Merry Xmas and Happy New Years from Rose Parade

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Nearby Palm Springs is quite an affluent area. The El Paseo area is a high end shopping district similar to Rodeo Drive area of Beverly Hills. Not that we have much experience with this level of shopping, in fact this lifestyle somewhat curtails the elaborate spending we might have done in years past - there isn't much room to hold much more "stuff". That doesn't stop us from heading into the area to at least pick up a couple new kitchen knives. Being just a few days before Christmas, the stores were packed so we didn't even do much window shopping after we found what we wanted. 

So many of the homes in the Palm Springs area are of a very unique architectural style - Mid Century Modern or Desert Modernism. They have a sleek look with clean lines and lots of glass. It is a style seen in other areas of the country but not in the same concentration as in Palm Springs. There are numerous guided tours offered for those wanting to be driven all around town to see some of these homes. Many were owned by by famous Hollywood types like Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Liberace who would winter in the area. We opted to do a couple of 7 mile bicycle tours, each having a dozen or so locations to stop and see. 

Many of the homes are low, single level buildings with elaborate walls and landscaping making the actual homes next to impossible to see. But other homes that were more visible were pretty interesting as well. Our first ride was on Christmas Day which definitely helped from a traffic standpoint although the person that put together the route and descriptions did a very good job of picking streets with either bike lanes or in very residential areas where traffic is always light. Along the way, we stumbled upon a sight that was definitely out of place for this type of neighborhood. We later discovered the place is called "Robolights", created by the home owner and artist. More on this in the next blog post. Our next ride was two days later. There was a bit more traffic but the bigger difference with this route was many of the homes are nestled in the foothills of the nearby mountains. This made for a much more challenging bike ride until we got to the high point and could mostly coast back to the car. 

Not a Famous Home But Interesting

The Fountain at Palm Springs Airport

Palm Springs City Hall

The Robolight Property - More in Next Blog Post

Sonny Bono - Former Mayor of Palm Springs
Based on Wear Pattern, He Gets Lap Dances!

Unique Water Artwork

In between our bike rides, we went for a 4 mile hike at the Whitewater Preserve. Actually we had tried to go for this hike on Christmas Eve day only to find out they closed at noon giving us too little time to complete the hike we wanted to do. When we came back two days later, they were open and busy. The Canyon Loop Trail crosses over the Whitewater River which actually has water flowing in it. Then it intersects the famous Pacific Crest Trail and we follow the southbound direction of the PCT gaining 500 feet in elevation as we climb above the canyon floor. There are some great views from up here and the crowds of people we had to deal with along the first portion of the trail had all but disappeared. Near the ridge, the PCT continues on south while the loop trail heads in a more easterly direction. We eventually hit the switchbacks that take us down to the canyon floor and the road into the preserve. It was a nice hike and not too strenuous. 

Entrance Sign - and YES There is a Geocache Behind It!

Crossing Over Whitewater River Along Hike

Junction with Pacific Crest Trail

View Partway Up the Climb on PCT

View from Ridge Above Valley

Crossing Over River Again

One of the day trips we had been wanting to do was to take the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway up to Mt San Jacinto State Park. Being here as long as we are, we were able to plan the visit on a nice day. The weather on top of the mountain can be quite different than that on the valley floor since it is 8000 feet higher in elevation. Even though there is often snow on the top of the mountain during the winter, there hasn't been cold enough weather with precipitation to produce snow yet this season. The lower tram station is about 4 miles up from the Palm Springs Visitor Center. This drive gains about 2000 feet in elevation so the tram itself will need to provide roughly 6000 feet more! 

There are numerous parking lots which was good since there were many hundreds of people looking to do the same thing. A shuttle bus picks up the crowds and brings us all to the lower tram station. There is a long line of us waiting to get tickets. Even though the couple in front of us got tickets for the 10:20 departure, we got tickets for the 9:50 which meant we didn't really have time to explore the station before we boarded. No complaints from us. Each tram car can hold 80 passengers and I'm pretty sure each load was full. The tram cars themselves are somewhat unique in that the floor rotates twice in the 2.5 mile ride. This does permit everybody on board to get more than just the one view you happen to have when you enter the tram but it does provide for a challenge since many of the handholds are constantly moving out of your reach. At each of the 5 towers, there is quite a jolt making balance difficult. Being packed like sardines might actually prevent people from falling over during the 10 minute ride.

Looking Up from Lower Tram Station - The 5 Towers are Highlighted in Red (click on image to zoom in)

View From Inside Tram Car on Way Up

There are lots of things to see and do at the upper tram station and we investigate but we came up for a hike so we decide to hold off on the inside attractions for afterwards. We do check out a few of the viewing points and take lots of pictures. It was at this point that we realized we had planned on much cooler weather up here and have way too much clothing. There are pay lockers that come in handy to leave the hats, gloves and jackets we won't be needing. There is a short walk around the visitor center with picnic tables and it seems like most people don't venture very far from this area. We plan on doing the 5 mile loop trail. There's a free backcountry pass that needs to be filled out before starting any of the serious hikes. We take the Round Valley Trail. There are a fair number of geocaches hidden along the trails so we take the chance to get a few along the way. The other advantage of stopping to look for caches is that it gives us a chance to catch our breath. At 8500 feet, the air up here is thin and we can definitely feel it. 

Panoramic View Over Palm Springs and Beyond

Real Trees! Looking Towards Our Hiking Direction

At about the 2 mile point, the trail splits. Your choice is to continue on this trail and in about 5 more miles reach San Jacinto Peak at just under 11,000 feet, or head along the High Trail back east to continue on the loop. We realize that we are not nearly in good enough condition to handle the hike to the peak regardless of how appealing it sounds. After another half mile we reach the high point of the High Trail. It is at this point we pull out the lunch we had brought with us taking in the incredible views. It was nice to be in an area with "real' trees and the smell of a pine forest. 

Chris (in foreground) Replaces Cache by Bridge

Not Redwood Big, But Still Big

Our Lunch Spot

 

Weathering Rocks Near Peak of Our Hike

By the time we get back near the tram station, we still have enough daylight to tackle the 2 mile Desert View Trail. This is definitely where the majority of people that leave the tram station go to. There are 5 "notches' along the trail that permit people to see the surrounding valley. From this high up we can see quite a distance easily seeing the Sultan Sea 50 miles away.  We were good and tired when we finally got back to the tram station just at sunset. We were amazed to see how many people were here. There was a long line of people waiting to head down. Unlike the trip up, where you get a ticket for a certain time slot, on the return trip, you just wait in line and they take people in order. More surprisingly, there were still full tram loads of people coming up. Obviously they were not coming up at dusk to do any hiking. There are a couple restaurants and a bar so I guess they could be coming up for dinner. We grab a beer at the bar while we wait for it to get dark. We figure we deserve to rest and would like to see the lights of town after dark. It was nearly an hour wait in line before we were herded onto a tram and made it back the lower level. A long but very fun day.

View at a Notch

 

Approaching Sunset

Windswept Tree

Palm Springs and Beyond at Night

The Upper Tram Station

Our tired legs needed a break the next day so we took it easy only going to the Moorten Botanical Gardens in Palm Springs. It isn't a huge place but does have an impressive display of many plants. Most of them we have seen during our time in the desert southwest this year and last winter. But there were quite a few interesting species we have not seen before. We got there just before an afternoon tour was to start so we decided to join in. The docent was extremely knowledgeable on all aspects of the plants and even had a very interesting delivery of the facts. 

Entrance

Crested Cactus

One thing on Chris' bucket list was to attend the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena on New Year's Day. Not that Pasadena is close to our camp in Desert Hot Springs - probably about a two hours drive - but Chris had found a tour bus company that offered packages for the parade. The tickets weren't cheap ($130 each) but included a bus ride from Palm Springs, a box breakfast for the ride, tickets for bleacher viewing on Colorado Blvd and a bus ride back. Since the parade starts at 8 AM, we knew this was going to be a very early day. Early enough that we celebrated New Years on east coast time so we could get up and drive to Palm Springs for a 5:30 AM departure. We had about 25 to 30 people on our bus and the drive to Pasadena was uneventful. Traffic wasn't too bad until we got within half a mile of our parking lot. The cheapest price we saw for parking was $25 but some were much more than that. I was glad we didn't need to deal with that mess.

The crowds heading to the parade were huge and it was probably a one third mile walk to our section of bleachers. The line getting into the fenced off bleacher area was lengthy to but with minimal pushing and shoving, we made it. The seats themselves had a reasonably good view of the parade and were wide enough to not be too annoying. At the start of the parade, there was a special flyover of a B-2 Stealth flanked by two fighter jets. Our spot was just about halfway along the route so the parade didn't make it to us until a little after nine. The parade started with a dozen California Highway Patrol on motorcycles performing quite intricate formation riding. Later in the day at the Rose Bowl football game, Georgia plays Oklahoma. There was a large group of Georgia fans to our left and a group for Oklahoma to our right. For the most part, they were all well behaved and the majority of them left halfway thru the parade in order to tailgate before the game.

Stealth Flyover

Crowd Fills In

The parade itself was impressive although afterwards Chris thought the floats would be even bigger. I suspect part of the issue was she was a young girl the last time she watched the parade and everything seems bigger to a kid. The thing I found remarkable was how elaborate the floats are especially since all the decorations need to come from some part of a living plant - flowers, seeds, barks, etc. The marching bands were pretty incredible too. Some are from Southern California communities but most were invited from all over the country and other countries for that matter. I can guarantee that some of the high school bands that performed had more band members than were in my whole high school class back in Ohio!

Dancing Band

There were a few dozen horses scattered throughout the parade lineup. Not nearly as impressive as those at the Tucson Parade we saw earlier in 2017. Behind each group of horses were a few teenagers in white jumpsuits with a broom, shovel and wheeled garbage can. Each time they needed to "work", they would get quite the ovation from the crowd. They were really getting into their notoriety. One of the guys was running past the crowds standing along the curb and giving everyone a high five. I'm not positive I would want to receive such a greeting from somebody doing this job! The girl who was riding her wheeled backed down the center of the street was pretty unusual too.

Pooper Scooper Surfing

At a little over 2 hours, it was a bit tiring sitting on aluminum bleachers, but as the last of the entries went by we managed to get up and then wait for 15 minutes for the bleachers to exit onto the street. We eventually made it back to our bus and our driver told us our headcount was right so we could leave. Of course leave was a relative thing. All it really meant is we could get out in the wall to wall traffic and go nowhere fast. At one point she tried taking some more residential streets to see if she could get us to the expressway faster. Of course these streets weren't meant for tall buses like ours. We hit so many low hanging branches and not all of them were small. Each time it happens, I cringe even though it's not my bus. We eventually give up on the shortcut and just wait out the traffic. It takes well over an hour to go the couple miles to the expressway. We eventually make it far enough from the parade that the traffic is more typical - not light but moving. It was nice not having to drive through that mess. As we get to Rancho Cucamonga, we pull into Victoria Gardens. Part of the parade package included stopping at the mall to allow us all to get lunch on our own. I was expecting the typical outlet mall with a food court as our selection. Instead we found this to be one of the largest malls we have ever visited. Being In a warm climate, it is an outdoor mall so we wander the streets and find a place that looked good, had lunch and realized we still had time to check out the place more before we load up the bus and finish our drive back to Palm Springs. This was another one of those very tiring days but well worth it.