An Oasis in the desert

Palm Springs was yet again one of those places I had heard about, but didn’t know much about.  I did know that it was a very wealthy area with lots of hillside mansions and fancy bars / restaurants.

We arrived quite late so checked into the RV park, where I got harassed by a drunk German who thought I was Austrian.  Quick shower and after a short 10 mins walk, we were in Downtown.  Downtown is a generic term for where all the bars and restaurants are in any American city and it is always signposted.  This makes getting a drink very easy.  We had a few beers and ended up in a nice, little Italian place before walking back to the van.

The next day I needed a haircut, as my clippers that I brought with me don’t work over here.  We hopped on our bikes, I went to the barbers and Cazzie rode to the visitors centre.  I was about 15 mins and called Cazzie to see where she was to find out she was about 1/2 way to the centre and totally knackered as it was 5 miles away, uphill and very hot!  I got back on my bike and eventually met her there, where we got some leaflets and planned the rest of our day.

Palm Springs gets it’s name from the 1000’s of palm trees that grow by the natural springs that occur here.  Make sense I guess!  The best place to see these is called Indian Canyon.  It’s almost hard to believe that something so green and picturesque can exist in the desert, but all it needs is a little bit of water and hey presto.

We visited Andreas Canyon first and we were stunned!

It really took us by surprise and we took the suggested 2 mile walk to see it all.  Words like “wow” and “incredible” were used a lot here!

The second part of this canyon was called Palm Canyon, which was a lot of the same and equally impressive.

It was now time to take the world’s largest rotating aerial tramway to the top of the mountain!  This provided us with great views of Palm Springs and surrounding mountains, but due to the smog, it wasn’t too clear.  We did manage to see more wildlife at the top – a racoon and it’s 2 pups!

On the drive back down, we got some great pictures of the sky just after sunset – it looked like it was on fire.

That evening we ate in the van and headed out for a few beers and an ice cream!

Palm Springs is a location for the San Andrea Fault line.  Most of you will have heard of this as it’s from Superman. Its the fault line that Lex Luthor blows up with a missile and most of California drops in to the sea. For this reason I wanted to go see it, stand across it and get my picture taken there.  Just imagine the look on the visitor centre chap’s face when I asked if I could do that.  He thought I was a total moron when I asked where the fault line was, only to point out that it 1000’s of kms long, 10’s kms wide and I was standing right in it.  I must have looked so disappointed.  So Cazzie took my picture by the sign and we went on our merry way.

Palm Springs is a very cool place indeed with lots to do.  Perfect weather, a great downtown, lots of shops and golf courses.  The only downfall is you are right on a fault line so you are susceptible to a huge earthquake or two. but we both thoroughly enjoyed our time here.

Highlights are here!

Stuoobs