LAST DAY

Today is our last day at Sky Valley RV Park.  We have enjoyed our time here although the first few weeks were a bit trying due to the cold, wind and rain.  Not what we had in mind when we booked our stay here.  I heard a report on the local TV News that Palm Springs got more rain in January than they had in the past 14 years.  The last 10 days has been pretty nice and it looks like the forecast for Yuma, Az and Vista, Ca will give us more of the same.  The only downside of this Park was that it is located in a valley and our cell service was pretty much non existent.  I had to drive down the highway a few times to find cell reception.  There are a few parks located closer to the town of Desert Hot Springs which might better choices or shell out more bucks for a park on the south side of  I-10 or get a better Cell provider.

There are a few large ponds in the RV Park and they are populated with Wood Duck, Mallards, Egrets, Mergansers, Cormorants and Black Swans.  I spent one afternoon taking some pictures of some of there birds and have included them below.  I wish I would have spent a bit more time doing this as the birds were all very willing subjects.

I also had my last Photography class this afternoon and we spent some time posing and shooting small groups of people and I have included a few of them in this post.  You will recognize Lori.  The other 2 are fellow classmates.  The class cost $20 for 4 classes and it was money well spent.  The instructor provided some good technical knowledge and more importantly provided opportunities to apply the knowledge in a couple of photo shoots.

We travel to Yuma on Friday (tomorrow as I write this) and will spend a week there.  We are staying in the same RV Park as friends, Betty and Richard.  We spent some time with them during our visit to Yuma 2 years ago and are looking forward to seeing them again.  Our plan is to make our stay in Yuma a relaxing week as the remainder of our trip will probably prove to be pretty hectic.   Following Yuma we are off to Vista, just north of San Diego, for 2 weeks and then 2 weeks in Anaheim to chase the grandsons around Disneyland.  After that we have booked 10 days in Boulder City, Nv and then 10 days in Hurricane, Ut.  Then we will start our trek back home.  We take possession of the new house upon our return and start the process of making it our home.

Fun times.  

A flock of Wood Ducks hunting and pecking

Once one decided to take off it became the thing to do and
soon it was just me sitting on my camping chair. 

Everyday about 6 Cormorants perched up in a tree.
Periodically they would fly down to the ponds and then back
up to join their buddies back up in the tree.
Ugly bird till I cropped the picture and saw their beautiful blue eyes. 

There were 8 Black Swans in the various ponds around the Park.  

 

This pair was busy building a nest.
Couldn't get too close as they became quite aggressive. 

The Mallards had their own pond.
The setting sun made the green heads shine

Much better than my shots while on a hike.
Guess it proves you can teach an old dog new tricks

The even lighting, no harsh sun creating shadows,
plus using a fill-in flash makes a big difference. 

A HOPE and a BOND House

Monday we took the Araby Trail which snakes its way up a canyon wall and then at the top joins up with a number of other trails.  We were limited to the the first part of the trail which is probably only about 1 1/2 miles out as the rest has a "no dog" policy and we had decided once again to bring Charli with us.

The main attraction for tourists is this trail goes past and above Bob Hope's former house.  You can also view the house used in the Connery Bond film "Diamonds are Forever".  Apparently a house owned by Steve McQueen is also in the area however we weren't sure which one it was or if in fact it was even visible from the trail.  Apparently the Hope house was listed a few years ago for $50 million and it must have sold as it was evident from the workmen around the house that it was undergoing renovations.  Lori took a look through her binoculars and she couldn't see any furniture inside.  The Bond house was apparently also just recently purchased.

It was a relatively easy trail especially after the one we were on two days earlier.  There was a pretty good climb on some switch backs but the trail was mostly open with little required in the way of scrambling over boulders.  We got to a point just below the Bob Hope house and we came upon the sign banning dogs from going any further.  Lori decided to stop there but, Shhh don't tell anyone, Charli and I persisted and went up anther few hundred feet so at least we could look down on the main attraction.  While I was tempted to keep going to the top I know from past experience that often the top that you can see is not really anywhere close to the top.  I snapped a few pics and we headed down to join Lori for the trek back to the truck.

White and Red Rose bushes lined the fence.

Not sure whose house is in the foreground but thats the Hope saucer roof up above.

Thats the Bond house up top so must be a Bond girl below.  

As with most hikes in the area, great view of the Coachella Valley

Hmmm $50 million.  
This is the back and those 2 white circles are the water tanks. 
I'm sure it looks better from the front and no doubt it has big rooms, 
great for entertaining and the view is fantastic but for $50 mil 
I don't think I would have designed a flying saucer. 

The nice thing about the view in the Coachella Valley, 
unlike other great views closer to bigger cities, 
is that there is very little haze from pollution.  
Most of the haze that you do see drifts in from LA. 

Starting to warm up so time to doff the legs.  

Bond house at the top

Plane landing at Palm Springs International Airport.
We watched for about 15 minutes and watched about 7 jets land.
They were stacked and circling further down the valley
 waiting for their turn.

Another 1,000 words

So which one do you like.  
The Colour version, beautiful but perhaps a bit boring 

The Black and White.  A little more stark 

Or as described in my iPhoto program the "Noir" version.
I kind of like this one.  Has kind of an eerie Hitchcock feel to it. 

They do offer a tour of the Windmills which would have been interesting.

We only have a few days left before we move on to Yuma for a week and then hit the west coast.  We have managed to do most of the things on our wish list although I'm sure we missed a ton.  Have to leave something for next time.  The weather is now pretty good and the forecast is for more of the same so I expect we will spend the next few days sitting in the sun reading, some walks around the Park and a few trips to the pool and hot springs.  Oh woe is me.

North Lykken and Museum Trails

On Friday we decided to do Downtown Palm Springs which entailed walking up and down the streets of Palm Canyon Drive and Indian Canyon Drive.  To me this day crystallized something for me.

I am really looking forward to getting back home.

Now despite some iffy weather we have had a great time and seen some great things but we have been living in our trailer now since July 30 and some things are getting a bit old.  The tight confines of the trailer are made even worse when our four legged companion insists on parking herself right behind you.  So if you are standing in the kitchen and decide to take a step back to get something out of the fridge you are immediately stepping on a tail.  Now admittedly this applies more to Lori than to me for 2 reasons.

Firstly, our kitchen is just big enough for 1 person, then add a dog.  Well a second person just won't do.  As my creativity in the kitchen stops at barbecue, which I have been doing regularly,  and slow cooker meals (Lori has tired of those long ago) the kitchen is Lori's domain.  (OK, so this is a bit of a cop-out but I'm writing the story so you get my version).  The second reason is because in Charli's eyes Lori is her 1st person and I come a very distant second.  So that means Charli follows Lori everywhere and when Lori sits down Charli immediately wants to get up in her lap.  So there is little time for Lori to have some time alone as it were.  More on that later.   In Charli's eyes I am good for a few things and it mainly involves trips outside to attend to bathroom duties regardless of the time of day or weather conditions.  I guess it is nice to be needed and I'm pretty good at juggling a leash and flashlight with one hand and bagging and tying off Charli's latest deposit with the other.  Hey, we all have our skills.

I digress.  Back to the main reason it will be nice to be home.  SHOPPING.  Lori loves to shop.  To her its an Olympic sport and she is constantly in training.  To her its the thrill of the search.  Wandering into all sorts of stores, walking in zig zag patterns up and down the aisles, reaching out and touching every article of clothing, caressing it.  Its almost like the sweater talks to her upon contact.  "Yes, take me home, I will keep you warm, I am so soft, please take me home, I am so lonely on this shelf."  Now I will admit that in most instances she is able to resist the tug at the heart strings that these conversations are meant to inspire however that doesn't stop her from continuing her search.  Now what the search is for is often a bit mystifying.  When we enter a store I will ask; "so what are we looking for" and the answer I get is often ambiguous at best.  I think she is hesitant to tell me lest I spot the item immediately and eliminate the satisfaction of the search.

I, on the other hand, walk into a store, usually with a purpose, go to the specific section I'm interested in, pick something out, proceed to check-out and I'm done shopping.

Now if the measure of success is who purchased more at the end of the day I can hold my own.  If the measure of success is who touched the most merchandise I am truly a sorry excuse for a shopper.
So to wrap this up the biggest event for me when we get home is when Lori says that she is going shopping and that I need not disturb myself from my meditations on the couch to accompany her.  Next year she really needs to get comfortable driving the truck around Phoenix or accept me moping around the store as she pursues her Gold medal (see Olympic reference above).

Again this is my version of events.  Other perspectives may exist but its not their blog.

In defence of this ramble its late, nothing on TV except the ongoing saga of Trump Reality TV as shown 24/7 on CNN and MSNBC.  You would think that nothing else happens in the world cause it never makes the evening news.

Ok, on to our last hike on Saturday. The weather has been getting better so its time to hit some trails and boy could we feel that we hadn't been doing much hiking in the past few weeks.  The North Lykken trail merges with the Museum Trail and while internet searches differ it was about a 3 mile hike.  Not the longest and the way back was a walk thru downtown with a stop at Starbucks for a
Frappuccino so net calories burned was probably a wash.  What the trail lacked in overall distance it made up for in elevation change, about 1900 ft, and a rocky uneven surface which required concentration to avoid tripping and becoming the proverbial snowball rolling down a hill bouncing off boulders along the way.    

What the trail did offer was great views of the Coachella Valley.

Interesting what a little irrigation can do.
All the boulevards and lawns in the cities south of I-10 are lush and green
and perfectly manicured.  
North of the I-10 mostly brown sand and rocks.
Makes it easy to see where the money is. 

Finally convinced Lori to take off the sunglasses for this shot.
Still working on the visor.
Something about her hair.

All the rain we have been getting hasn't been great but
it does make for some nice pics with the 
snowcapped peaks. 

A little golf course below.  

I can see 7 hikers making their way up the switch back trail to the top.  
When you get to what appears to be the top there are more tops behind it. 
We were beginning to wonder if we would ever start the downward trek.  

One other thing.  California drivers are the worst.  Perhaps worse than Winnipeg drivers.  They all seem to be very impatient, zipping in and out cutting you off.  Double solid lines on the highway have different meanings down here too.  At home it means you can't pass due to limited visibility of oncoming traffic.  Down here it means to zoom up right behind you, pull out narrowly missing your back bumper, floor it and then pull in right in front of you.  In one instance it was a police car that did this so I can only assume that it is the law down here and no his lights weren't on.  In two other instances the cars whipped by me, pulled in right in front of me and slammed on the brakes as they pulled onto the shoulder.  I assume their phone rang and not wanting to risk getting a ticket for distracted driving (I assume that is a ticketable offence down here) they would rather risk killing us all.  I can hardly wait to pull the trailer through the LA freeway system.

Next up we get a birds eye view of Bob Hope's house and the mansion used in a little Sean Connery movie called  "Diamonds are Forever".