After our drive over 4 hours from Phoenix to Palm Desert here in the Californian Desert we settled in and Jeanette served roast chicken with salad, apple pie and ice cream and Ken enjoyed a couple of glasses of Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon from Rodney Strong vineyards. A good brand and very good red wine.

We watched the NFL football then turned in after a long day.

We slept well but Jeanette woke and was reading at 5.00am. An early breakfast at 7.30am then Ken showered and went for a walk around this beautiful resort on the most perfect of mornings.

Later this morning Ken is golfing at Shadow Ridge Golf Club and Resort. Another of the wonderful a Marriott courses. It is ranked within the top 5 courses in all of this valley and in the top 25 resort courses across USA. A 10.30am tee time will have him finished before th3 winds come up. Then back for a swim in the beautiful pool.

Jeanette is going shopping at the Outlets and will likely also visit one of the Indian establishments for a short time.

She is very pleased with the updates from the family with David enjoying Denver and the weather improving, whilst Peita , Chris and Boys have enjoyed a wonderful time in New York. They will see the Lion King on Broadway tonight before heading to a cold Chicago. Yes it was a great time to take the family away, and she is so glad that we have been able to make it happen, with so many wonderful activities.

We are very happy and pleased with everything to date. Ken’s case was damaged at Phoenix Airport and hopefully will get home. Not repairable so will look for replacement prior to next trip.

Below are some photos from the trip and resort.

So following a beautiful walk in warm conditions, Jeanette has cut lunches and we will depart really soon for what should be a most enjoyable day.

She will return to pick me up at Shadow Ridge 3.15pm. Jeanette arrived ahead of schedule and Ken came across to the SUV saying he had enjoyed a great day in golfing heaven. This is one of the top golf courses in USA. Played well on front nine with 43 strokes and didn’t do much wrong, just didn’t sink putts.

The back nine is harder and lots of challenging pin placements and ended up with 3 double bogeys and a lost ball. My score of 49;reflected the course toughness but also I didn’t play well. Several miss hits, one poor drive and one ball in water all contributed to the score.

Weather was perfect, course just outstanding, and played with an interesting group. The mother, was 91, still plays off 23 and had a score of around 106. The daughter Jill played off 15 and her husband played off 6 and was a lovely player. He shot 40 on front nine and 37 on back nine and played great golf.

We enjoyed a terrific day.