18 Holes

At the Desert Springs Hotel there is an 18-hole putting course which is a scaled down replica of an actual golf course. It has all the hazards, the tricky layout, etc. of a real golf course, except it's played with a putter. We've played there before and we went back yesterday. Although golf is obviously not my sport, I respect those who can play it; it's a lot harder than it looks, even with a putter! It takes about 1-1/2 hours to finish the putting course (with time out to let the ducks cross the green) and although I was ahead for a little while we ended up with identical scores. For those of you who really want to know: a perfect par game is 54 and we both scored 70. Pictures are here: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AbOGrRk0cs2Ge
Every Thursday night is the Village Fest in downtown Palm Springs. Every week, all year, the streets downtown are closed and there are booths with everything from crafts to food to a farmer's market. There is live music and many of the downtown stores stay open late. We go whenever we're here and it really is a lot of fun. Philip especially likes the grilled bratwurst at Flaherty's booth. Village Fest was the brainchild of Sonny Bono when he was mayor of Palm Springs. The city went through a period of slow economic growth and general doldrums and he thought this would be a benefit to the community and to business. It has grown tremendously and there is always a big crowd; everybody loves it. Typically, even with thousands of people walking the streets, eating, etc. there was hardly a piece of litter on the streets.