It's a Beautiful Day Today  / Moby Grape

Palm Springs Diary - The End

If you're guessing we had a pretty good time in Palm Springs, I'd say "Yeah!!" But I really didn't mean to make it into an encyclopedia. Pardon me on that. We were only there one week, but we did quite a bit - coulda done more. But I doubt we'll ever get back that way again.

As I said to a friend: My 'WIsh List' has changed to a 'Bucket List'. Palm Springs was never really on either list ... so I view this excursion as a nice happenstance. And it was.

On my real Bucket List I really have only one event: to sail on the Legendary Bluenose schooner - out of Halifax, Nova Scotia. I have my doubts that will ever manifest.

Visit to Jackalope Ranch

To Celebrate our last evening before heading back to Calgary (snow) we headed for the Jackalope Ranch - another of the Kaiser Family of Restaurants - which also included the Palms Springs Hogsbreath Inn (which we missed out on as it closed just before we go here)

The Jackalope

http://wtwe.wikia.com/wiki/Jackalope

The Jackalope is a mythical animal of North American folklore described as a jackrabbit with antelope horns.

"The Jackalope has bred the rise of many outlandish (and largely tongue-in-cheek) claims as to the creature's habits. Even President Ronald Reagan enjoyed the legend as he humorously teased reporters in 1980 during a tour of his Californian ranch, where he had a rabbit head with antlers mounted on his wall. ..."
More ... http://thejackaloperanch.com/index.htm

There you have it ...

Misty Roses / Tim Hardin

Return to Idyllwild

We knew it was going to be over 100 F in the valley so ... Plan B: head back up to Idyllwild for the day.

Tim Hardin / Simple Song of Freedom (written by Bobby Darin)

Palm Springs Art Museum

Rose and I both studied Art ... so off the Museum ...

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Out on the sidewalk: former Patrons of Note:

 

The Living Desert

The Living Desert

The Living Desert is a Zoo and Botanical Garden ... of sorts - with a theme of the world's Deserts - it's plants and creatures - plus other attractions. It's large. You could probably spend the whole day here if you wanted to.

I have to confess though, that I'm not a big fan of Zoos. A lot of the animals don't seem very happy to me. Just sitting there. Not that you can always tell ... I mean what does a happy turtle look like? They don't wag their tails or anything ...

Anyway ... still plenty to see.

Marilyn's Merry-Go-Round

Joshua Tree National Park

Didn't know much about Joshua Tree National Park - except that it was big - and had a good circle route drive - up through the High Desert.

So we stocked up on water and headed out ...

Ever had a bunch of cactus spines stuck in you? Not pleasant. Many cactus spines have barbs and are not easy to get out. They also can easily penetrate a lot of footwear. Yeah.

Pioneer Town 

On the way  in ...

 

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Pioneer Town 

On our map I spotted a place called Pioneer Town - which I hoped might be an authentic Western style attraction. But it turned out to be somewhat of a tacky tourist trap. And we also discovered upon arrival that most everything here was closed - only open on Weekends at this time of year - I've really been batting 1000 - No Hog's Breath Inn - No giant Marilyn Monroe statue - and now we come to Pioneer Town and everything is closed. Sheeesh. But it still proved to be interesting and a bit of fun.

Hello !!??

... might as well steal sumpthin'

Palace Pools

At the 'Palace' we had 8 pools to choose from. We humbly only used 2. One at a time.

Over the years I've travelled quite a bit - but I learned to 'live on a shoestring' because I was often low on money. But I learned that I could still enjoy life. And I did. I'm quite happy to travel cheap.

Roses has a bit of a different Idea. Not a 'bad idea' - but different.

So she finds this place called Legacy Villa, La Quinta - near Palm Springs - sort of a gated community of Luxury Condos - that you can rent. This was our 'humble abode' for our week here. Some might not think much of this ?? but it's Palatial Living as far as I'm concerned.

When we got here a Country Music Festival called The Stagecoach Festival was in full swing close by - so a number of the Condos were rented out for this occasion. But after the weekend we pretty well had the whole joint to ourselves - as this 'Off Season' here. It felt like we were living like Royalty.

Bring my chariot around to the front ...

 

 

 

Well, Rose and I are in Palm Springs ...

I will not really be making any posts about our trip until I get back ... because I foolishly decided not to bring my laptop ... thinking that resources here would be sufficient ... WRONG ! so I haven't really got any way to post our pictures except for what I fish off the net - as below - presently using the Net at a local library in La Quinta.

Si.

It's been interesting and fun so far though ...