Monday, March 23, 2015

Dry as a Bone in the Desert

Today started with an oil change for the Hyundai. I drove to the dealership in Palm Springs and unlike the dealership in Renton where we bought the car, PS was very easy to deal with; no insistence to get more than what we wanted. While the car was being serviced I ran and ran and ran. I ducked away from noisy Palm Canyon Drive and ran through neighborhoods and past more than one golf course. I crossed streets with names like 'Eagle' and 'Birdie' and 'Winner's Circle'. After 45 minutes I figured I should get back onto the auto row area of Palm Canyon Drive and thought I was heading back to the dealership but I had some directionality problems and turned left instead of right and ended up adding 2 miles to my run. The Hyundai service department called to tell me the car was good to go and when they found out I was entering Cathedral City they told me I should turn around. Good news was the compliment I got when I picked up the car: "Wow! That didn't take you long." and even better, the car was washed and vacuumed!  We packed up and headed out with a Midcentury Modern Map in hand. If you love Midcentury architecture, Palm Springs is the place to go.  If you want to do this tour right, I suggest you take a bicycle and start early in the morning. Cars are too fast and walking would take too long. We saw many people on bikes, maps in hand. You can see the photos I took on my Flickr page. Next we needed to fuel up on good coffee(iced, of course) for the ride to Joshua Tree. We went to Koffe which was the perfect choice. The coffee was excellent and the courtyard out back was very relaxing and popular.


We have been staying at a wide variety of motels and Air BnBs and I thought tonight we would be camping but the campgrounds were filled. I think Chris is secretly pleased. I am determined to have not schlepped a tent and sleeping bags along with us in vain. At some point we WILL camp! But tonight we are staying at the Safari Motor Motel and at $55. a night it is a real deal. In fact, the refrigerator is larger and has a freezer and the TV is an up-to-date flat screen, neither of which had last night at  Caliente Tropics and we paid $40. more.  Last night Chris watched the Wisconsin basketball game on his ipad to get higher resolution!


Joshua Tree is a gorgeous place but I am so glad to be here in March! I think it only got up to about 82 today and that was perfect weather to be in the desert. I do not have the hardiness it takes to live in this climate. I moved away from Wisconsin to get away from sub zero weather and months of snow. In this arid place I could not tolerate the burning heat of summer and the ever shifting sands. I wonder; do they need sand sweepers to clear roads on a regular rotation? The blue skies and pastel sunsets are lovely though. We never get enough of those in Seattle. We hiked the Hidden Valley Trail and drove through the park from the Joshua Tree entrance to the 29 Palms entrance. The desert is desolate and serene and yet very alive if you look and listen closely.












1 comment:

AnnaRae said...

The picture of the twisted tree is gorgeous!