The COD (College of the Desert) Street Fair that is.  This open-air market with around 340 vendors runs Saturdays and Sundays at, you guessed it, the College of the Desert in Palm Desert.

COD Street Fair

We arrived shortly before 11:30 am and after a bit of circling the full parking lots we lucked out by following people that were returning to their car.  The street fair is huge with a wide array of merchandise, produce, and food vendors.  We spent a little over an hour wandering around.  Susan found a hat and a necklace so the excursion was worthwhile.

For future reference, next time I would plan on arriving early in the morning before the parking lots filled and when the temperatures might be a bit cooler so as to have more time to check out the vendors.  As it was we made a quick trip around the stalls as we had another appointment to get to.

Desert Willow Country Club

Desert Willow Country Club

Our next stop was the most important of the day.  Yesterday, friends from back home had contacted me through this blog to say they were staying not too far away and would we like to meet up.  We joined Mary Ann and  Deryl at the Desert Willow Country Club for lunch on the patio.  It was an absolutely enjoyable lunch.  The view was stunning, the food was great, and the company was spectacular!  We took the opportunity Mary Ann’s and Deryl’s brains about Palm Desert as we are definitely considering coming back for a longer stay next winter.

View from patio

Back at the resort it was basically time to take it easy for the rest of the day.