On Ten — Part 2

Boys,

So we got in and decide we’re going to leave on a Wednesday when the event is scheduled for Friday (our anniversary is also on Friday. So we got that going for us, which is nice). There is also some kind of glow ball event scheduled for Thursday night, but otherwise, most of the event is kind of a mystery. Our plan is to play a round of golf when we arrive on Wednesday, boys golf at a nice course (PGA West – Stadium) on Thursday while girls had a pool day.

Hotels are booked, tee times are booked, and we’re ready to go. Main characters in this story are your mom and I, and our friends Jacob and Julie. We get up before you boys and head off for the airport, but it’s looking like a storm is rolling in.

Once at the airport, and this is a first for me, a tornado warning is in the area. As we’re waiting in the terminal, a siren goes off, and Southwest decides we’d be safer stuffed into the stairwell of the terminal. Fortunately, the tornado moved east and we were only delayed 15 minutes.

So we get to Palm Springs and the weather is 10/10. We get our things and make our way to the hotel. We check in, get ready, and head down to the pool bar for a quick lunch before golf. What kept getting me were all the mountains. Here we are, short sleeves and drinks in hand while these giant brown mountains are still snowcapped. Wild. Anyway, get to golf and had a lot of fun.

Now, keep in mind the day started with a 3am alarm back home, so even though the clock now reads 1pm, we’ve been up for awhile and our bodies were a little confused. The golf course was called Shadow Ridge and it was a lot of fun, but we’ll skip ahead because there will be more exciting golf ahead. After golf, we went back, showered up, and went to dinner. By this point, we’re all half asleep, so we ate at a nicer-than-we-needed restaurant, and got back and got some sleep.

So your mom and I are up at 4am — tried to force a little extra sleep but wasn’t happening. Swung and missed on my second shower since check in…so I have never been one to struggle with simple systems like showers. There are some subtle differences from one shower to the next, but I feel felt confident that you could introduce me to any shower and I’d have that thing figured out in 60 seconds or less. I’ve met dual-knobbers, simple twisters and their cousins, the pull-and-twisters. I’ve even crossed some two-headed dual-twisters and big twister, little twister (aka the twister sister) systems. Point is, I figured out how to turn them on and get the water warm.

All that to say, I’d finally met my match. Your mom tells me she had a nice, warm shower. The night before, I took a cold shower and just chalked it up to the building must have run out of warm water. No big deal. But the next morning, when I take my second cold shower, I’m a little frustrated. Your mom tells me after I left that she didn’t know what I was doing wrong because she had another warm, nothing special rinse. So somehow, this single lever, twist this way for hot and that way for cold (allegedly) shower system, had it out for me.

I carried the confidence of a guy who can’t operate a shower to golf, and played a little better than I did the day before. The course was magic sauce. Those mountains in the distance were right there this time, and Jacob and I walked it (which I love to do). After golf, we don’t have a lot of time before we make the trip to Borrego Springs. I’ve heard a lot about this drive, so I’m excited to get behind the wheel thinking we have three capable navigators… first mistake.

Your mom likes a directions app called Waze. I prefer Google Maps. Jacob likes Apple Maps. End of the day, they’re all pretty much the same. We pick up supplies and settle on Waze to take us to Borrego Springs. ETA is 91 minutes. So we set off and as soon as we get on the freeway, Waze readjusts and now tells us we have an extra 45 minutes. Thankfully, Julie is asleep so only three of us have to navigate (oooh! good pun there) this situation. Jacob is in the passenger seat trying to tell me to U-turn through some active constructions sites as he’s singing the praises of Apple Maps. At the end of the day, I’m having fun so I don’t really care. Plus, we left in enough time to still make it to reception on time.

After the long stretch of freeway, we turn right onto some road where left would have taken us to Joshua Tree. Then, we’re weaving through some, like, 3-story building sized mountains and we don’t see another car for 10-15 minutes. The SUV is loaded down, and I am taking the turns at slightly above average speeds, but because of the weight of the car, there must have been a “boat in choppy waters” thing going on in the back seat, because now that Julie’s awake, she’s feeling a little nauseous from my driving.

A jut through a little town and we’re ~30 minutes from our destination. Now we’re in camper land — a long stretch of nothing but ATV’s, four wheelers, and random campers. Pretty sure there was some Breaking Bad happening out there, but hey, do you, right? Just about the time we were asking, “why would anyone come this far out to build a golf course?” we arrived. Ram’s Hill Golf Course.

More on that next time. Until then…

Love you boys,

Dad