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Escape from the Big Game

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The View from My Brother’s Back Yard

There is always a big game on TV, so I usually make my escape from the drone of the sports announcers by heading to my brother’s back yard with a book. Fortunately, the book I was reading was a humdinger: Edward John Trelawny’s Records of Shelley, Byron, and the Author.

Unlike me, Dan likes to relax by watching football, basketball, and baseball games on the weekend. Unlike our late father, he is not a dyed-in-the-wool fan of any particular team: He enjoys the game even when the local boys lose, as the Los Angeles Rams did on Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks.

And, as I was with him all weekend, I had to entertain myself part of the day. This last weekend, the mercury in the early afternoons was in the low 70s Fahrenheit (low 20s Celsius). By the late afternoon, however, it started to cool down; so I was exposed to a broad spectrum of televised sports. My favorite was the game between the Denver Broncos and the New England Patriots in a white-out blizzard. All the yard indicators and hatch marks were covered with snow, forcing the stadium maintenance personnel to melt the snow at key points.

Football in the Snow

As always, it was fun to get together with my brother and sister-in-law. We watched several movies on TV, including Bubba Ho-Tep (2003). This was a film all three of us liked twenty years ago. In the intervening years, however, we seem to have changed and now regard the film with some disfavor. The other film we saw was Takeshi Kitano’s Broken Rage (2024), which started great but descended into randomness.

To make up for the sports and bad movies, the food was great, There are some wonderful Mexican restaurants in the Coachella Valley, and my brother’s cooking is superb or better.

A Weekend in the Desert

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My Brother Dan at the Whitewater Preserve

This weekend, I will be visiting my brother Dan in the Coachella Valley. As Martine is still smarting from her two sweltering years at Twentynine Palms in the nearby Yucca Valley, she will not be coming with me. It is also probably the last time I will be visiting him at his Palm Desert home: He and his wife Lori are planning on moving to Santa Rosa in Northern California later this year. And I am unlikely to visit the desert in summer.

Consequently, the next time I will be posting to this blog will probably be on Monday or Tuesday. Hopefully, Dan will introduce me to some of the local sights.

The above picture is the last one I took with my old Canon PowerShot A1400. Not two minutes after I took this picture, I tripped on one of the rocks bordering the path (shown above) and crushed the lens of my camera. Fortunately, the memory card containing my pictures was still intact; and I was able to upload them to my system without any problems.

At some point this weekend, I hope to talk Dan into going to one of the Valley’s tamale restaurant. I was disconsolate when I learned that my last scheduled visit to the desert in mid-December (canceled due to illness) occurred during the annual Indio Tamale Festival.

In any case, Dan and I are both foodies. I expect we will have some great meals, both at restaurants and in his dining room. (Dan is a wizard of a chef.)

Desert Dreams

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Cacti at the Moorten Cactus Garden in Palm Springs

In the next few weeks, I will be making two road trips to the desert. First, this weekend I will spend a long weekend with my brother in Palm Desert. I don’t know how much I’ll be seeing inasmuch as we are in the middle of March Madness. No matter, because a few weeks later, Martine and I will be driving to Tucson, where we will definitely do some concentrated sightseeing.

I love the desert—but not in the summer! Several years ago, Martine and I flew to New Mexico and drove around in a rental car during the month of June. Every day, the temperature was in the three-digit range, often hitting 110° Fahrenheit (43° Celsius). There were times I was afraid to touch the handle of my rented Hyundai lest I leave behind the skin of my hand.

During the cooler months, however, especially when the wind isn’t blowing too strongly, the desert puts forth its most welcoming aspect. And April is one of the nicest times, as the floor of the desert is full of tiny wildflowers.

I don’t know what I’ll find in the Coachella Valley and Southern Arizona, but I have high hopes. And you can be sure that I’ll have some pictures to share with you.

An Upcoming Road Trip?

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Saguaro Cacti Near Tucson

Martine has generally not been interested in travel. Lately, however, she mentioned the possibility of two Southwest road trips: One up U.S. 395 and other to Tucson, Arizona. Years ago, Martine had fond memories of a visit to an aunt who lived in Tucson.

I, myself, have never been to Tucson or even Phoenix. My knowledge of Arizona is mostly the area north of I-40 along the Kingman-Williams-Flagstaff-Winslow axis.

Today, I took my car in for its 39,000-mile service so that if we went to Tucson in March or early April, I would not be forced to make any last-minute decisions. Since I am also due to visit my brother in Palm Desert in two weeks, I will try to talk Martine into coming with me. It seems that the Coachella Valley is on the AAA preferred route to Tucson, and it would be killing two birds with one stone.

I will write more about the upcoming trip after I do a bit more research.

The Wild Blue Yonder

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One of Several Hangars at the Palm Springs Air Museum

The Coachella Valley is a prime location for an aircraft museum if for no other reason than many former military and civilian pilots retired there. As a result, the museum is unusually well staffed and equipped with planes and flying paraphernalia.

Last Monday, I visited the museum for the third time. I was happy to see that they had a new temporary hangar for a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, which holds three records for speed at Mach-3 and above. Developed by Lockheed’s famous Skunk Works in Burbank, California, the SR-71 proved so useful that it was brought out of retirement twice.

SR-71 at the Palm Springs Air Museum

Of all the tourist sights in the Valley, I think the best two for children are the Living Desert in Palm Desert and the Palm Springs Air Museum. Never have I seen children so attentive as they viewed the exhibits. And, speaking as an adult, I found myself pretty attentive too.

Afterwards, my brother and i ate a great Mexican lunch at the San Miguel Taqueria on Ramon near Thousand Palms.

The House at Sunnylands

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Interior at Sunnylands

The Sunnylands Estate where Walter and Leonore Annenberg lived and entertained political and entertainment figures from around the world is one of the most interesting sights in the Coachella Valley. When I took the house tour last Sunday, I saw a beautiful example of 1960s modern architecture in the form of a single-story house that seemed to go on forever.

One strange note is that the walls were covered with reproductions of famous paintings. The originals belonged to the Annenbergs, but they were gifted in 1991 to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

During the lifetime of the Annenbergs, Sunnylands was frequently the site of meetings with world leaders, including both President Bushes, Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan, Queen Elizabeth II, Richard Nixon, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Xi Jinping of China. In 1976, Frank and Barbara Sinatra were married there.

The Rose Garden at Sunnylands

Not only the house but the grounds at Sunnylands are worth seeing. Access is free to all, and there are tens of thousands of trees and cacti, a rose garden, and numerous other landscape features. Check out the video of the grounds at the Sunnylands website.

Billionaires Good & Bad

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Veronica and Walter Annenberg

Some billionaires when they die leave behind treasures that could be enjoyed by future generations. Some actually manage to make the world a slightly better place. Such was publishing magnate Walter Annenberg (1908-2002). From 1969 to 1974, he also served as U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom. His palatial 800+ acre estate at Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage served as the western version of Camp David, where world leaders met and discussed global issues.

Most billionaires, I’m sad to say, are merely a waste of skin. I am not interested in naming names, because you know who I mean.

Last Sunday, I took the tour of the Sunnylands estate and was impressed by the beauty of the house and grounds.

View from the Lower Terrace of the Sunnylands House

Now the Coachella Valley is a fairly populated place. You would never guess that from Sunnylands. There are wonderful views of Mount San Jacinto and the other mountains around Palm Springs—but the estate is so situated that one can’t tell that there are any houses or business districts in any direction. Where one would expect to find them, one is confronted by trees that give the estate a sense of splendid isolation, even though it is readily accessible from busy Bob Hope Drive.

I had visited the grounds of the estate twice before and strolled the lovely cactus gardens. The house tour, on the other hand, but be reserved and costs a pretty penny. But it is definitely worth it.

Unfortunately, it is not permitted to photograph the interiors, but I will try to find some previously published photos that I can show you in a later post.

Desert Interlude

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Southern California’s Coachella Valley

I will not be posting to this website for a few days as I will be in the desert visiting my brother Dan. On Sunday morning, I will be doing a tour of the Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands, “The Camp David of the West,” where many world leaders convened. Then, on Monday, because Dan will probably be at work, I will be on my own. I haven’t decided where I will go, but it will invariably be a photogenic place which will result in future blogs.

Hot! Hot!! Hot!!!

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They Weren’t Whistling Dixie

I returned yesterday from the Coachella Valley after four days of excess 100° Fahrenheit (38° Celsius) temperatures. When summer temperatures arrive in the lower desert, it is time to seek air-conditioned comfort. No walkies, no hikes, no outdoor activities of any sort: It is simply time to seek air-conditioned comfort and hunker down. Even the steering wheel of my Subaru Forester was hot to the touch.

Knowing full well what was in store for me, I had a god time nonetheless. My brother’s house in Palm Desert is comfortable, and I enjoyed reading and talking with him and with my sister-in-law Lori. Yesterday, before setting out for Los Angeles, I had breakfast with Dan and my niece Hilary, who had just arrived by plane from Seattle. After an hour of pleasant chatter, I hit the road with only a single rest stop in Rowland Heights.

The Los Angeles temperature was a full 40° Fahrenheit (22° Celsius) cooler than the Coachella Valley. I found I needed a jacket when I unloaded the luggage from my car.

The net result: I didn’t really go anywhere which I could feature in my blog posts. Sometimes, it just happens that way. Fortunately, the hot weather did not stop me from enjoying myself.