Palm Springs - pre-birthday trip

View from Bud's backyard.

Quick post just to list out some of the adventures (and relaxing) in Palm Springs for a few days before my birthday. I stayed with my friend, Bud, who is snow-birding again this year in Palm Springs. Video here.

For my birthday we went to a new (6 months) restaurant, Ash and Vine. It is housed in a bungalow on La Plaza. The food and service were special.

Our first hiking adventure was to Anza-Borrega State Park, California's largest state park and about 1 1/2 hrs south of Palm Springs. The park is west of the Salton Sea.

Our destination was Maidenhair Falls Trail which starts at Hellhole Canyon Trailhead. We had like 3 different map apps which all had different trailhead locations. So you know, the trailhead is just out of the town of Borrego Springs (it isn't 3 miles out or 6 miles out).

Before you get to Borrego Springs, the drive takes you through the Badlands which is reminiscent of the South Dakota Badlands and worth the photo-op.

The trail to Maidenhair Falls is well marked for the most part until you get closer to the falls then you end up scrambling over boulders and around cacti but nothing too strenuous. But the "falls" -- oh boy. With all the recent rains, I was hoping for water falls though the name gives away the supposed real attraction - maidenhair ferns. There wasn't much of either - water or ferns. 😆In fact, you have to nearly crawl under overbrush to get to the cliff face (and Bud opted not to).

The hike to the "falls" and back is 5 miles or so. We enjoyed perfect temps and I am always amazed that there are oases with palm and deciduous trees. It was also very green for being in a desert.

We stopped in Borrego Springs after the hike for a meal and peruse a very interesting Fredericks Ancient & Ethnic Art gallery.

On the return drive to Palm Springs, we saw a hot air balloon that really looked like it was going to land on the highway or possibly a parking lot. For the longest time it was just stationary in the sky and not very high up. As we got closer, the igniters were turned on to try to get some elevation but didn't seem to work. No idea where it finally landed.

For another birthday dinner, we went to The Purple Room, a supposed rat pack hangout. It was very old school, very entertaining, and very Palm Spring.

On my departure day, we went to the popular Murray Canyon on the Agua Caliente Reservation. The palm trees are crazy tall. We took the Victor Loop that goes up above the canyon for dramatic views of Palm Springs and the surrounding mountains. Along this trail, we did encounter a big horn sheep. 

Video link here.

Another spell in Palm Springs

Had a few days free so went to Palm Springs again (2nd trip this year!). Stayed with my friend, Bud, who is renting a beautiful home in Palm Springs.

The full park.

We went to Joshua Tree National Park on Thursday. It is less than an hour's drive from Palm Springs. There are lots of Joshua "Trees" but what really is the draw are the incredible rock formations.

We stuck to the northern portion of the park where the "trees" are. We did drive to Keys View to take in the expansiveness. You can see the San Andreas fault where it splits into 2 trenches. You can also see the Salton Sea in the far distance. Apparently, you can see Mexico, too. 😉

Video of the Joshua Tree adventure is here. Best viewed in landscape. This one is short.

On Friday we went to Mecca, California which is east of Palm Springs -- California takes a big angle down this far. I had read about the Ladder Canyon and Painted Canyon Trails. These are 2 trails maintained by a local hiking club that are inside a Bureau of Land Management area.

These were two conjoined hikes in geology that is difficult to describe. The Ladder Canyon Trail requires a series of ladders (we went in the up direction) to navigate through very narrow slit canyons. Once you reach the top, you hike along the ridge until you descend quickly into a very wide Painted Canyon.

Both hikes are a kind of endless series of "what-the" and "oh-my" and "that's crazy" things to see and absorb.

Entrance into the trailheads for
Ladder Canyon and Painted Canyon.

The Painted Canyon hike does have a brief section of rope and ladder but if you were to start at the beginning you could just hike to there and return. It is spectacular.

The Ladder and Painted Canyon Trails video is here. Best viewed in landscape. This one 7 1/2 minutes because there was so much to see. It also includes the drive getting to the start of the hikes. There are some really good videos on YouTube on how to get to the trail head.

Other things we did before I left on Sunday:

• saw a very funny production of Avenue Q at Revolution Stage Company
• had a kinda wild time at PS Air Bar after Avenue Q
• had dinner with friends Bob and Dianne who are also spending the winter in Palm Springs
• played pickleball 2x with "the boys"
• lounged in the hot tub
• I went for a run!

Palm Springs for the New Year

Decided to take my friend Chris' invitation to come to Palm Springs for New Year's. Flew Sun Country on the 30th. Chris made reservations at Trio for dinner with friends for New Year's Eve. It was very pleasant.

Chris and I ended staying up past 1am getting caught up and reminiscing. 

I went for a short run on the 1st to take in all the flowering bushes and the different cacti.

Chris' condo has a heated pool, and he swims every morning. I joined in a few times. It was very nice. On the 2nd hiked the South Lykken Trail with Chris' friend, Kevin. After the hike, Chris and I went to my friend's Bud rented house for wine and cheese. Bud's brother David and sister-in-law, Mabel, were there. We decided to have dinner at The Tropicale, a swanky place.

Before heading to the airport on the 3rd, Chris and I met Bud, David, and Mabel at Spencer's for a delicious prix fixe lunch. The return flight was an hour delayed (seems to be a thing with Sun Country) but overall a good flight.

Returned to super cold weather so it was nice to get away for a while.

Road Trip (Palm Springs to Minneapolis-St. Paul)

Retirement trip number two. Home for less than 24 hours from Door County, Wisconsin, and hopped on a plane to fly to Palm Springs, California.

Friend Dave had spent the month of January (snowbird) in warm, sunny Palm Springs. He asked if I would join him on a road trip back to Minnesota.

From cold to desert to cold in a week!

Spent a day in Palm Springs hiking. Dave had been doing a lot of adventuring and shared some of his favorite treks with me. We did three hikes in one day!

We did not plan a definite route or timeframe back to Minnesota but I needed to get back by Saturday as I was scheduled to work at the hardware store on Sunday. The only sure thing was that Dave wanted to visit a friend and cousins in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

A major winter storm was forecast to pass right between us in Palm Springs and Minneapolis-St. Paul so we were going to have to be flexible as the storm's path kept being revised. We ended up going north through Colorado rather than east through Oklahoma/Kansas.

As is my custom now, I put together a video montage of the trip. It is available by clicking here.

A short recap and itinerary (though I won't guarantee my memory is serving me correctly):

• departed Palm Springs Monday, 01/31
• departed Santa Fe, New Mexico Thursday, 02/03
• departed Colby, Kansas Friday, 02/04
• arrived in Minneapolis-St. Paul Friday 02/04

We were successful in missing the winter storm. I love driving across parts of the United States. There is so much diversity. And with each season there are different things to see and do.