The Days Are Counting Down

Since Saturday, we've been out for dinner in Palm Springs, been out geocaching 3-4 times around the desert, been biking, had visits with our neighbours, and making plans for our trip home.  And we spent some time at the pool.  We thought we should go in the middle of the day at least once.  Not bad.  This photo doesn't do justice.  You can't even see the pool.  Those are hot tubs in the foreground (4 of them, I believe).  Each one gets hotter as you go toward the clubhouse.  The pool has 3 main areas and the warmest one is closest to the clubhouse too.

This is looking down on the street from our balcony table in Palm Springs.  We spent a bit of time there Sunday afternoon/evening.

So we pretty much know which direction we're going home.  Gerard has been doing most of the work planning that.  And we're meeting up with one of my cousins again on Friday evening as we're heading back toward Phoenix for our first couple of nights while scouting out places for part of next year.

And of course, we've been watching our hummingbird baby.  Here he/she is.  She's pretty much full-grown - but so little.  Remember this nest is only about 5 cm across (outside).  I had been a little worried about it as it didn't seem to be moving its wings much at all...until this afternoon.  I finally saw some activity.  It's been over a week since its brother/sister left the nest.  Funny how they're so different in their development.

We've had some pretty good winds again the last couple of days, but the little bird hangs on.  The mother doesn't hang out with it any more as it doesn't need to be kept warm...but she does continue to feed it.

Next blog will probably be from Arizona!

Different Things going on

Here I thought I was staying on top of the blog, but I guess not!  I can't believe it's been 5 days since the last one!

Tuesday was a chores day.  Went into town to get some groceries, did cleaning, and prepared for hosting a street happy hour at 3:30.  Last Friday I had a brainwave, so we printed off and delivered a bunch of flyers inviting everyone on our street and the one behind us to a happy hour get-together at our place.  Some people were leaving, but enough were still around.  We weren't sure if 2 people would show up, or 42 (we were hoping not that many).  As you can see from the picture below, we had about 25-30 people, which was great!



It was another hot day, and our site is such that the RV provides some shade in the latter part of the afternoon.  As many people said, we wish we had done it sooner.  It's nice to get to know some people around us a little bit.  The last people left around 2 hours later.  Perfect!

Wednesday we decided to do something to get out of the heat for a while.  So we took another drive up to Idyllwild.  The 2 photos below are from that drive.

It's about a mile high and about 20 degrees F cooler.  It was so nice to sit outside in the sunshine and have lunch.  We were going to do a hike up there, but we had Tibby with us, thinking it would be cool enough in the truck.  But the sun was shining full strength and heated the inside up too much.  And he couldn't walk the distance we wanted to hike, so we did a little, then went back.

There's still a bit of snow up there, but only where it was piled up.  They got dumped on the same day it poured rain here (the last day John & Judy were here).



Thursday, we ran around looking for some stuff in Palm Springs, one of which was that Canadian flag.  No luck...yet.  I also had my hair done in town.  I got it cut last week, but it needed more attention.  Wow, I wish I had that hair dresser back home.  I loved the job she did.  Wish you all could have seen it - and I never thought to take a picture!

Thursday night we had a St. Patrick's day celebration in the hall.  Corned beef supper, and some shortbread cookies for dessert.

They had a guy with a ukulele singing a bunch of Irish tunes.  Fun time.

Yesterday morning we went geocaching not far from here.  After about 2 hours of traipsing around in the desert, we were absolutely exhausted.  We should have started 2 hours earlier as the heat is overwhelming.

We're keeping an eye on our hummingbirds.  We think this little guy has flown the nest.  We were looking and looking yesterday, and could only see one bird.  We were rather worried about them, but the day before, this one was flapping his wings...like a hummingbird.  He hadn't lifted off yet, but I guess it doesn't take long once they start doing that.  So the one that was left I guess was a little behind in development and was not flapping his wings at all.  The mother bird was still feeding him.  So I'll let you know what I find out, and how long he stays.

That brings us up to today.  We decided last night we were going to do the 2 flags trail.  It leaves from behind our RV park.  You can see our park here from one of the hills we had climbed.

The elevation gain was about 355 metres, so that's quite a bit of climbing to get there.  I told you we have looked and looked for a Canadian flag to replace the one that was up here.  Well, we finally found it.  On top of the hill!   Someone else had replaced it (glad I didn't spend $26 U.S. on a flag).  If we come back here next year, we'll bring a flag along.

Here you can see we made it to the top.

Glorious flags with San Jacinto in the background.  Kinda like climbing Mt. Everest ;)

Our selfie.

That took us about 2-1/2 hours with stops along the way, and a bit of a detour.  The cactus flowers are just starting to bloom.  Beautiful.

We are down to our last 6 days here at Caliente Springs, then we'll start making our way east.

Dates?

I didn't mention in my previous blog, we went out for dinner Saturday night into Palm Springs (date?).  Although it's hot during the day, when the sun is behind the mountains, it's absolutely gorgeous to be outside.

Here we are on a sidewalk patio.  Gerard and his giant Margarita (who believes that).

And here I am with Sonny Bono.  Sorry Sonny's a little dark.  It was night time.  Remember he was the mayor of Palm Springs at one time before his tragic ski accident.

We had a terrific dinner out.  We haven't done that much lately, since John & Judy left.

So yesterday, we just hung out and didn't do much of anything at all.  It was too hot.  Having said that, I did make up a batch of lasagna, split it up, and froze it to be eaten on 3 other nights as well.

In the evening we went to the pools and hot tubs.  A lot of people enjoy them during the day, but I find when the water is warm, and the air is warm, it's not so refreshing.  My personal opinion.

So today we thought we should get out and DO something.  So we went to the Shields Date Farm in Indio (just a few minutes down the road).  I've kind of avoided going there because I am not a fan of dates.  Or at least I wasn't.

They have been established here since the 1920s.  It takes a long time to cultivate a date tree to the point of bearing fruit.  This is a male tree.  They take the pods filled with pollen and shake them on the female pods so they produce fruit.  A real trick to the business, I guess.

They have a garden area to walk through.  Very nice.

Here are some dates ripening and hanging.

Moi in the garden area.

So you can eat at their restaurant which is supposed to be rather nice.  We didn't.  But Gerard got a date shake to take along.  I have to say, I was skeptical, but it was really good.  Kinda wish I had ordered one myself.  I even ate a date they had out for tasting and thought it wasn't too bad.  Hmmm.  I might have to rethink my childhood distaste for dates.

On the way home, this is what our vehicle thermometer showed.

And for you Celsius people.

Yeah, kinda warm.  Here's an example of another flower blooming in the desert.  All the flowers are in full bloom, and the cactus flowers are in the process of starting to bloom.

The hummingbird nest is starting to get a little crowded.

Heard from Heather this morning.  She and Sam flew into San Francisco to celebrate their 40th birthdays.  Great way to do it in a beautiful city.  Enjoy!

And David is now back in Ontario today after his 4-5 month stint in Australia and short visits to New Zealand and Hawaii on the way home.  They must have met each other in the air!

It's Been HOT!

It has been in the 90sF since Thursday (that's a minimum of 32C). It's funny how it works. When it's really cold, we want to stay in, and when it's really hot, we want to stay in.

Well, we haven't stayed in, but we do seek the shade a lot.

Thursday morning we went for a windmill tour. I mentioned all the windmills in the gap between the mountains here in the Coachella Valley. They offer a tour to learn more about them.

Up close to one.



We did learn a lot about them and saw different types of windmills and why they're there.  An interesting process. And we also understand why a lot of the people along the Lake Huron shore don't want them...I think.

They have progressed in terms of quietness and efficiency. The noise and the vortex they created would be a big issue, but the newer ones address these things, and apart from being an eyesore to look at, they (along with the solar panels) do create enough energy to power the Coachella Valley.

This is a do-it-yourself windmill you can buy from Home Depot.  Kind of looks like the old television antennae we used to have.



And these are some of the smaller, older ones.  You can see blades missing on the middle one.  The wind can do that.



I'm not sure the tour was worth what we paid as we couldn't go into one, or anything like that.  But it was fine to do it once and see the different types, and understand them a bit more.

We did a little geocaching yesterday, but it didn't take long to determine it was just too hot.

So other than that, we've just tried to stay out of the sun...and watch our baby hummingbirds coming along.

There are definitely 2 of them.  You can see them here.

And mama feeding them.

Shelly, they really are ugly things (birds, that is).  I kind of agree with you there.  I guess their beaks get longer as they grow...kind of like Tibby's nose.

Some of our neighbours walking up the street.

There are geese here in our RV park that sound like donkeys.  I might have mentioned that before.  Heard them this morning again.  And I have heard coyotes howling in the night.  But only once when I happened to be awake.  So that's our wildlife.

Borrego Springs and Caliente Springs

Well, Dorothy and Toto survived the wind.  It was absolutely crazy Sunday night.  I could have sworn there wouldn't be much left of our RV the next morning and we'd be lying in bed looking at the stars.  But it held up!  People around here say it's the weirdest winter they've experienced here in terms of cold and wind.  Huh.

Monday we went to Borrego Springs.  John & Judy raved about it, and it is a pretty special place.  The problem for us is that we can't spend a whole lot of time there as it takes about 1-3/4 hrs each way.  That's 3-1/2 hrs of driving without doing anything else.  We don't feel we should leave Tibby alone too long.  So we have some time, but we feel rushed.  We can't take him along either because he can't be on the trails, and the sun is too intense to leave him in the truck.

However, we got to the Visitors Center and decided to hike the Palm Canyon Trail.  It was about 8-1/2 km up to the palms and back from the Visitors Center.  Going up was fairly straight forward and the further you went, the more interesting it became.  We decided to do an alternate trail on the way back, and we ended up climbing over oodles of rocks and boulders.  But in the end, it was a very interesting trail.  Tons of Ocotillo cactus (known by many other names).



Gerard, as we arrive at the palms.

Looking further up the canyon.



Looking back out the canyon.  We had to walk all the way back down there, and then some.



We grabbed a late lunch at Carlee's in Borrego Springs before heading back.  The place was packed in the middle of the afternoon.  Food was good.

Yesterday, we hung out around the RV at Caliente Springs for most of the day.  We went looking for a Canadian flag in the afternoon so we could put it on a pole on top of Two Flags, but for $26 U.S. for a flag that will only last about 3 months, we didn't think it was worth it.  We'll keep looking.

Today, we did some more geocaching in the area just west of Desert Hot Springs and got 23 caches in about 2 hours of hiking around the desert - about 5-1/2 km worth.  The weather is definitely warming up, so it was nice to be done shortly after noon.

I must tell you, the hummingbird babies did hatch the other day...at least Saturday.  I've been able to watch the mother feeding them.  She regurgitates either insects or nectar and sticks her beak down their throats.  I can't see them, even with the binoculars, but I think I saw a flapping of a wing yesterday.  They are so small in that tiny nest.  I think there are 2 of them.  She still sits on the nest to keep them warm, although now that the weather is warming up, it's less and less.

Here's a photo of the nest up close and the babies are supposedly down in there.  We pulled the branch down a bit to get a look when the mother wasn't there.  They supposedly are only about an inch long, if that.  But in about 2-3 weeks, they should be flying, assume they make it that long.

Keep in mind, this nest is about 2 inches wide, at the most, measuring outside edge to outside edge (5 cm).

I'll keep you posted on their progress.

Weather Changes

Man, from one day to the next, the weather goes crazy!  Yesterday was beautiful!  And today is cool and crazy windy.

But yesterday, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and decided to hike the South Lykken Trail above Palm Springs.  Initially, we thought we would hike half way (to the top) and go back down.  But then decided, oh what the heck.  Let's do it all.  So we hiked all 4.4 miles of it (7.04 km), and then had to walk back to our truck afterward, about 3.5 km.  Yikes!  That's a lot.

So here, we made it to the top.  About 1,000 feet up (above the trailhead).



Looking over the Coachella Valley and Palm Springs.

Just love the rocks...and cactus.

This was the other end of the trail.  No freakin' way bikes would make it up here.  They don't really have to tell them.

Today we went in to Palm Springs to check out the Agua Caliente Museum.  This is an Indian tribe from the area, but also the name depicts what's here - Hot Springs.

This is the side of the cliff where we walked the day before.  We were pretty much at the top.

We did some shopping and chores, and went back to the RV.  Such a difference between Palm Springs and out here where we're staying (about 15 kms away).  The wind out here is wild.  In fact, as I'm writing this, the RV is rocking in the wind like we've never felt before, even when we thought we were off to Oz last year in Manitoba.  Crazy!

Our hummingbird is still sitting on her nest, and she must be rocking to the music out there in the wind, protecting those eggs.  Toto and I hope to be here tomorrow!

It's Warming Up

Since Monday, the temperatures have slowly been creeping up (sorry, John & Judy).  The skies have cleared so it's been nice to get out - back to some biking and hiking.

Tuesday, we went for a bike ride from here.  We forgot our bike helmets at home, but we avoid the major roads as much as possible anyway.  Depending what road you're on, you're either going up hill or down, or you're on a dirt road going across.  There's not much else.  But we enjoyed the ride anyway as we haven't done much of that lately.

Gerard finally got tired of waiting for me to take the picture, so he did.  This is a cactus growing on the corner of our street.  Must have been here for quite some time.

Wednesday, we went back to the Coachella Preserve to hike the Willis Palms Loop trail, just over 6 km, up hill and down.  There's more snow on the mountains due to the precipitation here on Sunday night and Monday. 

But the rain has spurred some growth, and flowers, in the desert.  The wildflowers are blooming now.

Here's why the trail was named as such.  Another oasis on the side of the hill.

But it looks like they had a fire here, but it didn't kill the trees, even thought most of them are blackened.

A plane taking off from the airport and flew by just as we're looking at the palms.

Wednesday evening, we face-timed with Alayna and Isabella (Heather's 2 daughters) as it was their birthdays - Alayna on Wednesday and Isabella Thursday.  That was fun to talk to them.

Thursday, we went out for a stroll around the desert just the other side of Desert Hot Springs.  This was a mushroom we stumbled across.  It looks almost gold-coloured.  I'm not tasting it though.

Gerard was sitting outside our RV reading when this character ran by...a roadrunner.  We didn't see Wile E. Coyote though.



And last night we went to a show here at Caliente Springs called the Freddie & Sheila Show.  Freddie Pelletier toured with Ian Tyson and is an incredible guitar player.  And Sheila is a terrific singer.  They are from Northern Saskatchewan, so spend the winter in the south, touring around and putting on shows at various places.  They played some tunes I haven't heard probably since I was a kid.  It did bring back memories.  Great show.  I let my cousins in Mesa, Arizona, know about them as they're heading that way next.



So today we're more or less 'hangin' out'.  We ordered something online from Camping World and it's being delivered today.  They require a signature, so we need to be here.  The weather is warming up and is 25C today after a period of abnormal cool and wet weather.  Now when we go out hiking and biking, we need to go earlier in the morning.

'Til next time!