Palm Springs so far

Last Thursday Al got on a plane back to Seattle to do some more work there. We arrived in the Palm Springs area the Monday before that, and settled into the RV park. We are actually in Desert Hot Springs, but it’s all the same area. I’m not going to lie, being in an RV park has been a real adjustment. My friends are across the road, and I have met some very nice wonderful people here. I have enjoyed hanging out with friends, and there are tons of dogs here.

But RV park life would never be my first choice. I like being able to walk out the door and hike for miles, and I like looking out the window and seeing nothing but landscape. But with Al gone again, it’s worked out OK.

Yesterday I drove to the Coachella Valley Preserve to see what that was all about. Sadly, it’s not dog friendly which was a bummer because there is a lot of hiking trails there. I wandered around for a couple of hours, staying mostly in and around the palm tree oasis. The preserve is in a shallow canyon that has enough water running through it, that a bunch of palm trees grow.

I don’t know how old some of these palm trees are, but I’m guessing pretty old. They are quite tall, and on the preserve they are left to grow naturally, which is really fun to see. Most palm trees you see have their old palm fronds trimmed off on a regular basis, these are left natural, and they look like they are wearing grass skirts. I quite like it.

The oasis is truly that, an oasis in the middle of the dry desert. The desert in this area is very different from where we usually go in Arizona. It’s much drier, and browner. So I can only imagine what travelers thought of this place when they came across it. There is water here, but I’m not sure it was ever drinkable. The warm mineral springs run underground all over this part of the valley, and this water smelled like that is were if came from. The preserve has built nice wood walking paths, so you can walk in, and around the palm groves.

It was very refreshing to walk through this beautiful landscape, and enjoy the shade, the trees, and the birds.

I saw this loggerhead shrike, and a cactus wren. There were several little birds flitting in the trees too.

There was information throughout the preserve that coyotes, and bobcats make their home in the canyon. That would have been fun to see, but I didn’t have any luck.

I may go back another day, more prepared to stay a little longer. Al doesn’t get back from Seattle until the 23rd, so I will have more time to go back and explore a little more.

Today I am heading to Joshua Tree NP. I’ve always wanted to see it, and I’m only about an hour away. Al has to turn around and fly back to Seattle on the 27th, and I want to see if Joshua Tree would be a good place to take the RV. So more on that next week.

Have an awesome weekend everyone!