Palm Springs … 2 weeks was not enough!

We arrived in Palm Springs on November 14! The drive was wonderful, the sky was sooo clear and blue!! We stayed at Palm Springs RV Resort, a Thousand Trails park in Palm Desert, and it was great!!!

We started off being quite busy! Jack and Carol were in Palm Springs at the same time, which was wonderful. Although I talk and email with Jack a lot (since I still work for him remotely), it was so great to spend time enjoying their company before joining them and their son Jonas, along with Gerry and Leslie for dinner at a very quaint Indian restaurant in Cathedral City. The next morning, Jack and Carol came to the RV Resort for coffee and air fryer cinnamon rolls (that’s right!!), and of course to check out Bernie! Stamp of approval received!

We love hiking, and do lots of it; however, we’ve never really went desert hiking before so we were excited. Our first stop was the Coachella Valley Preserve, which is located on the trace of the San Andreas Fault between Palm Springs and Indio. The main groves of the preserve are called the Thousand Palms Oasis. These palms are not what you see in Florida or the Carolinas. The California Palms are indigenous to the southwest US and spring up where water bubbles up from a crack in the ground (fault line). Thus, the area is called an oasis.

It was very beautiful and interesting. Once we came through the oasis, we hit the desert hike. It was pretty cool! We met a father and son duo, who I believe were from the area and recommended we hike up to the top of a mountain to get a view of whole valley. Of course, we did! The hike was moderate for sure, but we did realize how easy it would be to get lost in the desert simply because everything looks the same. And as we thought we were cresting the mountain (you can see the switchback to the top in the picture below), there was actually another layer of mountain behind what you see before you get to the top. It was a very interesting experience.

So, fun story…

Barry and one of his best buddies as a teenager from Kamsack, Saskatchewan were able to connect while we were in Palm Springs! It was so wonderful to meet Conrad and his wife Laura! Barry and Conrad hadn’t seen each other in 20 years!!! There was a lot of catching up to do and I loved hearing their stories. Conrad and Laura are absolutely wonderful people, and we very much look forward to seeing them again soon!

I love Laguna Beach!! I’ve only been there 3 times in the past, but really wanted to see it again with Barry! It’s grown a lot since I was there last time but still amazing! Love, love, love the sound and smell of the ocean! We could walk along the beach for days!! We took Merlot to his first dog friendly restaurant! They had a dog menu!!! We ordered Merlot a hamburger with a bowl of water. Hilarious!!

Our next hike was to Ladders and Painted Rock Canyon! I have to say, it’s very close to the top of my favorite hikes, although Bryce Canyon in Utah is really hard to beat!! Painted Rock was not a hard hike at all, but it certainly was multi-faceted: from climbing rocks and ladders, hiking through slot canyons, up to the top of a ridge trail and back down spiraling through the colourful rock formations on the canyon floor, this hike had it all! It was so much fun! Some of the ladders were a bit sketchy, and there were a couple of areas where the trail was not marked that well; however, there were the occasional arrow made from rocks pointing you in the direction of the trail, which was pretty cool. Being in this type of environment just takes my breath away every time! This earth is an incredible place. We’re so fortunate to get to explore it the way we are.

We didn’t really get a chance to explore downtown Palm Springs until the second week! We took an afternoon just to walk around and explore. Visited Marilyn!

The Marilyn Monroe statue has an interesting history. “Forever Marilyn” was previously installed in Palm Springs from 2012 to 2014. When the statue was unveiled some folks loved it, others were horrified, calling it misogynistic and exploitative. In 2021 Forever Marilyn returned to Palm Springs where she will reside for a three-year period despite an active lawsuit attempting to have her permanently removed. We really enjoyed all the very unique art installations throughout the eclectic downtown!

On the way home we stopped at “Sherman’s Deli”. Their coconut cream pie apparently is legendary, so we had to stop. They were sold out!!!! I did have a bowl of barley mushroom soup, which was way better than coconut cream pie!! Okay I did have carrot cake, and Barry did have cheesecake, but still the barley mushroom soup was the best!!

Next hike, Joshua Tree National Park. The park lies at the intersection of two separate deserts; the higher Mojave and the lower Colorado. The Joshua tree is actually a type of Yucca and was named by Mormons in the 1850s, who saw their gnarled branches in the arms of Joshua pointing to the promised land. Joshua Tree National Park is known for its forests of giant Joshua trees, massive rock formations, fan palm oases and seasonal garden of cholla and ocotillo. It’s also a world-famous destination for rock climbers, with at least 8,000 routes for climbers, boulderers and highliners. I actually met Jenn and Cache who were starting their day bouldering on their first rock. So fun to chat with them!

We would have like to take advantage of the over 100 miles of hiking trails, which we certainly will during our next visit; however, since we had left Merlot the last couple of days, and the park is not dog friendly, we thought we would take the scenic drive through the park, and just stop at the various viewpoints. We came through the north entrance and followed the map through the park, exiting through the west entrance, taking in the incredible views, like the Cholla Cactus Garden, Skull Rock, Split Rock, among many more. According to the US Geological Survey, the park’s oldest rocks are 1.7 billion years old!! That’s insane! We very much look forward to returning to this Park.

Cholla Cactus Garden

Skull Rock

Split Rock

Our last day was hanging out downtown Palm Desert, which is awesome. Again, like many places during our journey, not much open through the week. Things were pretty quiet in Palm Desert, but we still loved it! Oh, and Barry got caught in a snow globe!

Overall, we absolutely love Palm Springs, and cannot wait to go back. There is so much to do and see; we feel we’ve only scratched the surface!! To check out more pics of our visit to Palm Springs, click the link! Next is our last stop before heading to Mexico!