and a center court stadium that seats over 16,000. The Paribas Tennis Open is just short of becoming one of tennis' Grand Slam events.

Our near-Wimbledon experience started with lunch and superb Margaritas. Surrounded by huge video screens, we could literally watch 4 matches at one time without having to leave our Margaritas for a minute!

Of course the real excitement came from seeing these world-class athletes up close and personal. With Susan's VIP badges, we could enter any venue like we owned the joint.

Until that day, I had never seen a live professional tennis match nor had I ever seen Roger Federer warming up in a practice court. Quite honestly, I've never even played tennis - but we had a ball, and I felt lucky to see all the action.

Why Snowbirds Fly South...I Totally Get It Now

We moved to Coeur d'Alene 27 years ago because the area offers a desirable lifestyle - along with four distinct, beautiful seasons. Living here year-round made all the sense in the world to me, so I could never understand why anyone would want to leave this place and head south in the winter. Until now.

Many of our retired or semi-retired friends have discovered the virtues of living in Florida, Arizona or California during Idaho's wintery months of January, February and March. We finally discovered many of those virtues last month when we spent a week in Palm Desert with our good friends Teri and Phil.

Two years ago - in their infinite wisdom - the Wilsons bought a lovely home in LaQuinta, Palm Desert. Teri completely redecorated, furnished and stocked the house. And I mean COMPLETELY - including furniture, wall and window treatments, lighting, kitchen gear, and two kinds of terry cloth robes for guests (one robe for showers, one robe for the pool).


We arrived at Palm Springs Airport after early morning air travel from Spokane. Teri picked us up, and we immediately proceeded to breakfast at Ruby's Diner - a classic 1940's family restaurant on Palm Canyon Drive. We were in the heart of Rat Pack country, so it seemed only fitting to spot the homage to Ol' Blue Eyes on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars.