Friday, March 25th, 2011

California Dreamin’

This week we are on vacation in beautiful Southern California. Our first stop is with my in-laws Joe and Ruth and their snowbird paradise just north of San Diego. After a few days on the beach we will be heading to the desert and our first visit to Palm Springs. Lately I feel like Palm Springs has been sort of a buzzy destination (confirmed by this week’s episode of Modern Family when Nathan Lane/Pepper drags Jay to Palm Springs to look at records), and I can’t wait to dip a toe in some old Hollywood desert glamour, take a drive to Joshua Tree, and sit by the pool with the Peppers and hipsters. We are even staying at a groovy place called the Ace Hotel, which used to be an old Howard Johnson. It seems like it will have something for the whole fam: bright pink inter-tubes for Belle when she takes a dip, a dog park for Conor, boozy sno cones served poolside for me and Tim, and a Mexican restaurant for all of us. We might not ever come back…
In the meantime I will leave you with some photos from what is always a highlight of our trip (at least a highlight for me): my annual pilgrimage to Chino’s Vegetable Farm in Rancho Santa Fe. We went yesterday and like always it didn’t disappoint: all sorts of radishes, onions, lettuces, perfect celery roots and fennel fronds, lima beans and strawberries, baby cauliflowers and mini swiss chards, broccoli