64 to 31 in 10 minutes

From balmy 64 degrees in Palm Springs to a chilly 31 degrees (20 degrees, if you include the wind chill factor) in the San Jacinto Mountains National Monument, the Palm Springs tram climbs a heart-stopping 8,516 feet.  For my hometown friends, remember White Pass over the Cascade Mountains is 4,000 feet.  Puts the trip into perspective. 

The tram is the largest rotating tram car in the world.  I am emphasizing rotating, I am also noting rocking, and add a little bobbing up and down as the car transitions over each tower.  All the while traversing sheer granite cliff columns.   The ride up was packed with people.  My cheeks were darn near smashed on the glass smearing the surface as the thing spun around.  Not quite accurate, but you get the picture.  The trip up was stressful, but the less crowded ride down allowed us to see the change from pine to cactus.

  Once at the top, it was all worthwhile.  The massive rocks and cliffs had a skiff of snow all sparkling under a bright, blue sky.  And you can see for miles down the desert valley.  Fun to pick out all the green golf courses.

We had a wonderful steak dinner at Peaks Restaurant—every seat has a view—hard to take your eyes off of it.  Amazing considering all the food and drink is hauled up on the tram cars.

The Living Desert

A visit to The Living Desert was a breath of fresh air today.  A break from the upscale facade of Palm Springs and the surrounding cities.  The park features desert animals from the American Southwest, Mexico, and Africa.

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  It also includes gardens representing different deserts in the American Southwest, Mexico and Africa.

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A hummingbird and butterfly cage you walk into.  Like a fairytale.  You have to look yourself over in a mirror before you leave the cage to make sure no butterflies are clinging to you.

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So beautiful.  So peaceful.

Market in Old Mexico

Using the trusty GPS, we punched in the coordinates for the nearest Albertsons here in Cathedral City, California.  Arriving at the address we found Albertsons was no longer there, instead was another grocery, Cardenas Market.  Okay, we decided we would give it a try.

  Where are we?  The grocery was like a market in downtown Puerto Vallarta in Mexico.  The produce section was enormous and colorful like a Mexican farmers’ market!  All the signs were Spanish, the background Banda music was playing and with the exception of one other couple, everyone spoke Spanish.  Okay, we are here and we need groceries.  Honestly, the store was neat and clean; kind of a Mexican Whole Foods store with much better prices.  But, they had items I have never seen before, especially in the meat section.  Chicken feet (see picture below), cow lips, tripe?  We found out the chicken feet are a crunchy snack when fried.  Hmmmm…

We looked like a couple of goofballs in that store—stopping to stare at the food and then at each other with raised eyebrows.  We stumbled out of there laughing our heads off.  Or LMAO for you seasoned text message senders.  Another learning experience.

After we arrived home, I remembered reading a post on one of my favorite blogs, http://www.rvgoddess.com/, about this store.  I have to say, I was too shy to take pictures; so I am using the photographs from the RV Goddess blog.  We also learned this is a Mexican-based grocery located in California.  Interesting.

Out of our comfort zone, but having fun with it.

Pupus, Anyone?

The Outdoor Resort-Palm Springs owners (each site is owned) seem to be in competition with each other to design the most creative patio.  The one in the picture has quite the Tiki room theme going on.  Do you see the little bar?  This is one of many we see on our morning walk. Other sites get more elaborate with fountains and gardens.

We walk for a hour and still do not walk all the little streets in this park. 

Odd Stuff

Since the end of May 2010, our travels have been a whirlwind of sightseeing, hiking, bicycling and touring different attractions.  It was time to cool our jets and sit a spell.  While we have been hanging out at our Palm Springs RV resort and running a few errands around town, we have made a few observations…

The Good

• Starting mid-November the outside temperature is perfection hovering around 70 degrees.  So nice to lounge outside and read.  (Sorry, cold climate friends)
• Palm Springs has pretty decent air quality.  A number of owners in the park escape from their primary residence in Los Angeles to avoid the smog.
• Golf courses galore. 
• Extremely easy to find your way around town (Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage).  The streets have names I am sure you all recognize—Bob Hope Drive, Dinah Shore, Frank Sinatra Avenue, O.J. Simpson Road—no, they do not have O.J. Simpson Road—that is just Mike Main humor.
• Restaurants—lots of them and reasonable prices.

The Bad

• The golf courses are not cheap.  You better be ready to pull out a 100 dollar bill + when you show up for your tee time.  Still debating whether to hand over the cash to play a game.
• This is really barren desert unless you stumble on a source of water.  Hardly a bit of green here.
• Many of snowbirds have arrived in Palm Springs, and they are really, really bad drivers.
• It is more difficult to meet people in an RV Resort with sites owned by individuals.  The people come back each year to mingle with long-term friends and tend to shy away from the “renters”.

The Ugly

• Palm trees provide a home to rats.  Who knew there were rats up high in the fronds.  Ugh!
• Palm trees provide a home to cockroaches.  The disgusting little insects hide in between the bark.  Mike has declared war on them, but somehow I think he will lose the battle.  Ugh, again.
• The valley gets some serious wind. 

Do not get the wrong idea.  We are having a blast here, but it is not some place we would want to make permanent.  Great experience, though.

56 Years and Counting

Today is my birthday and we celebrated by eating at the Cheesecake Factory in “The River” shopping area in Rancho Mirage.  They have a rushing river flowing through the shops with big rocks landscaped along the river shore.  Amazing in the middle of the desert. 

After finishing dinner, we walked through the shops and ended up in the Peter Lik Gallery.  We have never seen photography like this.  His pictures absolutely glow and each one has a story.  We met an adorable salesman, Marc Sorensen, and he gave us a tour of the gallery and some background about Peter Lik.  Thanks, Marc, you opened our eyes to a wonderful artist.

Obviously, this photo of Marc will not make it to the gallery.

A Little Bit of This

Roadrunner cartoons were always on Saturdays mornings when we were kids--cartoons were pretty graphic back then--now why did we think it was funny when the other cartoon character fell off a cliff or they were smashed by a semi-truck?  They are pretty cool looking for real, too.  Went for a walk through the park this morning (man, this place is huge) and caught sight of a roadrunner.  They are fast.

Not much major sightseeing or entertainment happening for a while (frankly, we are a little burned out and it is so dang hot), so you will have to settle for some of our small new experiences like bird sightings.  And why do the record breaking temperatures have to continue?  Our morning walk at 10 was too hot.  Saturday, it is supposed to cool down by Saturday.

Note to our golfing friends…do not come to Palm Springs before mid-November.  Not just because it is hot, but because they completely re-seed the golf courses in October with “winter grass”.  The new grass is not ready until mid-November.  No golf for Mike for another couple of weeks.

Outdoor Resort Palm Springs

Not much sightseeing going on.  Just hanging out at Outdoor Resort Palm Springs RV Park and enjoying all the amenities.  Shoot, these photos are not even mine; they are from the park website.  That is how lazy I am.  Too easy to lie back and enjoy all this stuff.  Maybe we will do something tomorrow. 

I smell fresh cut grass.  Are you sure it is late fall?

 

Old Town Palm Springs

Bottomless champagne for breakfast.  Not my cup of tea, but you can have it at Pinocchio’s In The Desert restaurant.  Great breakfast menu and fun place.  The bar makes up half of the restaurant.  Old Town Palm Springs takes you back 40 years.  Fun morning walk.

Midnight at the Oasis

Between Paso Robles and Palm Springs, California, you drive through oil fields with pumping oil rigs looking like a scene from the one of the Terminator movies, then orchards of almonds, hundreds of windmills, and Joshua trees.  What funny little trees.  Why do they grow here?  They look so alien; like something from a Dr. Seuss book.   The photo to the left is a website copy.  We plan to visit the Joshua Tree National Park in the next few weeks and take some original photos up close and personal.

And then we see Palm Springs in the distance.  An oasis in the desert.  Literally.  Our RV Park, Outdoor Resorts, is truly paradise.  Our site is surrounded by colorful purple bougainvillea, lime and lemon trees (honestly, we have already picked a few), palm trees, manicured lawns and a golf course water feature directly out back complete with a fountain.  The splashing water put us to sleep last night.  The park has over 1,000 RV sites, five swimming pools, tennis courts, coffee shop, golf course and club houses.  It took us 30 minutes to ride our bikes through the park.

Each site is owned.  If the owner is absent, the spot is rented to grateful people, like us.  The pride of ownership is apparent everywhere.  Creative pavers rather than boring concrete.  Stylish patio furniture.  Potted plants.   Makes a big difference when the spots are owned and people treat the park with more respect.

I am not sure we can do everything there is to do in this city before we leave November 26.  So many casinos all with entertainment (local and big name celebrities), hiking (the tram climbs from the desert to the mountain top), museums, outdoor markets, a national park, spas, golfing, rat-pack memorabilia/homes and probably more.   Plus, we need to enjoy this fabulous RV Park!

Let the games begin.