La Quinta

 La Quinta

May 13, 2022 by Stevie G

There is a town called La Quinta, not to be confused with the hotel chain, in California. It’s nestled in a mountain cove, and if it weren’t for the dozens of surrounding golf courses, it’d still feel like a sleepy Spanish mission town. Having spent time in various deserts over the past few months a lot of cities feel like they really shouldn’t exist (but they do, because we created massive lakes to water the lawns), but in La Quinta, you see some palm trees popping out here and there from natural oases and in reality, it is a good place for a settlement since there actually is water there. Then you learn the native Cahuilla people had been there much longer, when there was actually a giant lake roughly where the Salton Sea now lies. Perspective man…

Anyway – now there are tons of golf courses. We went on a hike through La Quinta cove, it is absolutely beautiful and quiet, ridges bending around choppy mountains, grand vistas stretching to the higher mountains – jokingly, I said “You know what’s missing here? A golf course.” Then, a bit further on sprouting out of the dusty tan rock is a patch of serene green. There was indeed a golf course edging into the nature preserve.

Beyond that golf course was a gated community. There is a lot of money in the area obviously, and these houses were at the high end of most economic stratums you can imagine, like giant houses made of polished granite, I wondered what the countertops are made of.

So if you love gold and money, La Quinta is probably a good place for you. Ang and I pride ourselves on being “early birds” – that is, we tend to go out for food/drinks during happy hour. Normally this is great for us, but this part of California has a lot of retirees, so we had competition. Funny to think I’m more like a senior citizen now than a kid.

During the day I walk around in the sun like a bum but at night I watch Netflix like a rich man. I’m neither rich nor poor, young nor old it seems.

A month in La Quinta allowed me to straddle that line to perfection. Staying in a house we couldn’t afford, we had a pool and extra space. Having a refrigerator with an ice machine, a garbage disposal, and a pool means living the high life man.

Early on during our voyage I thought that a month in a place would give a good sense of what its like to live there. This isn’t really the case. You are still a tourist for a month. I think it takes much longer to learn a place, meet people etc. Maybe that’s just me, but I think it takes a while to understand a place, identify any “culture” that may exist, and make friends. I’ve always thought it fascinating people who can maintain large friend groups – like going out to dinner with 10 people is pure anxiety for me. Anyway, being anonymous in random cities can get old too. Still, a month somewhere isn’t long enough to get bored, I think any place has enough things to do for a month.

Work is work wherever you are. No matter where I am, there are going to be a few days a week I do nothing. Work hard, play hard, veg hard is my motto. But on a random Wednesday, if you can take a five minute drive and go hike in desert nature preserve, that ain’t so bad.