This was an unusual aproach to our national holiday but we had a lot of fun and definitely we beat the heat. With few polish friends, with whom we are starting Polish Club in our valley, we decided to do "the bonding" by walking 11 miles and gain and lose 2600' (about 870 m) by climbing San Jacinto Peak (second tallest in So. California 10804 '). It was still the easiest way to get there, because we took a tram, which starts from Palm Springs. It took us up from 2643 feet elevation to 8516 feet in a ride which by [View Full Entry]

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Just returned from a trip to Palm Springs for the White Party. I must admit I have not been for a few years as I found the number of men on crystal meth and other such drugs a real turn off on the last few occasions I visited. I stayed at Camp Palm Springs, a resort I have stayed at many times before and was warmly welcomed back by the owners - a very genuine welcome from people who feel like friends. I was pleased to perceive that the drug scene seems to have really massively reduced and the fellow guests [View Full Entry]

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Hi All. Here goes another long one. You have been warned! As you approach Las Vegas you can almost smell the sin in the air - not for nothing is this place known for extreme enjoyment and shattered dreams. You see the giant hotel blocks rising out of the desert valley as you make your way down from the mountains that surround this oasis of sin. Picking up our visiting traveler (F's friend Nicola from back home) we drove from the airport onto The Strip. These are the iconic hotels that you hear about in Vegas, Luxor, New York-New York, Ceasar's [View Full Entry]

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I went from the beautiful Indian Waters RV Resort into the parking lot at the Fantasy Springs Casino. My friend BJ (Barbara Jean) arrived on time and we enjoyed a couple of hours walking around the casino grounds and then out to dinner. The casino is on Indian land and is run by the Cabazon Indian Tribe. The grounds are really beautiful. We registered at the casino for the freebees and got ourselves a new t-shirt and a $2 credit on one of the one-arm-bandits. The credit lasted less than 2 minutes so I was glad it wasn’t $2 out of [View Full Entry]

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Most people why I would start the trip in Palm Springs since I didn't golf nor was I retired. We made the best of it crashing hotel pools, outlet shopping and eating at dives and delis. Dives & Delis Sometimes the best food comes from the most unlikely of places. The Crazy Coyote Taco stand was located near the turn off for the Cabazon Outlet Mall. I initially made fun of it since they had large dinosaur statues in front of the building - similar to the ones in Drumheller. Dinosaurs don't really have anything to do with Mexican food... but [View Full Entry]

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I am sure most of you have been to Palm Springs somewhere in your past. We were regulars there for a while, since my Aunt had a boss with a big house there in Palm Desert. We have been there a few times as well. It is no secret that winter is the best time to go, otherwise it is like Vegas and Scottsdale in the summer, TOO hot. Palm Springs looks rather old and tired these days. Most of the fancy stores are closed or moved to Palm Desert. Palm Desert is the place now for hotels, restaurants, and shopping. [View Full Entry]

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Weekend Getaway W/ Holly After a low key week in Vegas...yes, I said low-key and Vegas in the same sentence...Holly and I planned to go to the L.A. area in Cali to change the scenery and hang w/ friends. As great timing would have it my cousin, Jami, and her significant otha, Evan, invited us to visit them on their getaway in Palm Springs! We arrove Friday evening and were given a guided tour of the house they rented...an old hotspot of Howard Hughes'...and were treated to a fantastic meal prepared by the culinarily talented Evan. After a quick tally [View Full Entry]

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Thursday 7th August (sorry no pics yet, we're having real trouble loading any on at the mo, but here is what we have been up to in not too many words!) Wow what a day palm springs just gets better and better. We woke late and spent time blogging which delayed the day's activities. We set off to see Indian canyon, but it was closed during the week, so we diverted to the zoo. However as we are in the desert the zoo understandably closes at 1.30pm because all the animals are hiding out in the shade!! We didn't have too [View Full Entry]

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Friday 8th Aug (sorry still working on pics, if anyone know why we can save after resizing can you let us know!! Thanks) Today we woke early and set out to walk the route at Indian Canyon we had missed the day before. We took advantage of some local knowledge from a tribal park ranger called Ralph. He showed us every thing from rock formations, and how the springs work. He pointed out desert plants that were used by tribes who lived at Indian canyon, and we learnt which were used for food and which were for medicine. Ralph also told [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday 6th August We woke up reasonably early, and acting on a recommendation from Mike at reception, we made our way to the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway; this is two revolving Swiss-built cable cars, each holding 80 passengers, and are one of Palm Springs most popular attractions. The ride was 11mins long and took us up 6000 feet over spectacular scenery to the mountain station in the Mount San Jacinto Wilderness State Park. The temperature changed dramatically during the journey (part of the reason we decided to go up) - 110 degrees at the bottom, but a very cool and refreshing [View Full Entry]

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