Ragnar Recovery Time: Palm Springs, Part 2

When last I blogged, Chris and I were heading to bed at the Los Arboles hotel in Palm Springs, after having enjoyed a great meal to celebrate his birthday.  On Monday morning, November 14th, we woke up gradually, although still not too late, as we were in bed on the early side the night before.  Since this was his actual birthday, it was time for presents, and I gave him the card I'd found for him as well as his gift - two tickets to see Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox in downtown LA the Friday after Thanksgiving.  Sidebar - everyone in the world should seriously check them out.  Here's a link to their website, so you can start.  Every member of their group is nutso talented, and we enjoyed their show more than any live event we've seen probably in the last 10 years (for reals).

Anywhoo, back to Palm Springs.  We woke up hungry and decided to head to Cheeky's, a locally famous breakfast place which was reported to always be crowded due to the excellent offerings.  When we arrived at 8:15, 15 minutes after they opened, we had a 20 minute wait for seating, and as a gentle reminder, this was on a MONDAY.  I waited for our name to be called while Chris strolled over to Koffi to procure us some caffeine.  The wait time went quickly, as the morning was lovely, and before long, we were getting ready to dig in!

Noms!

Chris had a french toast dish, and I chose the chilaquiles.  We also split an order of the bacon flight advertised on the menu.  While the flight was fine (a little on the greasy side, even for bacon), the french toast was great, and my dish was out of this world outstanding.  The green sauce on the chilaquiles was a bit tart, and paired with the queso fresco, it was just perfect.  Seriously, if you're in Palm Springs, eat here, no matter how long you have to wait.  It's so good.

After breakfast, we headed back to the hotel, packed up our gear, and checked out.  It was time for us to boogie on out of town, but first, we had one more stop to make.  Every time we'd make the voyage from Phoenix to LA on the 10 freeway, I'd see signs for the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, and I've always wanted to visit.  I'm kind of obsessed with funiculars (random, I know), and while I'm not a huge fan of scaling heights while on swinging cables, I figured the Tramway would be right up my alley.  Since it opened at 10am and was on the way out of town, I planned a visit before we left the area.

The entrance station for the tram is around 2500 feet in elevation, and by the end of your voyage, you

end up around 8000 feet, so the scenery changes rapidly in the 10 minutes it takes for the trip.  As we parked the car at the entrance and headed in to purchase our tickets, our legs strenuously objected to the grade of the parking lot:

Ugh. No more.

Posing next to the old tram.

I think I read this was one of the original cars.

Scenery around the base station

Because this is what our society has become

Windows in the base station

looking up toward the top of the mountain

We paid our fee (steep at $26 each, but still worth it for the views) and waited for the 10:30 tram to start boarding.  Once aboard, we enjoyed our trip up the cable to the top station.  The car passes over four or five different towers on the way up the mountain, and at the top of each, there's a somewhat unnerving swing as the car clears the poles.  You get used to it after awhile, but it's still a bit stomach-lurching at first.  Some shots from the way up:

"Kids, in my day, we had to take selfies

without helpful foot placement signs..."

Approaching one of the towers

Looking out on the desert - 

that's the 10 out there.

Looking back down at the base station.

You can also see another car

heading down the mountain in the shot.

The cars themselves are pretty neat - they're round, and the floor gently rotates - it's so slow you don't even notice it.  This lets everyone get a good view of all sides of things as you head up the mountain, so no one rushes from side to side of the car for shots (a terrifying thought).  Once you arrive at the top station, everyone disembarks, and you have your choice of scenic vistas to check out (there's also a movie theater, small museum, cafe, and more formal restaurant).

A whole bunch of scenery photos now commence:

Looking out toward the freeway

The top's boarding station

The 10 freeway and windmill farms

Looking back down the valley

Thumb!

I haven't seen that guy in forever!

One of the cars making its return descent

From this station, you can do all sorts

of hiking, backpacking, and camping.

We were not in the mood to do any of those.

Another shot of Palm Springs.

You can actually see the airport and air museum

near the left of this shot.

Descending stairs was harder today

than climbing them.

Thanks, Los Coyotes!

Eventually, we decided we'd had our fill of the amazing vistas, so we headed back down the mountain in the car.  We took a few more shots, of course:

An upward car getting closer...

...and there it goes!

The cars pass about 30 feet away from each other,

so while it looks close, it's not that bad.

The base station coming into clear view.

See those cool windows from the shot above?

Overall, I think we spent about an hour at the Tramway, although you could spend much, much longer.  We were tired from our exhausting (albeit fun) weekend, and we were ready to get back home and see the kiddos and sleep in our own bed again.  After a quick bathroom break in Cabazon to change clothes (it was cold at the top of the mountain but we needed shorts for the drive home) and make wraps (oh yes, we still had wraps), it was back to the LA area and then onward home to Long Beach.  What a great trip!

Later!

Amy