Indian Wells

We're here in Indian Wells, California....one of my favorite places on earth.

It's here that we sit under the bluest sky you have ever seen and watch some incredible tennis. The temperature is usually in the mid 80's, there is zero wind and no humidity. I'm telling you, it's perfect.

We've been coming here each March for the past decade - ever since the new tennis center was built. It's the 2nd largest arena for tennis in the world right behind Ashe Stadium in Flushing Meadow, the site of the US Open.

Indian Wells has a cool combination of young and old people alike. Since the tournament runs 10 days, and includes men and women, it is considered the 5th largest/biggest tennis gig on the planet - behind the 4 grand slams.

Janae has been down here for nearly a week now, and Alec and his wife Tiffany and I drove down yesterday to partake of the action for a few days ourselves. Alec is on spring break and Tiffany had some vacation time to burn so it worked out well for the 2nd year in a row. We always like bringing the boys and usually one or both of them is able to come on down if even for a day or two. They've missed the past few years being on missions, but just like we welcomed Alec back last year, we look forward to having Jake and his significant other spend time with us here in future tournaments.

I ordered some cheeseburgers, fries and diet cokes for the gang last night between matches, and the gal behind the counter said, "That will be $55 dollars."

Without skipping a beat, I said, "Hey, you guys are cheaper than Disneyland."

She laughed out loud.

Me too. $55 bucks for some burgers and fries. Who's the sponsor of this thing - AIG? Merrill Lynch? LOL

We've spent 2 days at the tennis center so tomorrow we're going to sleep in, hang out by the pool for a few hours, take a good long nap, and then hit the night session which is always fun. Imagine a hoard of rowdy, very tan 70 year old retiree's sitting under the lights snoozing while the best tennis players in the world work their butts off a few feet away?

We are having a great time. We miss Jake a ton and remember the days when he and Alec would chase players down for autographs. Those days have passed, but the weather, the tennis and yes even the food is always outstanding. It's where we want to spend those windy March days that always haunt us in Las Vegas this time of year. Jake will be here next year and the gang will be complete - maybe we'll even bring golf clubs which is something we've never done before.

And maybe stay a few extra days.

Life is good.