Best Western Las Brisas Hotel Palm Springs

After several harassing knocks at the door (Hey – checkout is noon – its 9.30am so sod off) I got away from the hotel at a little after 10am. I had hoped for a return to the JT NP but when I saw that I had a 400+ mile drive and I wanted to ride the tramway up to San Jacinto I realised that was not going to happen.

So I got myself round to the tramway – which is basically a really big cable ...

... most enormous wind farm I have ever seem – there must have a thousand turbines of varying sizes both in the valley and on the hills. If I was better read I could make some comments in line with Cervantes Don Quixote but as I have only read a summary in the Twiterature book I should probably defer to someone with greater knowledge.

Finally and on the brink of sleep I made it to Rancho Mirage where many of the streets are ...

... outlet mall wasn't quite what we were expecting. Looked around for parking for over an hour just for us to realize that we couldn't handle the madness! Mile-long lines coming out of every store that was just not worth the wait. Driving back, got stuck in traffic for an hour and then got lost coming home. Ahhhh! Tuesday night went over to yayas for authentic Mexican food! Tofu-tamales! So good, along ...

... After seeing their head lamps bobbing up the hillside on the correct route we ended up retracing our route and catching up again. I told them we had been spreading the ashes of a dead friend on the trail. They gave their sympathy's and "Awww that is so sad and sweet.' I told them I was lying, and with that Martin and I continued our rapid pace up the steep incline of San Jacinto.
-It is just before sunrise, and we are taking a short break. The stillness of ...

... medieval.

Topping it off were the multiple factions of friends we got to experience it with. It's always cool when worlds collide at such a fun event. The grounds were at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. It was beautiful, the best weather. The guy who does the lighting for their shows had 140 palm trees surrounding the venue lit up as well. He also rigged the first 20 or so out from each side of the stage ...

We have arrived in Palm Springs.

We spent the day shopping at the Desert Hills Outlet Center on the way here. It definitely lives up to its name of being a "premium" outlet. They had the standard designer fare, with great discounts. However, they just did not seem to have enough regular stuff. I was looking for some sports wear for ...

... and coffee while camping. Again asleep early but woke in the middle of the night to a outstanding performer. MC yogi jammin at 3 am. He rocked! I found myself getting out of bed to go listen and watch.

The final day started bright and early with kindulani yoga and a little meditation. My assumption is confirmed as I wait in line 15 minutes for a coffee. Yogis do love ...

After touring San Diego, our last stop was
Palm Springs, CA. This city is in the middle of the desert surrounded
by mountains. As you drive through, there are high winds you can
encounter with sand blowing onto the road, so slow down and drive with
caution, especially at night watch out for nocturnal ...

... again. The course was full of weekend golfers. I caught up to a two ball (Ralph and Ron). We were then stuck behind 5 fourballs of really loud, beer swilling Yanks, who I guess, were on some form of long weekend "Bachelor party". After waving to my Thai girlfriends who were practising, I made my apologies to R & R and proceeded to the 1st.- Again! After nine, "Cheech" (Francisco Sariento -the club pro) joined me. Nice chap and he had a swing reminiscent of Ged ...

... another drink in Olive's restaurant and bar in the Bellagio as the bill for two drinks, a margarita and a Jack Daniels came to almost $24! That's about £13 in real money. Anyway it all paid off as we all caught the volcano and water fountains shows after Phantom had finished. We might have caught the pirates too but one or two of the group got sucked into video poker, with free drinks, at the bar in Paris casino. Jo was keen to see inside the Bellagio as it featured in the movie ...