Back to Palm Springs – 2023
The front gate at Terra Lago, Adele’s gated community in Indio, California.
Adele’s backyard the day we arrived. You can see Susan and Adele cleaning up and getting the patio furniture organized.
Late last year, 2022, our friend Adele asked if Susan and I would like to spend a couple of weeks with her at her place in Palm Springs in January. We had spent two weeks there with her and Benito in 2015 and had a great time so we readily agreed. The weather in Vancouver was pretty dreary in November and December and some time in the sun in Southern California sounded delightful.
On the 18th of January the three of us flew south on Westjet and stepped off the plane into the California sun. It was not hot, about 18 degrees, but the sky was blue and it was sunshine!
The house was just the way we remembered it, with one big exception: Benito was not with us. He had passed away in the intervening years but he was still with us in memory and we all missed him greatly.
Go out the front door at Adele’s and walk into the street. Looking to the left one sees the snow covered San Jacinto mountains.
Adele’s house is in the gated community of Terra Lago which is built around a large artificial lake and wedged between several golf courses. The grounds are beautifully landscaped with a desert theme which is kept well manicured. The effect is altogether magical!
The street in front of the house is two lanes with a wide boulevard between them landscaped in a desert motife. Very appropriate! It is alive with cactus, bougainvillia and small trees.
The red bougainvillia bushes are wonderful, especially to one who has spent months immersed in the dreary winter of the Pacific North West where all of the flowers have long since gone to sleep.
This is a stunning community to see. One wonders with the drought in the Southern states how long artificial lakes can be supported in the desert. However, while they figure that out this is certainly a stunning setting!
Terra Lago is surrounded by an eight foot masonry fence beautifully landscaped on the outside.
The Community Center is called the Villa Terra Lago. It is by the bridge over the lake and it is surrounded by park and gardenns.
The Community Center
Like most condo style communities Terra Lago has a Community Center with a party room, exercise room and offices. And of course, there is a swimming pool outside with an adjacent hot tub. And it goes without saying that it is beautiful. When we go for a walk, which we do often, it is here that we come just to enjoy the setting.
The Center is on the lake and is surrounded by gardens and a large park. And it sits beside the arched bridge across the lake. Being winter, the main building is closed but the exercise room and the swimming pools are open if you have a resident pass, which we did.
The pool is not heated so we did not take advantage of it. The weather is nice but it is not summer hot and that added to the cold water made it somewhat unappealing. But that notwithstanding, it was beautiful to look at.
Walking to the Community Center we stopped in someone’s front yard to admire the cactus worked into their desert landscaping.
On one of our many walks we stopped in fronnt of the Community Center to rest in the sunshine.
Susan in front of the Community Center.
The red bougainvillia flowers and the blue water of the lake.
Susan is standing in front of the Community Center. It is on the lake and surrounded by red bougainvillia flowers.
The pool is unheated and it is witer here so the water is a little cold for swimming. But it is certainly inviting.
This is Susan standing beside the Community Center with the bridge across the lake visible in the distance.
The weather is nice but it is winter and by three o’clock in the afdternoon the sun is low in the sky. This gives a warm glow to the light and the sun casts longs shadows. However, it still beats a Canadian winter in Vancouver!
The “Marr Family Pictures” is created by me, Flynn Marr, and is a private photo album of the Marr family and it’s offshoots.
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Copyright R. Flynn Marr © 2022