We have been here at Sam's in Desert Hot Springs for three weeks already but still have two more weeks to go. Even though this will be more than twice as long as we have stayed in one spot in our journey to date, we don't seem to be having any cabin fever issues like I was expecting. I suppose this is predominantly because there seems to be so much to see and do here in what is called the Coachella Valley. In fact I might argue I am finding it a bit sad that we only have two weeks left. This might be influenced by our really enjoying the mineral hot springs that we seem to visit practically every day! Plus our next destination will be BLM land in Quartzsite Arizona where we will have no utilities whatsoever. The closest thing to a pool there would only happen if we experience a flash flood.
The day after experiencing the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, we found another whimsical place to see even if it is definitely more on the strange and creepy side of the spectrum. Robolights is the creation of an artist named Kenny Irwin. His property is in a ritzy section of Palm Springs (not sure there are any "bad" neighborhoods in Palm Springs!). We had stumbled upon it while doing an architecture tour on bicycles earlier in our stay in the area. He has created something that is pretty difficult to put into words. Even the still pictures might be difficult to comprehend. He has taken all sorts of discarded items and constructed them into unique "artwork". During the holiday season, he decorates them with Christmas lights although the theme of the place is far from your typical Christmas light display. With the creepy theme running throughout the place, we found it disturbing that parents were willing to bring their young children to visit. I suspect many of the little ones would be having nightmares for some time to come. I was even worried about the two of us. Make sure to check out the link to the Youtube video of some of the displays. It will give a better feel for the place even if it doesn't make you feel better.
Approaching Robolights from Street Parking
Poor Mickey/Minnie?
I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up
Youtube Video of Our Visit to Robolights - Enjoy!
I managed to get quite a bit of bicycle riding and geocaching in during the days. We headed back into Palm Springs for the Thursday night Villagefest and stopped into the Modern Architecture Museum. They had free admission and Chris wanted to check it out. It is a rather small place and do not permit any photography. If you're reading this, don't feel too bad I don't have pictures. The place was so-so. Let's just say we didn't spend nearly as long in there as we were expecting and we were so glad we hadn't paid to get in. Some of the other visitors seemed to be much more engaged with the displays. Maybe they are architecture students or really into the modernism, but this wasn't our finest stop.
We headed back over to Joshua Tree National Park for another visit. This time we went to do the Lost Horse Mine Trail. The actual mine is about two miles out the trail. I suspect that many people hike out to the mine and back for a 4 mile trip. It is a pretty hike with some elevation gain as you get near the mine remnants. There were lots of people out exploring the place although there is a chain link fence closing off some of the more fragile and possibly dangerous areas. After seeing the place and resting a bit, I expected we would return the way we came because I didn't expect Chris to want to continue around the complete loop trail which comes in at just under 7 miles. Needless to say, I was pleased when she suggested we continue on and follow the loop. The next 4.6 miles was much less traveled. We probably only saw a handful of other people out on this section. Once we got through the ups and downs of the surrounding hills, we had a reasonably flat walk on a sandy trail back to the parking lot. It was a nice hike, especially in the late afternoon as the sun got lower in the horizon. It would be nice to be a bit closer to the park entrances to avoid the need to drive over an hour in the dark from the high desert back into the valley below.
Remaining Structure at Lost Horse Mine
A View in Direction We Came From
Strange Rock Formations
Old Fireplace
Intriguing Rock Formations
Looks More Like Modern Art Than Nature
Tulip Rock
Part of our investigation into what there is to do around here led us to the sport of polo. Not water polo, but polo with horses. The Empire Polo Club in Indio has polo matches on many Sundays during the winter months. It is open to the general public. For those that are either really into polo or have lots of money to burn (I suspect there are a fair number of the latter around here), there is the one side of the polo field with tents and tables and food an drinks all served by the wait staff. We opt for the "cheap seats" on the other side of the field. The tailgating area only costs $20 per vehicle to get in. You bring your own chair, food, drinks and setup along the edge of the field to watch the matches. We asked the attendant collecting our money how the seating worked and she told us to find an open spot and setup your chair.
There was already a very big crowd but we found a spot and as we opened our chairs, a guy yelled at us that this area was reserved for his friends. We moved a bit further down the field and found a spot without any such problem. A polo field is big. Three times as long as a football field and maybe twice as wide. The crowds ran the gamut but many of them were dressed in their Sunday best. We too were dressed in our Sunday best but ours did not compare favorably with theirs. Many of the women were wearing fancy hats like I would associate with the Kentucky Derby. Again, we didn't fit in but didn't feel out of place. At one point a woman came by and offered us tickets for polo lessons. She told me, Chris could get her lesson at half price if I bought a lesson. I told her that we don't even know how to ride a horse, so riding one at breakneck speed while swinging a mallet and chasing a white ball didn't seem like a wise endeavor. She tried to be a good saleswoman, but after several minutes of explaining how fun it is, she eventually gave up on us and moved along to a couple in their 70's!
The Fancy Side of Polo Field
Our Side of Polo Field
Chase That Ball
So we did learn a little bit about how the game is played. There are two teams of four and two referees also on horseback. The match is split into sixths (instead of quarters) and each period is 7 minutes and 30 seconds long and is called a chukka. After each chukka, the teams ride off and come back in a few minutes on a new set of horses. After the third chucker, we have halftime and a longer break. They ask the people to head out onto the field and replace the divots and stomp them back in place. A lot of the people are out there with their champagne glasses and fancy clothes making it seem like an odd combination. Fortunately there is a Gator with a couple guys that go over the field at each break to collect the poop that inevitably finds its way onto the field. Given each match goes through at least 48 horses, we assume the the teams provide the horses. Unlike baseball or basketball, this doesn't seem to be the type of sport that has "pickup" games. The two matches were entertaining and we found it a really fun way to spend several hours while in the area.
Replacing Divots with Some Fancy Hats
I'm Flying!
Don't Fall Off!
We did have a day or so of rainy weather a week into the new year. Our area got about 2 inches of rain and there were small areas around the campground that had small washouts. As we headed out after the rain ended, there were sections of the main road where they needed heavy equipment to clear all the sand and debris that was washed across the road. We did hear of sections in the valley where roads were closed but we didn't venture far enough to see that damage. The storm that came through did one really nice thing. It dropped snow on Mt San Jacinto and the San Bernardino Mountains leaving a pretty snow capped view when looking west. I had hoped to make it up to Big Bear Lake as one of our day trips, but now that the snows have arrived, I guess that will need to wait for a future visit.
View from Sam's of Snow Capped Mountains
Another destination was Coachella Valley Preserve. It is only about 10 miles from our camping spot but heading east which seems to place it pretty much in the middle of nowhere. And it is in the middle of nowhere but what is there is a pretty amazing oasis. There are numerous trails - about 25 miles worth - so we just headed into the main area, looked at the trail map and arbitrarily picked one. The McCallum Trail heads north to another large grove of native palms. There is a nice pond there with a few benches if you find the need to just sit back and relax. We wanted to get a hike in so we went back the way we came just a bit and hit the Moon Country Trail which heads up to the northwest. After a bit of a climb, we do get some great views back over the oasis portions of the preserve. Plus we can see glimpses of the snow capped mountains to the west. We had not done a great job of studying the trail map, so when we ended up in a wide wash between two hills, we were unsure which way the trail went. After guessing wrong and ending up in a bit of a dead end, we just turned around and headed back down the wash. We eventually saw trail markers again and knew we were on the right path.
Boardwalk Thru Oasis
Snow Capped Mountain in Distance
View Overlooking Oasis
Snow Capped Panorama
One nice thing about being out on the west coast has been our ability to meet up with friends and family. That are now transplanted out here. Bev, a friend and co-worker at Eastman Kodak that lives and works in the Hollywood region, has been trying to figure out when and where we might be able to see each other. We finally came up with a plan to meet in Escondido on a day she needed to drive down to San Diego. Instead of just taking the expressway the couple hours, we opted to drive up and over the mountains out of Palm Desert. Route 74 was a pleasant drive especially since the weather was pretty nice. We had some nice views of the valleys below. We eventually made our way west to I-10 and then headed south to meet Bev at the Stone Brewing Bistro. The place we were led to had practically no signage so we weren't positive we were at the right spot, but we did see Bev and we finally found their well hidden entrance. It was nice to catch up with somebody I know that has survived all the downsizing and restructuring Kodak has gone through over the years. We enjoyed a nice lunch but found the time passed by way too fast, but Bev needed to get back to San Diego to pick up her daughter. Since we had both parked within 50 feet of a geocache at the brewery, we got the opportunity to show Bev one. Too bad it was just a lame one hidden under a lamp post skirt - one of our least favorite types of hides.
View After Driving Up and Up and Up
Winding Road
Since we had driven a couple hours, we figured we would stay around and take the brewery tour that afternoon before heading back. The tour is only $5 each with a tasting afterwards. The brewery is located in the same building as the bistro so it couldn't be any more convenient. After seeing this portion of the place, we walked a couple blocks down the sidewalk to the bottling line. The nearest line was idle when we got there but they started it up so we could see it in action. It wasn't super close and moves pretty quickly so it was difficult to understand exactly how it works. After this we head back to the gift shop and tasting room. They had four of their beers on draft so we got to give them a try. It was an okay tour and definitely worth the price, but I still think the tour we had in Petaluma at Lagunitas Brewery was more entertaining, had larger beer samples and was free! We headed back to Desert Hot Springs following the more conventional expressway route figuring driving the switchbacks of the mountains might not be as fun in the dark.
Show and Tell on Brewery Tour
Lots of Beer!
Adding the Foam to Beer
Bottling Line
Sure, A Pallet Will Suffice
Our last day trip in the area was to Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage. The 200 acre property was developed in the mid 1960's by the wealthy Annenberg family. The estate includes the main house and numerous guest houses with many lakes and a 9 hole golf course. Over the years, the estate has seen many famous visitors but not just those from Hollywood but also from Washington DC and even Queen Elizabeth. Touring the home is not free and usually requires advanced planning to get a reservation. They now have a visitor's center and gardens that are free and open to the public. We started out watching the video describing the estate over the past 50 plus years. Even though I don't recall hearing about this place when I was younger, I'm positive it would have come up. The estate has been dubbed the "Camp David of the West" and has even been used to host state dinners with foreign dignitaries.
Inside Sunnylands Visitor Center
The inside of the visitor's center is nice but the gardens surrounding it are incredible. A wide variety of native desert plants are displayed throughout the gardens. Plants were neatly arranged and spaced in a very orderly manner. There hardly seemed to be anything out of place. There must be a whole army of gardeners tending to the grounds. There are two rectangular water features that are elevated above the ground and have an infinity pool effect to them. The photos I took, nearly look like I pasted two different pictures together in Photoshop but in reality they represent the view one actually gets. We spent a great deal of time just slowly walking the various paths checking out all the visual interest the landscape architect purposefully provided for visitors if they take the time to notice. It was a very enjoyable stop and I bet the house and estate are equally stunning. Maybe we will go on the tour next time we make it back to the area.
