Palm Springs

Friday, March 04, 2016
Palm Springs, California, United States
We left Nice at 9 Sat morning and, after a long day of driving, arrived at the Vista Mirage Resort in Palm Springs at 8:30 pm. 

We were awestruck by the site of thousands of windmills in the Coachella Valley just north of Palm Springs . I was amazed to read, on the internet, many negative, hateful comments about these serene, graceful structures being ugly atrocities that ruin the natural landscape. :( What?! I don't get that.

The Greater Palm Springs Area is in the Coachella Valley, surrounded by mountains on three sides. The Area is actually made up of nine cities, but it feels like one big city. Palm Springs is the original (1938). The others are Desert Hot Springs, Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells, La Quinta, Indio & Coachella. The full-time population of the area is 450,000 (600,000 with snowbirds), but over 5 million visitors come to the valley every year, in large part because of the 350 days of sunshine and less than 5" of rain a year. The mountain ranges shield the Valley from most storm systems on the coast.

Well, we were craving sunshine and sunshine is certainly what we got! Over 30°C every day. It's 20°C at 7:30 am, and heats up to over 30° by late morning . This is unseasaonably warm for Palm Springs. Normal for this time of year is mid 20s°C (75°F instead of the toasty 95°F they're getting). We spent our mornings relaxing in the pool area (see our hotel review below for why we weren't on our balcony), then stayed out of the afternoon heat for fear of burning to a crisp or passing out. No afternoon hikes for us! The evenings are very nice - back in the the mid to low 20s°C.

Late one afternoon early in the week, we drove up a twisty road to a vista point in the mountains south of the valley. We were there for the views and the sunset (which is at 5:42 pm). From there, we could see all of the Palm Springs Area spread over the valley floor, with the mountain ranges surrounding it. We could also see the Salton Sea* in the distance. It was an amazing sunset, and beautiful to see the canyon floor slowly light up with the lights of the city. (*The Salton Sea is a shallow, saline lake located directly on the San Andreas Fault . Its surface is 234 ft below sea level, and the deepest point of the sea is 5 ft higher than the lowest point of Death Valley. It's what's called an endorheic basin, meaning that rain that falls within it does not flow out but can only leave by evaporation and seepage. The bottom of such a basin is typically occupied by a salt lake.)

We spent a couple of afternoons puttering around town, checking out the cool houses in the beautiful people's neighborhoods. There is a high concentration of "mid-century modern" (midmod) commercial buildings and private houses, which I could easily live in. Love the flat roofs and floor to ceiling walls of windows! They're much more impressive from the back with their windows & pool areas (no, I haven't been creeping around their back yards! I have Google images for that. ;). Even the very cool church we went to on our first Sunday here, St. Theresa's, is midmod. There are also a lot of adobe-style buildings. Our resort is adobe-ish, in a cement-enclosed kind if way . Palm Springs was the playground of the stars back in the day, so there are many streets and buildings named after old stars (Mary Pickford Theater, Gene Autry Trail, the intersection of Frank Sinatra & Bob Hope Drives, etc.), and homes currently lived in or previously lived in by stars (we saw midmod houses owned by Dinah Shore - now owned by Leonardo Dicaprio; Frank Sinatra; and Elvis & Prescilla). 

One evening we went to a private showing* of the movie Race, about Jesse Owens going to the 1936 Olympics in Germany. Great movie, interesting history. (*Private showing is only a tiny bit of a stretch - there was only one other lady in the theatre with us.) 

On Wed evening we drove to La Quinta to visit Lorne & Marlene Bennett (Brie's in-laws). They have a beautiful home there where they spend their winters. We had an awesome time including a tasty supper and cocktails. They have redone their backyard to include a beautiful outdoor fireplace . It was wonderful sitting outside around the fireplace under the stars. :)
 
We also spent time popping in at consignment stores (lots of them here, furniture and clothing); and tracking down a replacement headlight. We burned one out somewhere along the line and really noticed it trying to drive back down the twisty road from the vista point in the dark. Roger's hand was cut up and swollen for the rest of the week from forcing his hand in behind the headlamp assembly to switch out the bulb. :( Speaking of the car, during our jaunts around town, we learned that apparently you CAN squeal out with a Prius! You just need the right combination of a fast right turn with a Buick bearing down on you and 33°C asphalt! Muscle car! ;-D

Every Thursday nite in downtown Palm Springs is VillageFest. They close off several blocks of the main street and have entertainment, art, food and shopping. The Palm Springs Art Museum also has free admission. Our resort was within walking distance, so off we went for some art, culture, food and crowds! Other than the food, it wasn't exactly Roger's cup of tea, but he's always a good sport and it was another beautiful night weather-wise .

On our last day, we packed a lunch and drove an hour to Joshua Tree National Park, north of Palm Springs Area. It's immense - nearly 800,000 acres. Two deserts, the Mojave and the Colorado, come together in the park. One is a "high" desert and the other a "low" desert, each with different ecosystems primarily determined by elevation. The Mojave Desert, on the western half if the park, is higher and slightly cooler and wetter. This is where the crazy Joshua trees are. They're members of the agave family, with spiky, succulent "leaves" and rough trunks that are fibrous inside with no growth rings. Their name comes from a legend that Mormon pioneers thought the limbs of the Joshua trees looked like the upstretched arms of Joshua leading them to the promised land. There are also beautiful stacked granite boulders all over this part of the park. The Colorado Desert (part of the Sonoran Desert) is on the eastern half of the park and is below 3,000 feet. It's amazing how different the landscapes are between the two deserts. The Colorado side has virtually no Joshua trees. It's all creosote bush, with small stands of ocotillo and cholla cactus. 

We arrived early before the heat, but found that although it was heating up to over 30°C in the Palm Springs valley, it was in the much more comfortable low to mid 20s at the park, even in the afternoon. We drove from the north end to the south end, thru both desert systems, stopping to look at vista points, do short hikes, and have our picnic. It was a nice conclusion to a relaxing week.

It's Friday night, and Roger is watching the Cubs vs the Angels on TV. Happy husband. ;) Tomorrow we'll take advantage of the resort's farewell continental breakfast (lots of check-outs on Saturdays), pack up the car, and head to Sin City!
 

Comments

Lorraine
2016-03-05

Thanks for the report you two. It's not an area I long to spend much time in. Just not a desert person I guess ;o)

Tim & Julie
2016-03-05

Always look forward to your updates. Sounds like it was pretty hot, even for you Anna. Enjoy sin city!

Norma
2016-03-07

We enjoyed Palms Springs when we visited in 2013, but seemed like we were always driving long distances to visit people or places. Did you take the Palms Springs Tram to the top, or visit the 1000 Palms by Desert Hot Springs?
Love your blog!!!

Brie
2016-03-08

I agree with Lorraine.... the desert was pretty, but not my favourite places. I'm a forest dweller! Or at the very least a prairie girl ;)

2025-02-10

Comment code: Ask author if the code is blank