Tram ride

We took a trip on the rotating tram just outside Palm Springs. It starts at the desert and goes up a valley to the very top of the mountain. We were informed that we could expect a 40 degree (F) drop in temperature and we all looked at our flip flops and light tops and wondered how we'd do! We only spent a few minutes outside in the freezing wind and cool temperatures but enjoyed the view on the way up and down. Stanley is still talking about going up up up in the tram....

Last post....

We're packing up after two months in Palm Desert! We're off to San Diego tomorrow to explore the zoo one more time - this time with a toddler! The temperature has been "cooler" the past three days which has meant being able to spend a bit more time outside. The area isn't really kid-friendly and we've had trouble finding things to do - especially when it is hot! I think young parents must just move from one air-conditioned house to another. But we've managed fine with lots of pool time!
We have a short-term rented house back in Victoria so will be there in time to start the count-down with Tori and Kevin. Imagine our good fortune: another grandchild on the way! Tori's last ultrasound revealed an eight-pound, two ounce baby - Doctor glibly said she could go ahead and have it...
Bill is driving home from San Diego on Monday. I get to be grandma back here at C&S's until I fly home next Friday.
Looking forward to seeing everyone!

Got your hat? Got your sunglasses? Sun screen??

Stanley is here and ready for fun in the sun! It has cooled down to a reasonable 32 degrees and is going to go a bit cooler than that in the next few days - perfect weather for sitting in wading pools and swimming with Grandma and Grandpa. We're in heaven.

Apple blossom time

So the egg isn't cooked but I am! Bill rescued me and took me up in the mountains today. There is an apple blossom festival in Oak Glen, an hour from here and we decided to escape the heat and spend the day up there. The temperature dropped from 41 degrees Celcius in Palm Desert to 29 degrees in Oak Glen. The difference in this eleven degree drop is night and day. One feels like sticking your head in an oven, the other a hot summer day. The apple trees up in the mountains are in full bloom and the countryside was beautiful. The orchardists survive by selling baked goods, preserves and crafts year round. Their big event is apple harvesting time in the fall but there were big crowds for this weekend's blossom festival.
We watched apple cider being made, sampled it and bought a jug, listened to a bluegrass band while chewing on candy apples and watched day-old goats - still wobbly on their feet.
A certain little guy and his Mum and Dad are flying in tonight and Bill and I feel like it is Christmas - just can't wait!

Melting.....

The heat has arrived! It is 10:00 am and the thermometer registers 100 degrees F. We had shopping to do yesterday so spent the afternoon in airconditioned car and shops. Looks like lots of residents head for the mall when the temp spikes.
I'm going to try to fry an egg on the asphalt today....

Any mail for me?

I love the rows of mailboxes in the countryside here - none of the tidy, controlled Canada Post boxes here - they are consistently individual in keeping with the dominant cultural theme.

The other side of the mountain

We decided to take a drive up to Idylwild yesterday. We could see the snow from down here and dressed accordingly. It took about an hour to climb the 6000 feet and we spent the day in the beautiful little mountain town. There had been lots of snow but it was melting fast - I watched one poor little guy get hit by a mini-avalanche off one roof. Not serious - just really wet and really cold. He didn't laugh nearly as hard as his Dad!

The little village was teeming with visitors who had come up to experience snow - kids with improvised sleds and lots of snowballs.

There is a mix of religious camps dotting the hills and mystic, incense-filled shops in town. The occasional shop with gun-related and apparently funny t-shirts reminded us we are still in the U.S. of A.
It was a beautiful sunny day and the snow was melting in huge drips and running streams - won't be there long. The shop keepers kept saying how beautiful it was in the snow - apparently not all that common. It was 8 degrees celcius when we arrived in Idylwild but increased to 13 degrees. By the time we drove back down, it was 24 degrees at 5:00 pm in Palm Desert. It is expected to reach 100 degrees fahrenheit by tomorrow! (sorry about the mixed temperatures - American thermometer at home, Canadian in the car...)

Storm warning and rooster tails

Another storm last night and this one caught us as we drove from Palm Desert to Hemet to meet Jody who had been riding. It was raining a bit when we left and picked up suddenly just as we approached Interstate 10. This is a nasty road at the best of times - hundreds of transport trucks moving goods inland from Los Angeles fill the highway. We had been warned never to travel on the highway when wind warnings are in effect - the trucks frequently get blown over! This time it was rain rather than wind that threatened us. There were times when the heavy rainfall combined with the wash from the huge trucks and the craziness of a few drivers made me wonder if we were going to make it! Bill was calm and kept us in our lane and in one piece before finally being able to get off the highway. Almost simultaneously with leaving the highway, the rain stopped and as we drove over a ridge we were presented with a green valley and clouds lifting. The water was sitting on the surface of the fields so we knew the storm had passed through and when we entered Hemet we had a chance to find out about the dips and ditches that we've always wondered about. The water was a foot deep in places on the roads and drivers seemed to be thrilled with the chance of driving through full speed and sending out rooster tails five feet high!
When the clouds lifted this morning we found the snow had returned to the mountain tops once again - this time lower than ever. It was cool enough for the heat to be turned on but by afternoon we were able to sit by the pool and bake in the sun. Real heat is apparently on its way!

Roses, bird of paradise and giant succulents

San Diego is not only known for its zoo but also for its botanical gardens. We saw trees and flowers that looked like they were from another planet as well as beautiful roses and tropical plants.

Gorilla Sanctuary

For decades, the purpose of the San Diego Zoo has been conservation and the success of the program has resulted in enough financial support to build environments for animals that make the ten-foot square, barred cement enclosures of my experience look stone-age.
The gorilla enclosure is huge and natural. The animals are engaged with activities to keep them interested and active. Signs ask us not to make troubling eye-contact with the inhabitants but we get a tiny bit of an idea of the personalities as we watch them interact - the smart, tricky one, the playful youngster clearly at the bottom of the pecking order, and the worldly dominant silverback. We laughed to see the oldest breeding female stretched out in the sun around the corner away from the others - getting her few moments of quiet.

Panda Charm

We spent Wednesday at the zoo. It was a cool day and as a result, the animals were active. We arrived early and were treated to a number of cool experiences. We came upon an empty panda enclosure but noticed the keepers were cleaning the area and then carefully tying up bamboo branches and making piles of carrot-looking treats. We found a spot in the middle of the viewing gallery and waited patiently. Sure enough, once the cleaning stopped, the gate was lifted and out came Bai Yun, a lovely, rolly polly female panda. She has successfully raised a number of cubs at the zoo. We fell under the panda charm as we watched her strip the bamboo stalks and then crunch the core.

Trolley rides, banana boats and luxury resorts

Arrived in San Diego early afternoon after driving up over the ridge on Highway 74. It is such a clear lesson in rain shadows when you climb up the Palm Desert side with its dry desert landscape even high up in the hills and then come upon the surprising presence of furry pinion pines and green grass as you descend on the other side. Tiny yellow flowers cover the hillsides and cattle munch in healthy green meadows seemingly worlds away from the desert landscape left behind minutes before.

We decided to take the same bus tour we had taken a year ago to give Jody an overview of San Diego. It didn't take long for Bill and I to realize that we can always find someplace new to go since we didn't remember one bit of the information we heard in the exact same presentation a year ago!! While I remember this time: 40 million bananas a week come into the port on the "Banana Boat" from Equador, buildings can not exceed 500 feet in height because of the presence of the international airport in downtown San Diego. The planes were coming in overhead as we travelled and often seemed to come close to brushing the tops of buildings.

We got off the trolley for a stop at the historic Del Coronado Hotel on Coronado Island. It is a huge wooden structure built as a Victorian beach resort in the 1880's. Still beautiful and exclusive, all we could afford was some ice cream and that was the most expensive we've ever had! We wandered the property trying to blend in. I wonder if the bright orange trolley stickers on our lapels might have given us away?

As we strolled the beautiful beach out front we looked off in the distance to the city of Tijuana, Mexico - no doubt worlds away from the lives of the inhabitants of the hotel.

Same old, same old...

Just another few days in the heat of Palm Desert! The past few days with Jody visiting us have been relaxing and fun. We've spent time sitting around the pool - reading books, doing a few laps, or sitting in the hot tub. Then it is time for dinner followed by coffee on the patio.

Today we set out for Thousand Palms Oasis for a hike. It was already hot when we left around 10:oo am and we baked as we walked out to MacCallum Pond. It felt good sitting in the shade around the pond and we hated to leave. The only life we saw the whole way out and back were a couple of speedy lizards and two dazzling red dragonflies. The hike back was slightly better because there was a mild, cool breeze blowing. We were glad to get back home and soon headed back to the pool to sit in the shade and read books!

Tomorrow we are heading to San Diego for three days. The forecast is for rain and cooler weather but that might feel good after a plus 90 day today!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to all my chicks! We're thinking about you and send our love.

We hoped to take a picture of the local Easter bunny a few doors down but when we set out to take it, we found it deflated! So we found a Canadian version instead! Hope the Easter beaver brings you all lots of chocolate! (P.S. Turns out that the inhabitants aren't Canadian, their last name really is Beaver! We figured this out when we noticed the name on the mailbox but the four foot-wide American flag should have given it away.)

Quest for the pools

The intrepid hikers returned with stories of success in reaching the pools. A snake in one of the earlier pools made some of them hesitate at the final, deeper pond, but Ron reacted in his usual way - stripped and dove in! The others stood sentinel and warned a group of young women that they might be in for more than they anticipated if they went down the path ahead of them!

The guys returned, hot and happy, and joined us for a picnic lunch at the trail head where we sat and watched swarms of hummingbirds (black-chinned) at the feeders.

Palm Canyon

We returned to Indian Canyons and decided to hike Palm Canyon, a fifteen-mile canyon in the same reserve as Andreas Canyon. The wind had been howling all morning and it was cool when we set out. We all had layers and were prepared for a miserable day but by the time we arrived, the wind had stopped and the sun was out and serious about cooking us as we hiked!

We set out with individual ambitions. Some peeled off the group as the hike went on. Only the men hung in to the pools we had heard about.

The first arm of the trail was through stands of palm trees so we were always able to find shade and cool streams along the path. Most of the native stands of palm trees still had their distinctive skirts. Native California Palms are the only palm trees that keep these fronds and birds and animals use them for nesting sites. A fire twenty years ago destroyed parts of them but the trees have a natural defence that puts the fire out before actually killing the tree. The layers of branches provide a means of dating the trees - their life-expectancy is about 200 years.

As we came out of the canyon, the trail began to climb along with the temperature. The sides of the hills were dotted with barrel cactus but these didn't provide much shade! Some of us gave up on the climb but all the men carried on in search of the mythical pools.

Indian Canyons with an ethno-botanist

We spent the past weekend in Indian Canyons, a palm oasis on the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation. Our first trip in was guided by an ethno-botanist. Despite expressing her nervousness as a new teacher Jennifer was like a seasoned professional with her "visual aids" and careful planning.The class started on the bedrock mortar where deep holes were formed centuries ago to prepare food. Jennifer pulled a box of mesquite cookies out of her bag of tricks and we munched the sweet treats she had made with her own ground mesquite flour!
Later up the trail we sampled tiny native dates - a bit dry but with the familiar date flavour (I kept the seed and will be attempting to grow a California Date Palm in the Victoria climate!).We identified all the native plants on the trip up the beautiful Andreas Canyon but also decided a return trip was a good idea in order to take time to enjoy the beauty slowly.

Sand dunes

There are amazing sand dunes outside Yuma. The big attraction for locals is the potential for dune buggies. It made it hard for us to photograph any that didn't have tracks across them.

Yuma

We've been there, done that with Yuma. Everyone we met who comes down for the winter said they thought it was the ugliest place they'd ever seen when they first came and vowed not to stay but ended up liking their neighbours so much, they now come back every year. Happy hour at 3:30 every day helps.
When our host was trying to find something for us to do, the Territorial Prison was the only thing that sprung to mind. The restored nineteenth century prison is interesting if bleak for about an hour and after that, it is hard to find much else. We noticed some nature walks along the Colorado River and tried that in the heat of the afternoon. It shows promise. The river on the Arizona side is being reclaimed - invasive plants have been removed and native grasses and trees planted. There is an extensive watering system set up and so they will eventually become established. We saw two coots - the extent of the wildlife but the heat might have had something to do with that. It is much healthier than the river Bill and I remember from twenty years ago that we could jump across just before it crossed into Mexico.
Our hotel pool was decked out in banners reminding us of the proximity to Mexico and their cheap dental work, glasses, drugs and liquor. Many of the people we met buy new glasses and have their annual dental work done while down for the winter.

Spook Mountain

We were invited to attend a mysterious event that happens nightly in a remote area outside Yuma - named, of course - Spook Mountain. We met in a parking lot in town at 6:00 pm and set off on a back road that at times was more of a track. We passed through a remote area occupied by apparent squatters - derelict trailers with ragged plastic covering the windows, abandoned vehicles, and a few dirty tents. Our driver mentioned hearing banjo music in the background.

We carried on before having to stop to pull in the truck side-mirrors then carefully driving through a narrow culvert under a railroad line. Around a few more corners and up a bumpy path we came across five or six other trucks parked on various hill tops all pointing towards the hills across a valley.

Tables, chairs and coolers were removed from the trucks. Wood was pulled out and stacked in previously-used fire pits. With some sort of fire starter liberally applied, in no time we were drinking, roasting hot dogs, and waiting - sitting in a line facing the hill side - for the sun to go down.

The night was clear, the air warm and the stars brilliant. We passed the time looking through binoculars at the moons of Jupiter and the craters on the crescent moon. After about an hour, a vague light seemed to grow over much of the side of the hills on the opposite valley. "There it is!" the resident experts shouted and we watched the dull green fog hug the hills. It lasted about a minute then, as if the light switch was turned off, disappeared. We let the event settle in our minds and ten minutes or so later, the light appeared again then just as quickly disappeared.

According to our sources, the theories include everything from the ghosts of gold miners turning on and off their lanterns to phosphorescence escaping from the ground. We found it puzzling and agree that there is something strange is occuring at Spook Mountain but truth be told, the chat around the fire pit was just as mysterious and quirky!

A picnic and scorpions in the windy desert

We went on another night walk tonight. This time, the wind was howling and the storm clouds threatened. We all hung in there for two hours after a very windy picnic and were rewarded with more flourescent green scorpions as promised but once these were spotted, we said Goodbye! to the tour leader and headed back on the dark path by ourselves - anxious to get back in the warm car and out of the freezing wind.

We're off to Yuma for three days to see what that area offers.

Dawn to Dusk

It's hard work having fun sometimes. We were up at 6:30 to head up to Morongo Valley to join the twice-weekly bird count. We wondered if the experience could measure up to last year's and weren't disappointed. Following the experts, we were treated to about 15 amazing bird sightings including the brilliant vermillion flycatcher, the bright yellow and black hooded oriole and a flock of dazzling bluebirds dancing in the air like butterflies. Such amazing colours in the drab world of the desert!

We returned to town in time to drop in at the College of the Desert Market where we sat and ate hot-dogs and drank down lemonade in attempts to cool off after spending money on "amazing bargains".

After a quick supper we headed up the winding Pines to Palm's Highway to join the Astronomical Society of the Desert and their monthly Star Party. We wondered if it would happen since the sky was overcast or cloudy for the most part but two society members were there with giant telescopes set up. We spent a chilly hour looking at stunning views of Jupiter's four moons, Mars' polar ice cap, our moon's ethereal crescent and shadowed craters, and Orion's nebulae nursery of stars. The volunteers are keen to encourage anyone who appreciates the wonders of the natural world and engaged us with stories and information until the clouds called the party off.

A week in the desert

We've had a week of family visits with hot weather, golfing and shopping. Thursday night we made our way to the Palm Springs Street Festival and walked down the avenue picking up fresh tomatoes, avacadoes, asparagus and lettuce, then filling up our bags with almonds, dates and kettle corn! By the time we'd arrived, the crowd had thinned and as we stopped to eat some street food, we watched the parade of pedigreed dogs and their proud-as-punch owners go by. One woman purposefully strolled up and down with her pekinese dressed in a little pink hat and pink coat. Both noticed us watching them and came over to allow us to admire and possibly take a picture. We stayed long enough to watch the vendors go through the take-down process. Giant vans pulled up and were loaded with propane tanks, grills, tents, supports, and boxes and bins of treasures yet to be appreciated. Hard way to make a living.

The Follies

So we resisted for two years but finally succumbed and went to the Palm Springs Follies. It pretty much sums up what staying in the Palm Springs area is all about. The geriatric dancers and singers refuse to say die and are kicking and smiling their way through their sixties and seventies! The women could fool most people from a distance but as the MC said, "Only half of what you see is the original!" The six men shuffled and grinned bravely but I would have been less inclined to cringe if they had given the smooth, blonde, duck-tailed wigs a miss. The music was canned, the speakers set to "High for Largely Deaf Audience" and the viagra-laden jokes were laid on. I doubt if anyone in the audience was any younger than the dancers on stage. The MC/producer tormented selected people in the front row and I know I will never, ever, ever buy tickets within shouting distance of a stage for fear of the same treatment.
The final act was an unashamedly brash, over the top rendition of all the patriotic songs ever written for "our" America with the audience proudly standing, hands over hearts for the national anthem. The probability of 1/3 of the audience being Canadian didn't cross anyone's mind - we were just assumed to be part of the love-in. Oh well, better than watching local TV as the republican candidates duke it out night after night.....

Fancy digs

When we arrived, we were disappointed in the bare outside area so headed out to fix it up. Bill found an extra piece of lattice leaning against the fence and attached it to two poles with $15 worth of hardware, found a patio table on Craig's list for $25 which he jammed into the trunk of his car and we bought flowers to fill the empty pots. Now, once it warms up, we'll sit outside.