Palm Springs & Joshua Tree National Park


Our next stop on the trip was Palm Springs for the 4th of July week.  Jeff and I had separately visited Palm Springs in the last 6 months or so, but I thought it might be a good idea to go together and check out some real estate for a potential 1031 Exchange in 2018.  To cut to the chase, I didn't set up a realtor to show us houses until I got there and that didn't work out.  It was of course a holiday week, the very low point of the season, and at least 110 degrees every day.  We drove by two houses for sale in the Racquet Club Estates area.  Jeff (somewhat) patiently drove us around the area and I quickly realized that there were very few opportunities left here and the other neighborhoods in Palm Springs really didn't suit my fancy.  I suppose it was an effective outing as I did decide against Palm Springs. Basically, it can't stand up to it's competition of Coronado for a potential rental property.  So, I am back to the idea that I will buy a 2 bedroom condo in one particular building on the island and hope the stars align for me next fall.


There were only a couple of campers at Indian Waters in Indio, CA when we arrived.  We parked right beside the full time camper/managers of the place.  The husband takes care of the property and the wife runs the office from 4pm to 6pm everyday. They have been there for 7 years and seemed pretty happy with their lives.



So, what did we do with ourselves for the other 5.75 days we were there?  Well, there is a good amount of downtime in RVing.  You have to do 'normal' stuff from time to time.  Jeff got the batteries recharged and replaced for Betty.  We did laundry.  We went to see Cars 3 at the movies (mainly for the air conditioning since Betty's just couldn't keep up with the desert heat).  Of course, we also had to watch the Tour de France and did so in the club house watching their jumbo-tron and relishing in the cool air conditioning.  This took several hours each day since we don't have a lot on our agenda anyway.  Then, back to Betty in the late afternoon for showers and an outing each day.


We made a trip to Joshua Tree National Park which was worth the drive.  On the way, we stopped for lunch at 29 Palms Inn which had been recommended to us by Paula.  It was way too hot to sit outside and it was absolutely packed inside. The Inn is very near the entrance to the park, but seemed to be a local lunch spot rather than tourist hangout.  It had a hippy vibe and I had the best french fries of my life!  Jeff agreed with me.  I think they have spoiled me for fries forever now, they were that good. So, if you go, get the fish and chips!


Joshua trees live extremely long lives of hundreds of years and only grow in CA, AZ and NV. In the park, Joshua trees are only found in the Mojave desert versus the Colorado. Both deserts are within the park boundaries with the Mojave being the high desert and the Colorado being the low desert with less vegetation. We drove the park and stopped off at all of the required vistas.  I think my favorite part was the cactus garden that grows right between the Mojave and Colorado deserts, where the climate is 'just so'.


Cactus Garden

Oddly, we found the bee warning signs at each parking turnout. Apparently they need to drink the condensation from your air conditioning to keep hydrated.  We love bees, so we had no problem with this.

How could they be so bad?

Jeff and Joshua

                   
I suppose the reason to visit Joshua Tree is to see the trees, but once you have seen them, there weren't too many more things in the park of much interest.  The one to the left is one of the tallest (and easiest to photograph), so Jeff adds some perspective.  

We also found a spot where Jeff had rock climbed about 15 years ago with a friend. Here he points to the top of the climb.
I did that!



The highlight of the trip was actually a restaurant.  We went out several times versus trying to cook in Betty which was already an oven.  Our favorite by far was Cork & Fork.  It was local to us in Indio and the food was absolutely amazing....so good that we came back the next night and wished that we had found it earlier in the week so we could try the entire menu!

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