The morning brings the balloons out again. They have been up in the sky almost every morning we’ve been in Phoenix . This would make a nice parting shot of our stay.

California is glad to see us. Mountains are starting to pop up on the horizon. But first let’s drive through the check point to make sure we are not bringing any produce into the state.

Off in the distance is the San Jacinto mountain. At the bottom of the righteous downhill is Palm Desert and the Emerald RV Park we will staying in.

Palm Desert, California will be as far West as we have traveled in our fifth wheel. This will also be one of the fanciest RV Parks we have stayed. We have a wonderful location, lots of open space. No one will be parking next to us and the Dog Park is running distance for the pups.

The evening brought strong winds and they lasted into the morning. We went to the Desert Palms bike shop and got some suggestions. Great directions but the wind was so strong we got to a point we both agreed riding into sand drifting up the road would not be fun.

Out on the road we find there are an abundance of marked lanes for cyclist. However we get to share the lane with golf carts in some areas.  I didn’t get a photo of it, but we saw a golf cart that looked like a classic Mercedes

Riding around the city we saw a sign for the Palm Desert Visitors Center. Located in a lovely park, we rode around many sculptures and ponds. Quite a few people enjoying the day as well.

There is a casino here owned by the Twenty-nine Palms Band of Mission Indians of California. We stopped at a corner at a signal light. This cycling sculpture is on the casinos corner. I thought that was pretty neat. History tells that Donald Trump teamed up with the tribe to get the casino rolling. It was just a big bingo parlor at the time. Opening in 1995 as Trump 29 it was short lived. The tribe bought it back for $6million and changed it back to Spotlight 29.

Growing along this boulevard is a long row of huge Salt Cedars. I find it interesting because Slat Cedars consume huge amounts of water daily. I can only imagine how much the big boys use.

One of Doogie’s favorite places to sit is in the doorway of the trailer. Here he has a perfect view of the Dog park. This way he can see when his new found buddy “Ben” shows up.

This ride we rode onto El Dorado. It goes into a gated community that we managed to ride through. At the other end we found roads that many cyclist were riding. We followed the roads as far as we could. We found ourselves on El Paeso. Quite the road with many galleries, couturier shops and very nice resturants. I found these designer rabbit sculptures in the median.

On the way back home we spotted  this shopping centers name. We smiled it reminded us of our Nephew Cam.

Every Thursday in Palm Springs there is a street fair. Talking with people in the park they encouraged us to go.  The weather forcast for today forecasted really strong winds. We road early and got back by noon. That is when the winds would start. By the time we left for the street fair it was really blowing. Sand whipped down the road.

Palm Springs was worse. It took us forever to find the right location only to find this was the first time for the fair to be cancelled. Huge palm limbs were falling and trucks and tractors were busy scooping up debris. No street festival, so we went to the Tonga Hut for dinner. It was ok, nothing we would go back to. I did get this photo of this really cool bike rack. At home we checked our wind weather app and the winds were up to 41 mph. Wow!

Because the winds were going to be still very strong we loaded up the pups, lunch and water headed to Joshua Tree National Park. Entering the park the first thing that cateches your attention are the boulders. It appears that some giant person just stacked them all up. They are granite rocks.

The creosote bushes are in bloom up the side of the hills. And the Cholla Garden area was full of the Cholla known as Jumping Cholla. Doogie knows them first paw. He had 4 of them up his leg.

Skull Rock is a must see!  On the way to see it I found these flowers growing. What got my attention was the rock behind them. It was a rough and grainy. Like all the other rocks here. From a distance they all look so smooth.

Heading to the Key View, Joshua Trees were everywhere. It is really not a tree. It is related to the yucca. A group of Mormon settlers gave the name. The unusual shape reminded them of Joshua in the biblical story of raising his hands up to the sky to pray.

Jim is hanging on to the info board because it was so flipping windy up there he had to hang on for this photo-op. The View was awesome off in the distance is Palm Springs and Desert Palms. The info board posed the question..What is wrong with the view. You guessed it the haze caused by pollution. Despite that it was quite impressive.

We are camped right by the dog park. Doogie with his play buddy, Ben. He belongs to Cara. They were so much fun to watch roll and tumble. With occasional breaks. Tomorrow Ben, Cara and Mike are headed back to Seattle, Washington. Bummer.

 

We had read about a tram that went up to the top of Mt. San Jacinto and decided it needed to be marked off our list of stuff to do. Opened in 1963 it is the largest rotating tramway in the world. During a trip in 1935  Francis F. Crocker an electrical engineer first proposed a tram going up the face of the Chino Canyon once he saw  the 10,804 peak of Mount San Jacinto. Started in 1960 and opened in September 1963. They used helicopters to construct 4 of the 5 towers. That earned it a reputation as a great engineering feet.

The tram had It’s fair share of incidents and in 2000 the aerial-tram cars were replaced the new cars that slowly rotate giving riders a 360 view.on the wide up and down the canyon.

The park has 14,000 acres with 54 miles of trails. 17 trails in all.

We started out on the discovery trail and joined up on the Notch Trail. Consisting of hikes to 5 notches that offered spectacular views of the valley below.

All the The while Mount San Jacinto was watching from behind.

One last shot of the wind farm and the Boulevard headed to our RV Park

We are all packed up for an early departure. As a rule we usually dine out on our last evening in town. We found an Applebee’s that was quite comfortable. Andrew makes a really fine Old Fashion and the meal was quite tasty too!

Arriving back at the Park. This is the last night to enjoy our big front yard. I do believe we had the best location in the park.

Tomorrow we head to San Felipe Baja California Mexico. Ah, Chihauhau!