California's Coachella Valley

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Escaping from the Canadian Winter, Margo and I spent a month in southern California, mostly in Palm Springs and the surrounding area which forms the Coachella Valley. An extension of the Sonoran Desert, about 15 miles (24 km) wide and 45 miles (72 km) long, it is bounded by mountains on both sides, some as high as 11,000 feet (3,400 m). Palm Springs at the northern end of the Valley is about 120 miles (200 km) southeast of Los Angeles, and about 140 miles (230 km) northeast of San Diego. It’s far enough away that the frenzy of “Big City” life doesn’t impinge upon its tranquil lifestyle. For a very complete overview, go to http://en.wikipedia/wiki.org/Coachella_Valley

The Valley is blessed with a multitude of hot springs, and there is ample irrigation from the Colorado River (think golf courses galore). Its dry, healthy climate has helped create an earthly paradise which is now home to nearly half a million, as well as being a popular winter destination for Northerners. However, it is also traversed by the clearly visible San Andreas Fault, which runs some 800 miles (1300 km) up the California coast. Mild quakes occur frequently, and popular culture has it that “the Big One”, will soon result in much of California “breaking off” and sliding into the Pacific Ocean: scientists are skeptical, but they do foresee a quake of 6.7 or higher sometime in the future. For more information, see http://digitaljournal.com/article/294234 .

There are eight contiguous communities: driving south-eastward along California highway 111, you pass seamlessly through Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells, La Quinta, and Indio. While the best known city is Palm Springs (pop c. 45,000), each has its own special features to commend it. This is the first in a series of articles about some of them.

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Comments

[Rainyb]

Great shot!!

[Rainyb]

I remember the 1st time I saw this from a distance. I thought the sky was flooded with huge white birds LOL Being the country bumpkin, I'd never seen a wind farm before LOL

[Misty]

Beautiful!! Love the flora down that way, such pretty variations- smoke trees sound especially interesting, quite impressive they can survive in the desert at all!