Changing our vacation strategy

I'm writing to you this morning from the second day of a weekend vacation to Palm Springs with my wife and baby girl.  Palm Springs is a short two hour drive from our home.  This is the first true vacation we've taken since I first became sick in June of last year, and also our first trip since becoming parents in August.  In a way, the coincidence of those two events (illness and parenthood) worked out well because we would have had to completely change our vacation strategy for either circumstance...

Previously, when on vacation, we tended to favor moderately priced accommodations, which we would use simply as a "home base."  From there, we would pack the days with as many excursions to local attractions as possible, only returning to our hotel late at night, completely exhausted.  They were the kind of vacations where one returns home and spent of energy and thinks, "OK, now I need a vacation from my vacation!"  Obviously, that is no longer possible with ME and/or a baby.

This time, we searched long and hard for accommodations that could also serve as a destination in and of itself.  We finally settled on the resort I'm writing from right now: le Parker Meridien.  Once owned by film star, Gene Autry, the hotel is decorated mid-century modern with just the right amount of kitsch.  But grounds here are the real attraction.  The resort is on 13 acres of (one almost wants to say "English-style" except for the palm trees) gardens, with endless pathways that meander from garden to garden.  Interspersed with the gardens are various swimming pools, croquet lawns, bocci courts, hammocks, fountains and sitting areas.

What have we done this weekend?  So far, almost nothing, unless you count lounging by the pool.  And it's everything I always knew a vacation could be.  The best part is, our baby seems to be soaking in all this new stimulation with complete wonder.

With that, I'll leave you with a few pictures of the grounds here.

The view from the pool deck

Yours truly, in my typically garish vacation attire.  

Here I am setting up the chess board.  We actually did manage to play a game to completion, while baby C crawled among the pieces like an extra pawn.

Here's Mrs. Calvin tossing a bocci ball.  Excellent form!