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Published: March 26th 2010
Which is the real palm tree?
Great disguise for a cell tower!Day Seven Palm Springs
We slept in a bit...the previous occupant had cleverly and maliciously set the alarm for 3:30 AM....so we needed a bit of extra sleep. We had a good breakfast (inlcuded in our incredible price of $57/night in this hotel where the list price is $133...thank you, Hotwire!) and headed out to check out the local thrift stores on the way to the Palm Spring Tramway....one of the wonders of the world...(kind of). After buying a sweater (Lynn) and nothing else (Bill), we drove to the foot of the mountains where the road to the tram climbs up a few thousand feet.
The tram goes from 2400 feet to 8400 feet in less than fifteen minutes! (Thus the title of this blog.) I had taken it several years ago when I was in the area for a conference, but that was in the middle of summer. The cars now rotate, and are bigger. And in the early spring, there are still three feet of snow at the top, while the temperature at desert level is in the 80's! We hiked in the snow a bit, sat on a rock in the sun and fed birds, and
Palm Desert hotel
Nice pool, good breakfast...quiet room! enjoyed the immense view back over the desert. We returned to the desert floor, drove home to swim and change for dinner, and went to Garth and Val's timeshare in the next town for dinner....great dinner, great conversation! Another sad goodbye to good friends...
Day Eight Palm Desert to Phoenix
I got up and ran for a mile down route 111, into Indian Wells, along pathways framed by giant palms and past beautiful landscaping. The scent of orange blossoms was everywhere! We packed up, and headed out over the desert, crossing over in Arizona mid afternoon. The wild flowers were amazing! We stopped off the highway to stretch our legs and were shortly joined by two men in a jeep...one of them pointed out the face on the mountain across from us and went on the tell us how "they" were able to manipulate the vegetation to creat other faces and shapes...."it's scary, man"....we left rather quickly. We arrived at Mary's in Phoenix in the early evening, let ourselves in, and waited for her to get home from work....We had a luscious dinner, and laughed and talked til we were all falling asleep at the table.
Day
Nine Roosevelt Dam, Apache trail
We used an Arizona guide that Mary had to pick a loop route for a day trip. The route took us into the mountains, past reservoirs and dams, and ancient villages. Part of it was unpaved, and we weren't sure we wanted to take the BMW off road...we decided to give it a try. We took a few freeways out of Phoenix, and then went on smaller roads into small towns, and finally out into the desert again. We passed a deserted mining town that is now a tourist site, and started winding up into the mountains. The scenery was breathtaking! The photos don't do it justice... We stopped to hike a few times. Rocks were covered with lime green lichens, and green grass was carpeting the areas between the cactus. We passed the three recreation/reservoir lakes. We crossed a flooded section of the road just outside a crowded tourist stop (the sign said "closed when flooded" but we just went right on through, as did others...) and the traffic thinned out. We soon hit the unpaved part, and decided it would be OK...all was well until we came uopn a traffic jam caused
by an idiot who was pulling a trailer with a golf cart on this narrow, mostly one lane, very windy road...the traffic finally inched past him, and we continued on, past even more spectacular vistas...The unpaved section was 22 miles and ended at the Roosevelt Dam, built in 1911 and reconstructed in 1989. We drove the the nearby cliff dwellings, but had missed the closing by 15 minutes (thank you stupid golf cart guy!). We looked at the cliff dwelling from the trail, and then headed for the mining town of Globe.
Just ourside of Globe, we visted Besh Ba Gowah, a reconstructed group of buildings from the Salado people, who lived there around 700 years ago. You can walk through the site and climb into the upper levels of the houses. Very cool. We ate in town at a Mexican cafe founded in 1947 and not much changed since then....then drove back through mining towns and past mountains of tailings (debris from the mines), and down from the mountains to Phoenix.
Note: more photos at the bottom and on the next page!
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Michele Bucy
non-member comment
Thank You !
I've been meaning to thank you for taking the time to post your blog as you travel. Really brightens up my day to see all the exciting places you go! Safe travels!