Catching Up - Friday to Monday

Friday, John & Judy went over to L.A. to take in a couple of sights there.  We declined as we feel guilty leaving Tibby for so long, and don't like to impose on our neighbours too much.  So we did a few chores around here and then went for a bit of a drive and hike near Desert Hot Springs.  Nothing very exciting.

Saturday, John & Judy went to the San Diego area and had lunch with John's nephew and girlfriend at La Jolla.  Gerard and I decided to go back up to Joshua Tree and hike another trail there.  I just love this place.  This is the trail namesake rock - Split Rock Trail.

I built an Inukshuk - just because.

Face Rock.  Who would have guessed?

A Joshua Tree all by itself.

Again, I took lots of pictures.  Such a beautiful place.

When we got back, John & Judy were just returning so we asked them over for some Gerry burgers.  Perfect end to the day.

Sunday, the weather was not so nice, but it was sunny in the valley.  We all decided to take a ride up the mountain to Idyllwild - a town way up Mount San Jacinto.  The town is about a mile high, and we went up as far as just over 6,000 feet (1,830 metres) in our travels.

This is looking over the Coachella Valley from up there.

This is part of the windy road we were on.

In Idyllwild there are tons of shops and restaurants.  We stopped at a couple.  When we came out...it was snowing.  There were heavy clouds on the mountain.

Monday, it was destined to rain ALL day...and from about noon on, it did rain.  So far this year, they've had more rain than Palm Springs had all of 2016!  So the washes were full of water, and some idiots were caught in it, even though the roads were closed where washes were over the road.  Some people like to try to drive through it anyway.  Duh.

So we did some chores and grocery shopping, and planned to have John & Judy for a nice steak dinner since it was their last night here.  It was a terrific evening spent with great friends! We'll miss you, John & Judy!

Shopping, Hiking, Happy Hour and Shopping

We do an awful lot of hiking here, which is a terrific thing!  But Thursday, we all started out shopping over at the outlet mall at Cabazon, just down Hwy I-10 west.  We bought a few things, including new hiking shoes - we need them.

On the way back, we went to Whitewater canyon and park to do some hiking.

The walls of the canyon look like they could just slip down at any moment.  Just a little frightening.

You don't see a whole lot of water around here, but there was water in WHITEWATER.  Now we know why it's named as such.

One trail took us up the mountain.  This is a look back at the whitewater wash through the canyon.  Beautiful views from here.

 

And a look back through the railway we were walking.  Loved it!

When we went back down, someone mentioned seeing bighorn sheep on the other side.  It took us a while with the binoculars to find them, but we did.  They look like specks here, but I'll blow it up for my photo album (whenever I get that done).

On the way back, I managed to get a picture of some of the windmills they have here in the Coachella  Valley.  There are hundreds of them.  The head of the valley is narrow and in the west, so you can imagine the wind that drives through here.  In fact, we've noticed quite a lot of wind at times.

After hiking, we went back to our respective places, had a quick shower, then went to happy hour in a restaurant in downtown Palm Springs before Villagefest.  There is parking along the streets downtown, but Villagefest happens every Thursday night, and you are warned that you must be out of there by 5 pm.  It's not just a gentle warning.  If you don't get your car out of there by that time on the dot, they'll remove it for you.  There are vendors trying to set up, and the cars interfere.  There are tow trucks just sitting there waiting.  This was taken about 5:10.  The owner is somewhere enjoying happy hour, no doubt.

We enjoyed happy hour and some nibblies.  We walked around checking out all the vendors on the street for almost 2 hours.  It's quite a large market.  Getting dinner somewhere involved a half hour wait, so we left and found something on the way home.  All in all, a great day.

Hollywood and Hiking

Saturday night, Judy and I finished our little project - The Capitol Building.  Very cool, eh?  I bet kids never built this with wine.



Sunday we went into L.A. and headed for West Hollywood.  We left around 1 p.m. and didn't get back until about 1:15 a.m.  A very looooonnnnggg day.  We had our neighbour let Tibby out 2-3 times, and feed him.



So we went to the taping of Who's Line is it Anyway?  We were there from just before 4 pm (standing in line) and didn't leave the area until after 10:30.  Even though Judy had "tickets" (it's free), we still had to wait in line and they kept telling us there was no guarantee we would get in.  But it moved along.  We were given numbers, and we then waited in 6 different lines in 6 different places within an hour, in more or less numerical order.  We then finally got into seats in the studio at about 5 pm.  Those seats were the very front row - behind the cameras - but they didn't bother us.

They wouldn't let us keep our cell phones, so we couldn't take any pictures.

They introduced the stars of the show, and the hostess, Aisha Tyler, and the taping started.  There was Ryan Stiles, Colin Mochrie, Wayne Brady, and Brad Sherwood.  The original people from the show, which was quite exciting.  They had Carmen Electra (can you say bimbo? - even John & Gerard thought so) and Grace Byers as guests for different skits.  I got to high-five Colin Mochrie and Carmen Electra, and during one skit, Wayne Brady led a bunch of us onto the stage for a rendition of "Do you Hear the People Sing" from Les Miserables.  Very cool!

I have to say, we laughed a lot.  The first 3 hours or so went along very quickly as it was all quite funny.  The latter hour or so, not so much, as they went over material they had already done and retaped some stuff...not always the whole thing, but bits and parts.  That was kind of a drag, but we stuck it out and were quite satisfied with the whole experience.

Needless to say, we weren't up too early the next day.  But we did get up and went to Desert Hot Springs for a bit of a hike up in the hills - and so John could fly his drone.  This was a little hole in the wall we thought was a cave from a distance.



The views of Desert Hot Springs and the valley were very nice, but a little hazy.

We picked up a few groceries in the store in town, had dinner together, then retired early.  After the previous late night, we were kind of bagged.

Then yesterday, we drove up to Joshua Tree National Park.  I have to say, that's an amazing place to drive through and hike.  Beautiful terrain, and of course, lots of Joshua Trees.

I took so many pictures because of the cool rock formations, and general beauty of the desert.  But just a handful in this blog.

This one had pictographs inside.

And there were lots of mountain climbers - this was only the top portion of the rock face he climbed.

This was "cap rock", for obvious reasons.

A crazy big beetle of some description.  Eeeewww.

A couple of Beatle-lovers.

A beautiful day.  We are definitely going back to Joshua Tree to do more hiking.

We decided to go out for dinner tonight in Palm Springs.  It started out to be a Mexican restaurant.  No one was overly enthused about that, so we changed to Italian.  Done!  We went to Johnny Costa's - a place where Frank Sinatra used to frequent.  Good job we didn't see him there.

So today John & Judy went off to Borrego Springs for some drone-flying and hiking.  We decided to stay with Tibby for the day and catch up on a few errands, not to mention this blog!

We've Been Busy!

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while, I've been a little busy.  The day after my last blog, we picked up the Hollingers at the Palm Springs Int'l Airport.  So Tuesday was spent preparing for them, getting caught up with them, having dinner together, and talking about some plans for the 2 weeks they are here.

The next day, Wednesday, we went out for a hike to the Coachella Valley Preserve again, and this time from the visitor's center.  The area right by the center is the San Andreas Fault...it goes right through there...through these trees - all part of another oasis.  Love these trees.

Here we are out on the trail looking over the valley and preserve.

When the Hollingers were RVing, they came to this area for 2-1/2 winters.  So they know the area well.  One of the things John did was fly his model airplane out here on the flat plains of the desert.  So John now has a drone and brought it down here to fly.  It's just starting up here on the ground.

And here it's in the air.  It has a camera on board and he does some cool things with photos and videos from the drone.

This is the Moon Canyon, around that corner (and several more corners).  Judy and I walked up there a piece while John was flying.

So Thursday we planned to have Frank and John out for the afternoon and dinner.  Gerard went with John & Judy up the canyon just behind us in the morning.  John flew his drone again for a while from there.  There are 2 flags up there, the American flag and the Canadian flag.  The Canadian flag is in sad shape, so Gerard and I are going to purchase another one and replace it...later.

So Frank & John came out.  We had a wonderful afternoon with them.  I made Pisco Sour, a drink I learned how to make in Chile.  Yum.  Even better than the ones we had down there!  The Hollingers came over and we all had dinner together outside, then went for a swim in the Caliente Springs (pools and hot tubs here at the RV park).  After that, we had some dessert.  All in all, a terrific day.

Friday was spent doing some household chores.  We then went into Palm Springs for a drive, some walking around, and a bite and a beer.  The big Marilyn Monroe statue is in storage right now.  Here's a sad replica, but Gerard fell for her.

On our lot next to where we park the truck, Judy noticed a hummingbird going into the tree all the time and staying there.  So she found it's nest!  Sure enough, there she is sitting on the nest.  Very well-disguised, but we've been watching her.  The nest is so tiny, as is she.  Can't wait to see the babies!  We should be here when they are born.

Today we went to the market they have in Palm Desert every Saturday and Sunday.  Very nice market with lots of neat stuff - not your average flea market.  After that, we did a short hike in the mountains behind Palm Springs.  This is looking back toward Palm Desert.  Bob Hope's old house is up on the ridge to the left side.  Kind of hard to see here, but there is a trail up behind which we may do one day yet.

And the 2 mountain goats we saw.

So that, more or less, sums up what we've been up to the last few days.  Tomorrow we're going into L.A. to see a taping of Who's Line is it Anyway.  Should be fun, but a long day.  I'll let you know how that goes.

Beauty Day

Today we met up with Frank and John at their place over at the Riviera condos in Palm Springs.  We packed up our stuff (we needed long pants and jackets, as well as shorts and T-shirts, bathing suits - a real variety of clothes).  We did a little of this, and a little of that.

So first on the agenda was to visit the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway.  We even drove quite a way up the mountain before getting to where the tram leaves.  This car holds about 80 people, and the floor rotates so everyone can see all sides going up and down.  Very cool.

This was at the top.



And terrific views of the Coachella Valley.

We did a mile-long (or so) hike at the top.

Found a cute snowman...and the white thing with the pine cone on its head too.

One of the lookout spots.  Just a beautiful area and views.

Heading back down.  That road winding its way up is specifically for the tram.

The 2nd part of the day.  

And the 3rd part of the day.  We went to Pommes Frites for dinner, a recommendation by Dan & Joanne Clements.  It was very good food.  I took this picture just for Taylor, which I believe I posted on Facebook.

All in all, a terrific day spent with special people.

Desert Hot Springs

Well, we finally arrived on Friday around 2 pm (Pacific time), checked in, and spent the next hour or so getting the RV set up just right.  Normally it doesn't take that long (15 minutes usually), but since we are going to be here for some time, we wanted it just right.  There were a couple of other complicating factors, but suffice it to say, we made it and got it done.

We got all the outdoor stuff out of the RV (mat, chairs, tables, BBQ, etc.).  It's nice to finally settle in for the long haul.

Yesterday (Saturday), we cleaned the RV again.  It's amazing how much dust gets blown in when travelling down the road, and we drove through areas of lots of blowing dust, especially in Texas.  We also stocked up on some food and other things.

We chatted with Frank and John as they arrived in Palm Springs the same day we arrived here.  Desert Hot Springs and Palm Springs are about 5 miles apart.  We're probably about 8 miles from one another.  So we arranged to get together tomorrow and do some stuff.

The weather was really warm when we arrived - cooler yesterday, and nice today again, but it's been pretty windy here the last couple of days.  It's supposed to calm down.  There is one rule - never leave your RV's awning out if you are going away for any length of time (an hour).  The guy next to us was telling us that another RVer across the street from us left his awning out and went away for a while.  When he came back, the awning was up over the roof of his RV on the other side.

So today we decided to check out the area a bit and do our first hike in some time.  We went to the Coachella Valley Reserve, not too far away and hiked the Pashawalla Trail.

Here's the ridge we climbed up to - doesn't look bad here..but there's lots more climbing and hiking.  Those are people up top.

Here's a look back at the mountain with Palm Springs below it.  It's about 10 miles away to the base of that mountain, at least.  I need to find out the name of the mountain.

From up on the ridge, you can see the oasis down in the valley.  Those are palm trees growing naturally where a small stream flows.

Finally reached the uppermost part of the ridge we hiked along.

This is looking down into part of the canyon we walked down on the other side.

Oops - this vehicle made it down the easy way - although it didn't end up so well.

This is part of the oasis of trees we saw from above.  Huge palm trees and a lot of them were covered or partially covered in fronds all the way down the trunks.

Just a little sight along the way.

We ended up walking about 8.7 km, a little further than we anticipated.  We were awfully thirsty when we got back.  So we took care of that - with water, of course.

We're looking forward to tomorrow.  Should be fun.