The Springs at Borrego - a weekend at the resort

Borrego Springs will have a welcome party for the return of the Snow Birds, Borrego Days, which is still 2 weeks away.  The town is getting itself all spruced up for the party, and there are not many people here.  In fact the last time I saw town this quiet was mid-summer.  It won’t be like this when we come back for Borrego Days.


As of October 1st The Springs at Borrego has begun it’s ‘Prime Season’ with the least expensive sites going for $75 on the weekend.  But the golf course will not open until Monday, and they offered this weekend at $30 a night … Fran jumped on it.

As usual we stop at Dudley’s Bakery for a deli sandwich each.  We’ll each eat half our lunch there and then trade for dinner.  I pretty much always order the turkey, while Fran selected a Ruben this time.  I’m very much ok with half a Ruben for dinner!  A trick I learned from George is to reheat pizza in a covered pan, works way better than a microwave on a Ruben too!


We have no plans for this trip but to relax … no Jeep, no boots, just our bikes and the RV.  We have been at the resort before, to attend a Kingston Trio concert, but have never stayed here.  

All the sites are huge, with easy access for the really big rigs with their toads.  But to be clear this is a resort, not a campground, and staying here is not camping.  They have a nice pool and various soaking tubs, a nice exercise room with the basic equipment.  

And a beautiful golf course!

 What the place lacks is reliable WiFi!  There are antennas in the park providing strong unsecured connections.  But that’s it.  Being able to use that connection is iffy at best and it is not secure.



The adjacent Roadrunner Club (RRC) is owned by the same parent company.  We rented a golf cart at The Springs pro-shop and drove to the 18 hole course at the Road Runner Club.  It’s a short 2500 yd pitch’n’putt compared to the 6000 yd 9-hole at The Springs.  While at the RRC we checked out the 4 new Pickleball courts, which also have a backboard for practice.


Fran brought her bag of golf clubs, I only brought a 7-iron and putter.  I really hack at golf, so wouldn’t know what to do with any of the other clubs.  In golf the player with the lowest score wins, hence the idea is to play as little golf as possible ... after taking the lessons, buying expensive clubs, paying the greens fees.  I don’t get it … But let me say Fran played like a pro, and finished with a much higher cost/swing than I.  But I did get my money's worth and even won a hole.

Here's an example:  Nice form on her drive using the big club a white ball and a golf tee, but the orange ball from my 7-iron and no tee is only an inch or so behind right next to her in the center of the fairway.


While playing golf we noticed the RRC drill team practicing their moves for the parade in a couple weeks.  It was pretty interesting, but you’d have to be there to hear the leader call out the formation changes, even the etiquette of parking.  Otherwise a couple pictures are boring ...


For lunch we rode the bikes into town and select Carlee’s Place for lunch.  It’s a bar noted for burgers, but with the best salads in Borrego.  We each order a half salad, Fran the Jerk Chicken – me the Cobb.  Yes those are half salads, we’ve never finished a full salad.


The new Borrego Springs Library is coming along nicely.  This massive library is to serve a town of 3500 permanent residents.  Seems like a bit of overkill, but it’ll be nice for them … and I have a library card to use it!  There is a model of the finished building in the current library.


Since the wind has picked up, I bring in the awning and although only the mid-80s outside take advantage of the cable included to watch a bit of the baseball post season inside.

Checkout time is not until noon, which leaves time for another ride in the morning to the legendary Palms at Indian Head.  It takes a bit of imagination, but this formation in the Santa Rosa Mountains is called the Indian Head.


Back-in-the-day this was THE place in Borrego Springs to be, and be seen.  Hyped many times by Sunset Magazine, Variety, various west coat news media, etc.  It has a great history.


I was last here with the grand-girls and family for breakfast at the Red Ocotillo after the (afore mentioned) Kingston Trio concert.  Yes the Red Ocotillo was the restaurant here before moving to Christmas Circle and rebranding as a steakhouse.   This was the view from our table, the pool looks great, but sadly there is a massive amount of effort left to restore this great bit of history.


We were home in time to catch a SpaceX launch of a Delta 9.  Had we stayed in BS we would have seen the rocket, as shown here from BS astronomer Dennis Mammana Facebook post.

I did not have my camera ready for the above view, but did have it for the mainstage separation.   The 4 pictures below were taken from home in SandyEggo.  Have you ever seen a noctilucent cloud before?  Me neither!

After the separation the SpaceX initial stage returns home to be used again.

Thanks SpaceX for such a welcome home display!
What a great little getaway!  We’ll be back in a couple weeks for Borrego Days.

There are NO Bad Days! in Borrego Springs.