A Celebration In Indian Canyon

The past couple of days have been spent with our son and daughter in law, Deni and Courtney. It started with meeting them at the College of The Desert Street Fair on Saturday. We managed to find them in the masses of folks who mingled amongst the street vendors and entertainers.

L-R  Deni, Jeanette, Courtney, Barb & Doug @ College of The Desert in Palm Desert, CA.

We spent a few hours touring the various sellers' booths before deciding on some favourite food fare.  Later on, they headed off for dinner with Courtney's side of the family.  Jeanette and I headed back to our site at   Caliente Springs Resort | A premier hot water RV and Vacation Home Resort where we sat out at the pools to enjoy the sun and hot springs.

Yesterday was a planned hike into the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation.  Barb and Doug drove Deni and Courtney to our RV site.  Motorcyclists too, they were curious about the riding gear we use (heated and otherwise) so we shared our knowledge of what works for us. 

Checking out some motorcycle riding gear.

Taking a tour in the spa area of our RV resort.

We toured Deni and Courtney around the spa and golf facilities before driving to Indian Canyons to ready for our planned hikes through the stunningly beautiful canyons there. 

Some of the green space in our resort.

Our goal was to hike the Andreas Canyon first, enjoy a nice outdoor lunch and complete the afternoon hiking the Palm Canyon area.  This is a beautiful area to hike.  The magnificent fan palms and fast running creeks provide a cool and refreshing respite from the hot desert heat.

A true oasis in the desert.

We hiked in earnest while enjoying the beauty of this area.  It was interesting to learn that the Cahuilla Indians who settled here, over two thousand years ago, developed interesting and complex communities.  They could thrive with the abundant plant and animal life here along with the endless water supply.  There are creeks that flow continuously through this area. 

Inaccessible to hikers, I was able to take this photo of the ancient dwellings that dot the mountain side.

The high cliff rock ledges would be attractive to heady rock climbers.

This area (and others) conjures images of the Cahuilla Indians bathing in these cool pools under the palms.

We were asked to take a photo of other hikers and they reciprocated by taking the photo below.  Deni and Courtney love to hike - as do we - so this was a fitting activity to partake in.

Check out this creature!

The canyons offer a plethora of flora and fauna.

Trust Jeanette to plan a special birthday lunch to celebrate our son's 34th birthday.  Although Deni celebrates his official birthday on the 22nd of March, he will be back in Edmonton, Alberta.  So, Jeanette prepared a wonderful lunch that we celebrated and enjoyed between hikes.

Even the napkins depicted the celebration.

True to form a small bottle of white wine was poured to celebrate the special moment.  Once lunch was done with, we tackled the Palm Canyon rocky gorges and barren desert lands below.

Happy 34th Birthday, Deni!!!!!

Ever the creative photographer, Jeanette wanted to capture the photo below with Deni and Courtney under the bend of a fallen palm.

The desert was heating up as we continued our second hike.  The various  oasis we came into helped cool us before continuing to press on to complete the hike.

With our two hikes completed, a celebratory lunch enjoyed, and driving through the Palm Springs/Palm Desert streets, we arrived at Barb and Doug's rented home for another celebratory dinner and some pool time. 

The mid-afternoon libations were thoroughly enjoyed around the pool.

Deni and Courtney made good on their desire to cool off with a swim.  Deni took a plunge but Jeanette only captured the splash.  Either way, they enjoyed their swim while Barb, Jeanette, Doug and I looked on.

Dinner was five star!  How can one not appreciate a wonderful dinner, enjoyed in the shade of a hot afternoon, in the company of our family and theirs.  Barb and Doug were (as always) wonderful hosts.  Thank you for a wonderful afternoon and evening.

Barb, Courtney and Doug had a similar thought to celebrate Deni's birthday with this tasty cake.

Yes, Deni cut his cake and ate it too!

With dinner completed, we enjoyed the balance of the evening enjoying each others company and chatting about all sorts of things.  By 9:00 pm, Jeanette and I hugged our kids and hosts, said our good byes and headed back for our spot in Desert Hot Springs.

Deni flies back to Edmonton this Monday afternoon and Courtney follows in a day or two.  We enjoyed our time - however brief - with them and we look forward to our next visit when they fly out to the BC coast this late April.  We'll be back home by then.

A wonderful time had !

Now.....the coming days will see us return to some of those activities we so enjoy; golf, reading, motorcycling and yes, more hiking.

More on that on the days ahead.

Thanks for dropping by.