Desert Hot Springs

Tuesday | 15 February 2000 | Desert Hot Springs, California: We had a great day driving from San Diego. (Great weather also.) We took the “long way”, driving east, then north, past the Salton Sea to the Palm Springs area. We drove through Cuyamaca Rancho State Park to the quaint town of Julian. Julian was a gold mining town – 15 million dollars of gold was taken from local mines in the 1870s. The area is now known for apple and pear orchards and is an artist community. We had winding roads with steep descents – but My Driver is getting very good at using the exhaust braking system and we had no trouble. We came down into the beautiful desert, dotted with succulents of every sort. Early in the afternoon we pulled into a state park and had a picnic. It was very warm and though I made sandwiches from freshly-baked bread, the second-half of the sandwich was dried-out in the time it took to eat the first half! We continued on along the Salton Sea through Indio, passing mile after mile of date palm orchards, citrus groves and acres of grapes, and pulled into The Sands - a RV park/trailer park in Desert Hot Springs. Tomorrow we will explore the area. Until then, the satellite is up and college basketball awaits.


Wednesday | 16 February 2000 | Desert Hot Springs, California: This morning we explored Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Thousand Palm, La Quinta, Cathedral City and Rancho Mirage areas. This sounds like a lot of discovery, but it is a 30-minute drive at most. There seemed to be the same number of strip malls as golf courses. It is sunny and warm, but very windy. Our RV park has a golf course, so DT headed out to the driving range this afternoon. I am staying in, holding-down the camper from being blown-over. (A box of Valentine chocolates is helping in this cause.) Check back for photos tomorrow – we are going to Joshua Tree National Park!