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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Thursday 19th June to Sunday 22nd June One of the major plus points of living in a place such as California in a country that exists by the Live to Work ethic as opposed to my own favoured Work to Live theory is that there are so many things to do and see, if not within driving distance then at least within a reasonably priced flight cost and time that can easily transform any particular weekend into a little mini holiday all of its own. This weekend was to be my first excursion beyond the city limits of Los Angeles. With [View Full Entry]

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Palm Springs: a seducing oasis between deserts, the pretty Mount St Jacinto and the strong wind belt that blows towards Salton Sea in Coachella Valley, southern California. After driving for hours on end on roads cutting through dry land I was delighted to get to Palm Springs and find lush green gardens, hanging flowers, springs and waterfalls. This is definitely a great place to get to. I can't estimate how much is spent on gardening and electricity-operated irrigation systems on every green area in town but my eyes were quite pleased with the spectacle! It gets incredibly hot in the va [View Full Entry]

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In April I took a three-day trip to Palm Springs, which was a number of firsts for me. In getting there it was my first time flying from Milwaukee to Chicago to make a connection and it was the first time I have flown on a propeller plane (from LA to Palm Springs). The Milwaukee to Chicago flight is a pretty ridiculous. The two airports are 55 miles apart and the plane covers that distance at 7,000 feet in about 13 minutes. Our flight was actually late arriving in from Chicago but that was kind of funny. The gate agent made [View Full Entry]

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In true "Hollywood" style we headed to Palm Springs over the winter to relax & recharge in the desert [View Full Entry]

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Nov 29 and the beginning of our actual journey. All in all Yuma was not that bad, my $500 win at the casino last night does however help my opinion slightly! The drive to Palm Springs consists of 3 hours of nothing except a drought stricken barren landscape. At least on the way to Yuma we could count cartoon cacti. The kind people at Alaska Airlines neglected to weigh our luggage so we were very thankful and didn't have to pay for the excess weight made up of 2 lounger style air mattresses for the pool, floating volleyball net (also for [View Full Entry]

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This Labor Day weekend (September 1-3, 2007) was a sweltering surprise as temperatures climbed to 115F each day. And it never cooled off. Perhaps the biggest surprise came when going out in the morning only to get slapped with a thrust of hot 95-degree air. However by the end of the weekend I felt a lot more comfortable with it. Mentally it helped me to think of the heat as the inverse of mid-winter back home in Minnesota. It will take a long time for my hand to forget a scorching from opening a metal door knob that had been resting [View Full Entry]

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This morning was cloudy, which ruined the morning sunbathing plan and we decided to set off early to Palm Springs. As it was Saturday I expected the freeways to be a bit quieter than usual but in the area around LA they were as busy as ever. The driving didn't improve either, I know some people think I'm an aggressive driver but believe me I've got nothing on some of these people. As we got further from LA the roads got quieter and the countryside started to change from mainly flat green to mainly hilly brown desert. We only travelled about [View Full Entry]

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We ended up staying in Laughlin for 4 nights. This was due in no small part to the bed. A king-sized, pillow-topped, heavenly cloud. Oh, and Nic was still ahead against the geriatrics. Apparently casualties are commonplace. While Nic was sitting at a poker table, one of the players suddenly slumped onto the table. Nobody batted an eyelid, including the dealer. Nic asked if the guy was OK. The dealer informed him that he'd soon come round - he'd just taken his tablets a bit late. Not wanting to dwell on the 'resort for the aged' motif, I must finally mention [View Full Entry]

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