The last week

I’ve neglected the blog. My heart just wasn’t in it. Mom passed away on the morning of March 8th at 11:00 am. Sorry not to have been there for mom as well as my brother, Craig, who has been left with all the things that need to be done at a time like this. But it could not be helped.
Karen left for Bremerton to visit her daughter and family for a week. Ian and I dropped her off at the airport and then headed over to La Quinta for lunch. We finally found the restaurant called Souplantation. It was worth searching for. It’s a soup and salad buffet. All you can eat soups and salads ........ $9.99 for lunch and $11.99 for dinner. Everything there is made fresh from scratch every day. It reminded me of the Keg in the old days except much, much better. There must have been at least 10 different kinds of soup and everything you could possibly think of to put on a salad. There was also breads and little pizzas, crackers and croutons, etc. All kinds of desserts; ice cream, pies, muffins , brownies.  Ian, of course, had ice cream. I wanted to but just didn’t have room. We will be going back there once more before leaving for home. We are also going to return once more to Marraca’s Mexican restaurant for dinner before we leave here. We went twice while Karen was here and then twice ourselves for Happy Hour.  Happy Hour is from 4-7 unless you sit at the bar where it is Happy Hour all day long. We like sitting at the bar. We’ve gotten to know some of the bartenders and waiters. Lots of fun. The last time we went with Karen the leftovers did us for dinner the next day and then some. Huge portions and absolutely delicious food. Although we have decided that we like Mexico better than Palm Springs the Mexican food is better here.  The day after Karen left we went out to see a polo match.  Quite the sight. Just amazing how coordinated the riders are. Can’t imagine riding at top speed and hitting that little ball (or whatever it’s called).
The following Tuesday we took a couple of days and went to visit the Grand Canyon. All I can say is WOW! The first sight is jaw dropping. We spent about an hour there. Took lots of pictures. I couldn’t believe how many people actually went out on to the rocks to get pictures over the edge. Don’t they know that’s what postcards are for? Anyway, an hour was enough. There I was with a husband that hates both crowds and heights. So, we can scratch that one off the bucket list. We stayed the first night in Williams. What a cute little town. Very touristy of course. Route 66 everything. But we met some nice people and had an amazing Thai dinner. After viewing the Canyon we drove as much of Route 66 as is left. Which isn’t much. It was a disappointment. That night we spent in Laughlin.  Couldn’t believe how many casinos they fit into that little space. Anyway, it was another first. We arrived back in Thousand Palms in time for dinner.
On the weekend we made another trip to College of the Desert where we purchased a really nice kokopelli to put in our backyard. Sure hope we can fit it in the car to get it home. Yesterday we took a drive out to Joshua Tree park. We’ve seen it before. It’s still an amazing thing to see but we are now feeling like we are just filling time before we go home. Tomorrow we are going to meet Audra and Roland for lunch in downtown Palm Springs. It will be nice to see them again. On Thursday Ian is taking the car into the Honda dealership to get a few things done. And then who knows? The plan at the moment is to leave here on the 28th of March. Maybe we’ll get in another round of golf. And it’s great pool weather as well.