"But it's a Dry Heat"

I’ve made the pilgrimage to La Quinta/PGA West 3 times in the last 7 years and have yet to be disappointed.  We always go in the summer, which means it’s indeed toasty – but the packages available are so amazing that it’s worth losing 5-10 pounds of water weight a day J

The most recent trip was in June ’08.  We flew into San Diego on Friday morning, dropped the kids off with grandma and grandpa (everybody wins), then drove 2.5 hours thru the desert and arrived at La Quinta Resort, where it was 104 degrees at 5p.  We’ve stayed at La Quinta before – the resort has been around for ever and it is showing some signs of wear, but it’s got a ton of charm, cool casitas/bungalows, and really exceptional service.  They actually botched our reservation this time – we had requested a casita with a hot tub on the patio and there wasn’t one available when we arrived.  They quickly made the situation right and upgraded us to a $600/night room.  There are usually some Hollywood types hanging around.  On this last trip, Charles Barkley was apparently having a charity event somewhere in Palm Springs so a few NBA guys were staying at La Quinta.  My wife mentioned that she did see Eric Snow at one of the pools (btw, how cool is it that my wife can recognize backup NBA point guards?).

Palm Springs in June isn’t for the light hearted (or the fair-skinned).  It’s really hot.  The agenda is always clear when we go: during the day, the guys purchase $100 of sunscreen and a case of Gatorade and play tons of golf, while the girls relax and get rubbed on by complete strangers.  The group then reconvenes in the evening for a good meal and takes down multiple bottles of the wine Garrett so generously provides.

We got three rounds of golf in on this trip: one at the La Quinta Mountain Course, one at the PGA Stadium Course, and one a private club called Big Horn.  The first two courses were nice, but were no match for Big Horn, which is officially the nicest golf course I have ever played.  Dana’s boss happens to be a member and Dana called in a favor to get us on.  Fairways were immaculate, greens were incredibly true.  Our caddy was also a great guy who pointed out all of the celebrity pads that bordered the course.

Had a couple of really good meals at local restaurants.  On Saturday night we went to the Cliffhouse (right off the 111).  They were pretty backed up the night we went – we finally sat down 45 minutes after our reservation, but it was worth the wait.  I had a really good steak and they deserts (which they comped) were out of this world.  On Sunday night we went to Amore, an Italian restaurant on Washington Ave.  Another very good meal – some of the biggest portions of pasta I have seen.  Will definitely go back to both places when we are next in the area.

We’ll undoubtedly be heading back to Palm Springs next summer – if you are a cost-conscious golfer and you can stand a little bit of heat, I’d recommend you do the same.