Sue - Palm Springs - a place of contrasts

Palm Springs - a fascinating place! Only a few hours (all freeway) from LA and quite clearly a popular getaway from the LA scene. A place with a Rat Pack history - when you are there you can really feel what those times were like. Interesting architecture.(Desert Modernism is the name - you can spot it as soon as you enter town) Palm Springs has something for everyone, an escape from day to day life and a recreational oasis: great hiking and outdoor activities, spa resorts, golf resorts, casinos, a conference escape, an obvious gay scene...it really has its own vibe, and walking down the main street at night, I got the feeling that Palm Springs had a seedy aside too. We didn't have any accommodation booked, but the first place we stopped at was good enough for us.....a 2 bedroom apartment style motel complex......a hint of desert modernism architecture, a pool outside our door and at a great price too. Unbelievably cheap, being their off season and mid week. I was a little wary though.....it didn't seem like a family style accommodation option, and with the 'anything goes' impression I have acquired of Palm Springs I was wondering if we were at an appropriate complex for children  - was half expecting a raucous adult pool party outside our door in the early hours of the morning! Perhaps I have been watching too many American movies...

Where we stayed in Palm Springs

Our day of exploration began with an offer of a 'Bloody Mary' at the breakfast cafe! Then we were off for an adventure on the Aerial Tramway, the largest rotating tramway in the world. It takes you from the desert valley floor (806 metres) to the San Jacinto Mountains, 2596 metres above sea level in about 10 minutes. This gondola (they call it a tramway - the difference being, these can take a whole stack of people and there are only 2 - one going up and one going down, compared to the gondolas we know where they are much smaller and there are loads of them)  takes you so high, it makes the Skyline Gondola in Queenstown look like a baby! The temperature change is huge - a warm climate on the desert floor and 6 degrees celsius at the top with the threat of a snow storm! They say it's like a climate change equivalent to the difference between Mexico and the Canadian Mountains. It was late spring (in winter, it's thick with snow at the top) and we knew it was going to be cold, so brought our jackets etc, but I forgot to bring long trousers, so has walking around in 6 degrees in shorts...eeeek...a little chilly!

It is beautiful up there and we did a short hike in the wilderness - not particularly well signposted though and Jim and I have a few 'which way?' discussions, being very aware that we had no cell phone coverage, no-one knew we were there and the weather was closing in...being lost in the 'wilderness' in shorts was not a desirable prospect! On a clear day, the view over the valley and desert is amazing apparently - we caught parts of it but the weather was not in our favour today. (the weather was clear at the top, but we couldn't see down into the valley - only an occasional glimpse when some of the cloud cleared)

From there we headed to the Indian Canyons, (such an amazing contrast compared to the San Jacinto Mountains) land belonging to the Agua Callente Cahuilla (kah-we-ah) Indians. The desert lands were their home and in 1876 the U.S Federal Government allocated 32,000 acres in trust to them, 6,700 acres of that land in the Palm Springs area. The canyons are an oasis in the desert, with streams, waterfalls and ancient palm groves.Check it out on http://indian-canyons.com It was really beautiful and peaceful - with limited time, (if you are there after 4pm, the gates are locked and you can't get your car out!) we only did a few of the walks. With more time, you could happily explore for days. Saw a snake slithering across the road in front of our car, and saw a very large lizard. (about 30cm plus long) Have read on websites that rattlesnakes are quite common in the canyons - would love to have seen one but wasn't keen on having a scary snake encounter!

A trip to the supermarket to stock up on Jelly Bellies to take home, and also get some Bagels for our breakfast, then we were off to dinner at Ruby's Diner. Had a great soft taco (one of many on our holiday.. they are very delicious) and some 'all american home made apple pie' which came with caramel sauce and ice cream. Now that was pretty damn good!

Ruby's Diner, Palm Springs

Next day, we said goodbye to Palm Springs, drove past the wind turbines (the biggest wind farm I have ever seen), a quick shopping stop at Premium Outlets (outlet shopping mall - they have them all over America) on the outskirts of town, then we hit the freeway for the drive back to LA. Apparently the freeway can get pretty clogged and you can get stuck in traffic for hours! Not wanting to miss our flight (with the unknowns of having to tackle the traffic in LA and find where we had to drop off our rental car etc) we left with plenty of time to spare. Joshua Tree Narional Park is only an hour away - somewhere I really wanted to go, but we need a few more days to be able to do that. We are soooooo not ready to go home - we have truly gotten into the 'road trip' mode!