Eating, drinking and people-watching …

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That’s what this week has been all about, and there’s been plenty of it to keep us amused. We’ve found out more about the people in white floaty outfits (they’re still here until Sunday). It’s definitely not religious, and it’s definitely very strange and involves lots of time spent in darkened rooms and the rest of the day eating meals of hard-boiled eggs, lentils and raw vegetables (best not to be sharing a room then!) Their ‘leader’ has taken six rooms on the top floor of the hotel – which have been emptied of furniture - where she takes visitors (for many more $$$ presumably?).

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Interesting that we have spotted a handful of rebels in the evenings in the local bars and pizza restaurants … not wearing appropriate garments of course.

Mid-week we were joined by a large number of business people (who all seemed to come from Seattle and made sure we knew it) allegedly on a three day course entitled ‘the power of your sales technique’. A few wise delegates quickly realised that temperatures of 95 degrees were much better spent by the pool racking up some fairly hefty bar bills, as long as they regularly updated their respective offices by mobile as to the success of the leads they were making!!

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On Thursday evening we spotted the first Christmas tree in the hotel (still surrounded by the Halloween theme … we’ve now tried pumpkin scones, pumpkin loaf, pumpkin lattes, no seriously we have!).

Best meals of the week go to Tommy Bahamas (Caribbean style, as you’d probably guessed and the most expensive at $90 for three courses and wine) and our favourite the California Pizza Kitchen (yes Daniel, they still do the BBQ Chicken one!!).

The highlight of Palm Springs …

You promised we'd find bears up here...
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Was undoubtedly a trip up the San Jacinto mountain range by aerial tramway.  It’s a 2 ½ mile cable car that ascends to over 10,000 feet and goes through 5 different climate zones on the way. So you start in PS where it’s in the 90’s and barren and get off 15 minutes later at the top where it’s in the 50’s and heavily wooded. We were also promised glimpses of all sorts of exciting wildlife like mountain lions, racoons and eagles – and there were many signs not to feed them. We actually saw 2 lizards and a squirrel, but the place itself and the views were absolutely incredible. Enjoy the pictures.

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Waiting for the return cable car we had coffees at the top and got sat next to a rather loud English couple explaining their life history to the poor American bloke sat with them. It turned out they were from the Isle of Wight!!

Came down in the tramway with a couple of Joan Rivers look-alikes – but then many of them are in Palm Springs! There’s a cosmetic surgeon on every block, and they all seem to be busy.

Friday was spent getting ready to leave for Las Vegas, with me (Jackie) driving the hire car for the first time so that the longer drives can be shared. Combination of big car, automatic gears, wrong side of the road, six lanes … you can imagine the rest! 

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For those who have shared our concerns (well Jackie’s really) about the laundry, you’ll be much relieved to know that the laundrette in Palm Springs was dead easy – 40 minutes (and that included the drying … well you may need to know this one day) and $8 later, and all was done. And it was still only 8.30 am!!! AND there was a Starbucks next door (another latte and pumpkin scone). Result!