Palm Springs - closed

Trip Start Sep 01, 2008
1
6
79
Trip End Mar 2009


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Flag of United States  , California,
Saturday, September 13, 2008

Leaving Death Valley we expected the scenery to change but the desert nothing ness continued for miles with the mountains never seeming to be reached even though we drove over high passes & on (don't stop at Baker for food as we did, go on to Calico) through the empty lands for about 4 hours til we reached Calico a ghost mining town - great fun lots of the old buildings have been restored & there is a mine you can walk through, & a little old train to ride on.
the driving is so easy through the deserts & scrublands! We saw huge freight trains I counted one with over 120 carriages! thet go on & on for miles.
Then on to Palm Springs the big attractions are the Cable car that whisks you up from the valley floor where it is boiling hot to the Mt Jacinta over 10,000ft high & cool. but it is closed for maintenance... then there are the Indian canyons which are supposed to be lovely but they are also closed, no doubt for some sacrificial tribal ritual, Never mind the big town market that closes the main street to traffic on Thursday will be good.. Dry swimming here
Dry swimming here
 . oh no the police closed it for fear of high winds & flash floods - as we have learned they do over hype things here - there were no winds or floods! it s the off season so everything will open next month when things cool down a bit.
Strange place no real soul just lots of lovely resorts & casinos & spas & great mid century architecture all towered over by the huge wall of the mountains that just rise dramatically, barren stone mountains looming almost shear from the valley as a wall to the west.
Palm Springs is a place for lying by the pool & drinking cocktails - we had fabulous Marguaritas & guacamole at El Mirasol, but they were huge & the 3rd one was one too many!
Near by is the Joshua Tree National park described by our friend Joan as full of fallen down Yucca trees & hills like slag heaps! The Joshua trees are weird & yes do resemble falling down Yucca plants! the boulders are very interesting just like cartoon boulders hanging off each other, You can imagine Road Runner running upside down along them & then they would fall & crush Wile E Coyote.We saw lots of lizards & gophers & bright yellow & black butterflies.

Nearby is Pioneer Town - a real Cowboy film set built in 1940's & still lived in today - go if you are in the area. Great food at the saloon & the Post Office is right next to the OK Corral.

We also walked to date palms oases situated along the San Andreas fault, real desert oases, which ive never seen before.
There is a vast wind farm just outside Palm Springs, apparently over 4000 turbines that are dangerously hypnotic to watch as you drive along the highway! strangely beautiful and then you spot one rotating the wrong way which is v odd!
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iainp
iainp on Sep 14, 2008 at 11:03AM

Hawaii
We found the American over-hype in overdrive in Hawaii. You'd be lured off highways (calling them a highway in Hawaii is actually a bit fanciful) by signs proclaiming 'Historic Artisan Town', 'Vintage High Street', or 'Original Pineapple Plantation Town'. You'd turn off, hoping to find cutesy streets and shops and actually find a shit hicksville town where the only thing moving was the tumbleweed. My idea of quaint is not a 1 shop town selling humming bird windchimes and 'Real Red Dirt' T-shirts. Oh how we laughed at their attempts to 'big up' places ! Ya gotta love 'em !
Seem to be commenting quite a bit on your journals don't I !!!
How were the other guests where you stayed in Palm Springs ? Do they still have the misters going full time on all of the shops there ?
Love - Iain

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