November 2020 Road Trip: La Quinta Resort & Club

One of our favorite vacation destinations is the La Quinta Resort & Club. The pandemic made this year hard enough, but moving to Colorado also made it difficult to vacation in Palm Desert. On our drive back to Colorado, we stopped for two nights at La Quinta for sunbathing and pool time. It was like visiting with an old friend.

We have had the good fortune to experience many of the room styles at the resort, from the Pueblo Suite with its own garden and private pool, to the starlight casitas, and even a room located adjacent to actress Ginger Roger’s favorite swimming pool. On this trip, we were budget conscious and tried one of the standard rooms.

Only the La Quinta Resort & Club doesn’t have standard rooms. The resort was built in the 1920’s and every room has a unique layout. Nothing is cookie-cutter. We had the ability to pick our exact room using the Hilton app and it was difficult. We tried to gauge the size of the rooms by looking at the resort map and ended up picking a room in Santa Ursula section, primarily due to its proximity to the pools. The resort has 41 pools, so you are never far from the water!

We arrived late at night after a very long day of travel, so uncharacteristically, I did not photograph our room. It was the smallest of the rooms that we have stayed in at La Quinta, but quite comfortable. It had an enormous bathtub, which we both enjoyed, using bath bombs that Dan had given me for my birthday. Our home doesn’t currently have a large tub, so this is a real luxury for us.

In addition to the customary souvenir tile, we were give a bottle of hand sanitizer and wipes. Due to Covid, we did not check-in at the hotel reception desk, opting to head straight to our room using a digital key. The resort also didn’t bother with parking passes.

We woke-up around ten ( La Quinta has the best beds and I always sleep well) to discover a crisp November day. November is always a tricky month with weather. It was sunny, with a high of 71 degrees. When I lived in California, I would have worn a sweater and my Ugg boots, however, now I am accustomed to cold weather and I had no problem wearing a bikini and flip flops.

While walking around the resort, we encountered very few guests. Masks were mandatory and we only removed them for a few quick photos. I felt very safe visiting La Quinta.

The property is landscaped with citrus trees and a gardener caught us admiring the oranges. He urged us to pick one and try it.

We headed into town for breakfast at Koffi Coffee. Koffi Coffee is one of our Palm Desert favorite stops. The lattes are fabulous, but what we really love is their pineapple muffins. Unfortunately, we were too late for the muffins, as they had sold out!

One surreal aspect of our stay was due to the fall 2020 season of The Bachelorette, which is currently airing. The show would usually include fancy destinations around the world, but due to covid, they filmed a quarantined season where the contestants stayed exclusively at La Quinta. It’s strange to see a resort that feels like a second home used for the show.

This season’s bachelorette’s ( two of them), Tayshia Adams and Clare Crawley, both stayed in the El Presidente suite.

And the tennis courts have been used for many activities, including strip dodgeball! Scandalous!!!

Our primary objective was to get some pool time. We even splurged on a glass of bubbly.

Due to California covid restrictions, the hot tubs were closed. We have not experienced this with the pools in Colorado or Florida, but I’m guessing it is because of the difficulty of social distancing in spas. They kept the spas unheated to deter anyone thinking of ignoring the restrictions.

When another couple joined our pool, we decided to move on to the main pool. The main pool is enormous and we had the entire pool to ourselves, which we enjoyed until sunset.

The La Quinta Resort & Club is magical at night. We even saw the truck arrive with the Christmas tree. We were told that there is usually a big tree lightening ceremony, but this year it will go without fanfare due to the pandemic.

The Adobe Grill was open for outdoor dining and they had tables arranged with plenty of social distancing and space heaters to keep warm. It felt like a private dining experience. We were able to meet our friends Dan and Meg, who were spending a few months in the desert to escape from the Oregon cold. We hadn’t seen them since living in Portland, and even though we couldn’t hug, it still felt great to see them. We caught up over margaritas and fajitas.

We considered staying for another night, but we really needed to get back to Colorado, so bright and early the following morning, we hit the road for Arizona. It was difficult leaving both California and La Quinta. I hope that we will be back in 2021.

November 2020 Road Trip: Los Angeles

In early November, we had to travel to California to pick up an enormous chandelier. Sure, we could have paid to have it delivered, but where would the fun be in that? Plus, it gave us the opportunity to take a road trip from California to Colorado, via Arizona and New Mexico. We had an epic road trip planned for the summer that was canceled due to covid and I was itching to hit the road.

The first day of the trip was a big deal for me, as it was the first time that I set foot in my home state during 2020. I didn’t think that I would get a “trip home” this year. Here is a picture of happy me at LAX.

I love our life in Colorado. We have made so many friends, our house is beautiful, and we live in a great neighborhood, but a part of me is still in California. Short of a surprise windfall, I know that if we were to move back, our lifestyle would be greatly scaled-down. We’d be in an apartment or townhouse. The air wouldn’t be as clear and our money wouldn’t stretch as far. However, I hope that each year, I will have the opportunity to reconnect with my home state.

This trip we had just an afternoon in Los Angeles. Due to covid, we didn’t make plans to see friends. We picked up a rental car and headed straight to Culver City.

At the rental car company, I had the delight of meeting the company cat named Shadow. Shadow is very old and hangs out in the parking garage wearing a cute sweater. Every business should have a company cat!

In Culver City, we went to the Helms Bakery Complex. This is one of my favorite places in Los Angeles and it was surreal to be back.

We’ve been watching the Youtube show “Worth It.” On the show, hosts Steven Lim and Andrew Ilnyckyj travel around to different restaurants in Los Angeles ( sometimes other cities, even abroad) to try the same dish at three different price points. On one of their episodes, they reviewed pasta, including a restaurant called Pasta Sisters. We discovered that Pasta Sisters was located in the Helms Bakery Complex, so we made a plan to try it.

The pasta was delicious. We went with the simple tomato and basil sauce as seen on the show. It was served with house made bread and we washed it all down Italian style with San Pellegrino.

Members of the Clean Plate Club!

During our visit, Los Angeles did not allow indoor dining. The weather was warm for our lunch, but for dinner we ate sushi at Kabuki in the Victoria Garden’s Mall. The sun had set and the weather was very cold. We did have a space heater near us, but as much as we love the food at Kabuki, it was difficult to eat outdoors at night. Colorado has just recently closed indoor dining in some cities, and as the weather is much colder here, I think the restaurants are in for a very difficult winter. I understand the necessity of this, but it also makes me sad.

Our chandelier was ordered from our favorite designer, Timothy Oulton, who has a space inside H.D. Buttercup. We spent about an hour admiring the latest collection and one-of-a-kind antiques. We showed an unusual amount of restraint and didn’t purchase any additional items, although I had my eye on their “Inception Mirror.” This picture does not do it justice- it’s dazzling!

Dan took a picture of me in front of the drum bookcase. We had this bookcase, but left it behind when we moved from California. It had been placed in a tight spot making it very difficult to move. It was a unique bookcase, but not really practical for a booklover. I could never figure out how to arrange my book collection. Dan liked this display, because it was stuffed, and told me this is how I should have arranged ours. The disorder makes my head spin.

After loading up our rental car with our massive chandelier, we needed a coffee to give us energy for our long, rush-hour drive to Palm Springs. We returned to Pasta Sisters for lattes and pastries. I think their desserts were even better than their pasta!

When I lived in Los Angeles, I was rarely bothered by the traffic. I would listen to podcasts and look at the view. i’d catch glimpses of other people in their cars and fabricate stories about them. I’m not easily bored. However, it had been awhile since I had sat in bad traffic. The drive from Culver City to Palm Springs took nearly four hours. it was slow going, especially as we had already traveled so much in the morning.

We drove past downtown Los Angeles, which made me feel homesick. I really wanted to go through downtown and head to Glendale. I wanted to drive through my old neighborhood and visit my parents at Forest Lawn. I wanted to eat the beet salad at Damon’s Steakhouse and have dessert at Porto’s Bakery. Alas, it wasn’t in the cards for this quick visit. I hope to return to the City of Angels when Covid is under control. I want to hug my friends. I miss them.

In the meantime, here is a picture of my beloved Los Angeles.

Our Anniversary at the Denver Zoo

We celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary in early November. Usually we celebrate with a small trip, but this year we needed to be both budget and covid conscious, so we decided to spend the day at The Denver Zoo. We love animals, and although we have lived in Colorado for nearly a year, this was our first time at the zoo.

Due to Covid, we had to purchase advanced tickets with a timed entry. We went at 10am ( zoo opening) on a Monday morning. When we arrived, we were among only a handful of cars in the parking lot. It was a ghost town.

We arrived about thirty minutes early, so we just enjoyed the crisp morning air and the exhibits at the zoo entrance. I really love the alligator sculpture.

Masks were mandatory and social distancing reminders were everywhere. The zoo also had one-way traffic, so we had to complete a big circle. Since it was our first visit, this worked well and we really didn’t notice a problem with other visitors bunching up at the same exhibits. It was very easy to social distance. The only problem with the one-way traffic is there were a few areas where we had to choose a path, so we know that we missed a few animals, including our favorite, the capybara. The loop took us about three hours at a leisurely pace.

During the spring, when the zoo was shut-down due to Covid, local artists came to paint and beautify the zoo.

I also learned that The Denver Zoo is historic for its use of naturalistic habitats back in 1918. Having worked with behavioral research at The Greater Los Angeles Zoo, I could really appreciate the significance and importance of “Bear Mountain.”

One of the highlights of our visit was seeing the baby rhino cuddling with its mother.

The other big surprise was seeing a herd of elephants crossing a bridge above us. We just caught them at the right moment and it was magical.

Dan got some amazing shots of the alpha male mandrill.

The most entertaining and loudest animals were the seal lions. Seal Lions are the clowns of the zoo world.

We took a break at Gidget’s Ice Cream Parlor where I was delighted to discover that they sold Dole Whip. I absolutely love Dole Whip, but I’ve never eaten it outside of a Disney park or the Dole Plantation in Oahu. It has been years since I have eaten this creamy pineapple treat and I was in heaven.

Continuing our day, we came across “Bird World” which I assume is an indoor aviary. It was closed due to Covid, but I had to snap a picture, as it looked like it was straight out of Jurassic Park.

The reptile house/aquarium building was open. It was themed to feel like a tropical forest. It also had a cool bat exhibit.

We saw so many animals, and since we visited in the morning on a quiet day, a majority of them were very active. It was the perfect zoo experience.

And of course, we saw Flamingos…

The Denver Zoo is filled with cute animal sculptures made from lego bricks. The park was also still decorated for Halloween, which had just happened a few days earlier. They were starting the transition from Halloween to Christmas decorations.

Visiting The Denver Zoo was the ideal way to spend our anniversary. I wish the zoo was closer to our house, so that we could justify getting year passes. I would also love to work at a zoo again. I miss it!