Desert Hot Springs and Downtown Palm Springs

Desert Hot Springs neighbourhood

Yesterday was a day for driving around to get re-acquainted with the area.  It had been a few years since we had done a motorcycle ride through here.  We headed north from the Sands Golf & RV Resort - our home till the end of the month.

Golf!

Golf!

High up tee box.....on the Mission Lakes Country Club.

We really enjoyed touring around and checking out some of the better than 100 golf courses in this area.

Even the sight of snow on a hot day is stunning!

From the northern edges of Desert Hot Springs, we headed west then south towards Palm Springs.  This is what we saw along the way.  Anyone who has visited the Palm Springs area is familiar with these power generating windmills.  The valley is well known for strong winds.

Green....wind power!

There are hundreds of these in the valley.

Thankfully - or selfishly - for us, there were no winds!  Yeah!!!!  It's incredibly pleasant (hot too) without the wind.  Bring it on!

Would be nice to know just how much energy is created by the wind and these huge wind generating turbines.

Southbound from here we drove into downtown Palm Springs - land of Sonny Bono (former Palm Springs mayor, and former husband of Cher), shopping, restaurants, people gazing and the well known walk of movie and stage stars.  I looked for my star but I could not  find it.  I wonder where it is?????  Someone messed up!!!!

Pal Springs town centre.

I am looking for my star.....but it's nowhere to be found!  Uhmmmm.....I'll keep looking!

Shops galore!  This is a mecca for the shopping enthusiast.  Not for me though!...Not for Jeanette either!!!

It's always good fun to walk the streets in downtown Palm Springs.  It was a beehive of activity.

I found this star on the walk of fame.....I could be getting close to finding my own!!

Remember him?

And speaking of Sonny Bono, look below.  We found him.....hiding behind these sunglasses. 

He kept ignoring us.  A very stiff personality, don't you think?

I quickly gave up looking for my star when Jeanette brought me back to reality.  She claimed that I was dreaming....in living colour - not in B & W.  Okay!!!!  I get it!  They forgot to place my star on the walk of fame.....or - based on the personalities I saw  in concrete - maybe the walk of shame...certainly for several of the characters!!!!!

Nice architecture.  Reminded us of typical buildings in the Bahamas.

Jeanette took this shot.  I think she misses our ride......being repaired in nearby Cathedral City.

Nice shot with the mountains in the background.

So....with all the human  effort expended walking around and looking for my star, on the walk of fame, we felt the need to refuel our bodies.  Yes, it was lunchtime.  Uhmmmm where to eat?  What to eat?

We chose Mexican!!!!

Fresh Mexican chips and salsa.  Yummmm!

So we checked out the menu, ordered, and waited.  And waited!  And waited!!!  And waited!!!!!!  All along, the chips and salsa were going down well.  We were hungry.   We waited some more!  And waited - patiently - but to no avail.  Folks who had come in after us had long had their bellies filled and we were still sitting and waiting.  We never did get our food!!!!

As we got up to leave....the hostess wished us a nice day and thanked us for coming in.  We coloured our lunch time experience for her.  She felt really bad about that!  So....we left without contributing financially to the slightly depressed Palm Springs economy.  It really was a nice restaurant.....but the fault lies directly with the waiter.  Ho Hum!!!

Our RV spot - shot from our entry stairs....I'm talking up a wonderful Class 'A' RV'er neighbour from Maine.

Once back at the rig, we chose to take a walk to the golf pro-shop so I could ask about an early morning tee time.  Incredible as it may seem, we spotted a jeep that looked very familiar.  Yep...it was clearly familiar.  It belonged to Lucky and Trina - our convoy RV friends from the Chilliwack/Abbotsford area of BC - that we met at the 7 Feathers RV Resort and Casino in southern Oregon several weeks back.  We convoyed together for several days then parted company @ Moabi Regional Park, south of Needles, CA.  They had headed for Yuma, AZ and after one week @ Moabi, we headed for Mesa, AZ.

Although we had agreed to stay in contact, we had not called them since our arrival at the Sands RV and Golf Resort in Desert Hot Springs.   Purely by coincidence, Lucky and Trina had been on a hike with a group from our park.  They were just leaving for their home park, not far away.  We had a nice chat, exchanged some jokes, stories and laughs, and agreed to get together soon.  That will happen.  These are great folks.....and we cherish their friendship.

One last downtown Palm Springs photo.

Another wonderful encounter happened shortly after meeting Lucky and Trina.  Walking back to our rig, we saw a fella I had never met before, other than by email and through blog exchanges.  Ever since Jeanette and I got interested in RV'ing, I spent a fair bit of time researching the WEB for interesting RV'ing information.  I came across several blogs - written by active RV'ers - and this blog
Rick & Paulette's RV Travels

For the uninitiated, Rick is an IT guru and has gained a valuable and respected reputation in the  RV'ing blog world.  As former manager of IT for the  city of Vitcoria, BC, Rick has helped countless RV'ers, and others too, with their computer issues.  He was valuable to us too when I emailed him with questions about RV'ing internet and cell topics.

It was finally nice to finally meet you Rick.  We look forward to meeting Paulette too.

So....after a bar-b-q dinner at the rig last evening, Jeanette and I drove into Palm Desert to see a movie.  We saw, 'The Fighter'.  It was  OK....but we have seen better.  It was then home to bed for a needed rest - after expending so much energy looking for my star on the walk of fame - for an early morning round of golf here at the resort.

Wishing all a wonderful day.  Thank you for stopping by.