June 25, 2005: Palm Springs Trip Day 8
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June 26, 2005
Palm Springs Trip Day 9

 

 

A Final Tour of Greg's House


Well, it's Sunday morning, and today we have to fly back to Dallas. It has been a really great trip, and this last morning we'll spend relaxing at Greg's house before he takes us to the airpor just after lunch.

Fred decided to put some of the time to use to take a series of pictures in and around the house, and I've decided to include the best of those pictures here. At the left, I have drawn a rough (very rough) schematic of the house (as I remember it), and I'll use that schematic to place the various pictures that Fred took. And I'll do that by putting little numbered arrows on the schematic (the numbers keyed to the narrative) and the direction of the arrow indicating the direction of the picture.

Greg's property is actually surrounded by a stucco wall all the way around. To enter the house, you first have to come through an outer gate (be let in, actually) and then you'll come up the front walk to the front door (#1). Coming through the front door, you are in large entry foyer (#2) where Greg has placed the Chinese screen he's had forever as well as a large round table and some artwork. The round table acts as a separator between the entry and the the formal living room (#3) where Greg has placed his piano. As you can see, the living room has French doors that open out onto the pool area, although Greg doesn't use these door much at all. On the opposite side of the living room from the piano, there is a fireplace (#4).

From this entry area, you can see into the hallway (#5) that leads to the master bedroom and another master bedroom that Greg uses as an office. Looking in the opposite direction, again from the entry area, you can see down a short hallway towards the kitchen (#6), with the library off to the left and an entry to the informal great room to the right. If you take a few steps down this hallway, you can look into the library (#7).

Completing the views of the public areas inside the house, Fred took a picture of the seating area in the informal living room (#8), a picture of part of the kitchen (#9) and a picture looking towards the entry doors to the formal dining room (#10). It is interesting that there are glass doors into the dining room, which is done in a red Chinese motif with Greg's rosewood furniture inside. If you head towards the dining room and turn right past the wall, there will be a large door that leads out onto the main lanai.

Fred did not take any pictures of either Greg's master bedroom or the office, nor did he take pictures looking into either of the casitas. The casitas are actually little bedroom suites whose entries are off the lanai, and which offer a lot of privacy for guests. The second casita even has a little kitchenette and both have their own baths, of course.


While Greg's house is certainly nice inside, it is the outside that really makes it stand out. You can't really call the area behind the house a "back yard," because there is little yard to speak of. You can't just call it a "swimming pool," for it is not a traditional pool at all. And you can't call it a "garden," since there are so many features other than plants and such. I am somewhat at a loss as to what to call it, but, whatever you call it, the pool area (#1 on the diagram at right) is really amazing. There is a pool, of course, but it is not the traditional kind, but rather an irregularly-shaped, sloped pond-like affair that has a couple of waterfalls and its own island (#2). When I try to describe it to people who haven't seen it, I can only compare it to something Disney would have built in one of their theme parks, except on a smaller scale. At the end of the pool nearest the casitas, one of the waterfalls actually falls over the spa/hot tub (#3), so when the water is on and you are in the spa, you are looking out through the curtain of falling water towards the pool. Very inventive an quite unique, in my experience.

The outdoor living space (#4), the area outside the casitas and off the great room and kitchen, is a wonderful part of the house. It is covered, and there are misters installed for the hottest days of the year, but most of the day it is cool and inviting. It is also a large area, with lounges and seating just outside in the sun (#5) for when the day is not yet too hot, as well as a large table and shaded seating area (#6) for when you need to move into the shade. In this last picture, you can see the storage breakfront where Greg keeps towels and stuff, and the doors to the casitas on either side. We spent just about every morning and afternoon sitting out here while we were here in Palm Springs (and not off hiking somewhere).

In the far corner of the yard, nearest the mountains, there is a small, undulating lawn and even a telescope mounted on a rotating stand for sky viewing. If you walk around the southwest side of the house, you can peek into the private master bedroom garden (#7) and you can continue around a pebbled path through the gate to the enclosed front yard (#8).

 

Our Trip Back to Dallas

All good things must come to an end, and we are at the end of our visit to Palm Springs. We've packed up our things, and Greg has taken us to the airport for our early afternoon flight back home.


The Palm Springs Airport is one of the most unusual we've been through. The only comparison that comes quickly to mind is Honolulu. The airport is relatively small. There is, of course, a main building where check-in, baggage and security are handled, but once you have cleared the security checkpoint, you are in the concourse area which is open to the outdoors. The ceilings are reminiscent of circus tents, light and airy, and they shelter the two short councou satellite gate areas (this picture taken as we taxiied out onto the runway at departure).

Each of the satellites is, of course, raised to accommodate the jetways, and there is a set of escalators to take you up to the departure lounges. There are two satellites, each named for a famous Palm Springs resident. The concourse we were leaving from, the Sonny Bono Concourse was, of course, named for Sonny Bono of Sonny and Cher fame, who was a Congressman representing Palm Springs for three or four terms in the 1980s. The other concourse, I understand, is, also predictably, the Betty Ford Concourse.

Each concourse has eight or ten gates, plus waiting areas and shops and stuff like that. The actual waiting areas are enclosed so they can be air-conditioned, but other than those areas and the shops, everything is open, light and airy.

Echoing the sculptures that we saw earlier in the week at the Paseo, there are a number of stylized mountain goats scattered throughout the airport. Here are two of them; to view the full-size images, just click on the thumbnails:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

Even the tarmac here at the airport is interesting because you always have mountain views beyond, like this view looking towards Big Bear Lake.

Our final few shots were all taken by Fred as our American jet left Palm Springs for home. The three views below are of the northeast side of the Coachella Valley, an area we didn't see much of, since the cities are all snuggled against the San Jacinto mountains on the other side of the valley. But enjoy these final shots of our vacation (including the last one of the mountains near Big Bear Lake) by clicking on the thumbnails below:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

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June 25, 2005: Palm Springs Trip Day 8
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