A Visit to the "Playground of the Stars" - Part 3
Don't forget Part 2!
In the last blog, we hiked all over Palm Springs - up the North Lykken Trail, down the Museum Trail, then back to Arlene via BevMo!
After our hike, which involved hand carrying our beer haul the half-mile or so back to the camper (Chris took most of it in a leftover wine box, but I convinced him to let me help out with a few six packs), we chilled out for the afternoon, getting cleaned up, taking naps, reading, and just generally hanging out.
Cheers to relaxing outside, watching the clouds go by,
and tasting some of our beer selections from BevMo!
Attempting to set up our camp hammock, to no avail.
One end was fine tied in the bed of the truck,
but we didn't have anything 1) tall enough
and 2) strong enough for the other end.
Chris made a good attempt with the picnic table,
but when he sat down in the hammock and that dragged the table
sideways by a few feet, we packed in the experiment.
Me: "Whatcha doing?"
Chris: "Looking at the plate under my truck."
Sometimes relaxing in camp is fun,
sometimes relaxing in camp is a bit boring.
Initially, in my planning for this trip, I'd made us a dinner reservation at Melvyn's at the Ingleside Inn, a true "classic, old-school" Palm Springs type of place (also within walking distance - see, the Happy Traveler RV Park is really in a great spot). However, as the afternoon wore on, and the "high wind" warnings kept getting more and more dire, we decided that eating dinner outside, even in a slightly sheltered courtyard, wasn't the best idea. We cancelled our reservation and decided on takeout instead, from a nearby Italian place, Sammy G's Tuscan Grill.
Eating our pasta first, since it was still hot.
My mushroom ravioli was amazing,
and since Chris' pesto gnocchi was just okay,
we took it home and fancied it up a bit more
(i.e., we added more pesto)
for dinner on Sunday night.
Chris took a quick run to the park's trash cans to ditch my ravioli container, as we knew it would be too smelly to stay in the camper with us overnight; while he did, I started bringing cups, utensils, etc inside, as the wind was starting to blow harder. It was a good thing I did, as all of a sudden, things really picked up! Even as close and sheltered as we were here, the hedges were whipping back and forth, and you could see some of the surrounding palm trees looking mighty unhappy.
Here's a not-great video - we think the wind was blowing around 20mph at this time:
There's no real sound - just whatever
"mellow folk" radio station we had playing at the time.
Both of us slept well (stupid CO monitor notwithstanding - we really are going to do something about it soon, I promise), and I woke up to a surprise Valentine's Day present that I absolutely, totally, 100% did NOT discover in the camper freezer on Friday afternoon and pretended to un-see until this very morning.
Hooray! See's Chocolates are the best
(as is my valentine, obviously)!
Thank goodness for that palm tree!
Breakfast was at Grand Central, a cute little cafe that happened to be two store-fronts down from the Great Shakes place we visited on Friday afternoon. Since we were on the early side (story of our collected life), we were able to get a socially distanced table right away, and the servers and hostess were amazingly friendly. We consumed our meals too fast to take shots of them (Chris ordered the palm sugar waffles, while I had the green chilaquiles, and we split halfway through), but they were outstanding to taste and lovely to gaze upon. Instead, I had Chris take a picture of me instead, sitting inside the nearby bamboo planting.
Portrait mode!
Grand Central was on this cute little square of sorts,
which held lots of other great businesses
(including a French cafe we'll be back to visit someday).
All of the flowers were in bloom,
and it was really gorgeous.
The book tree inside Grand Central.
It's a permanent art installation,
and they decorate it for each holiday.
No longer hungry in the slightest, we made our way back to Arlene, catching a few more shots along the way:
In case you can't read it,
the plaque says that this doggie water fountain
was installed by the city in 1936!
Once back at Happy Traveler, we finished packing things up and made ready our departure. Given the tight squeeze, we wanted to be ready to go the minute Chris backed up the truck and connected it to Arlene; any time we'd take would inhibit other members of the park from leaving or entering, so we wanted to be as quick as possible.
As you can see, Arlene hasn't even started out of spot #133 yet,
and Chris is taking up the entire road.
Truly, we didn't really have to worry about angering the other residents of the park; they were obviously more than used to this, and one kind gentleman told us that we would likely have more success heading out right and driving the long way around the loop than driving to the left. Most RV parks have one-way loops, and he mentioned most people assume this one was as well (as we 100% had done), but this was not the case. We thanked our friendly neighbor heartily, and Chris started the longer drive, while I used the handy-dandy walkway between sites to meet him in front of the office; it was my job to see if any other large rigs were coming or going on the far side, as this would present a problem. Thankfully, it was not an issue at this early hour (10am or so), and we were clear!
Happy Traveler had lots of great amenities,
including this shuffleboard court (also a pool and spa),
none of which we used
(due to a combo of COVID restrictions and insane weather).
Chris and Arlene, heading toward me.
Also, a hiker and a couple riding a tandem bike!
We waved goodbye to the RV park, hoping to stay there again in the future, and we headed along the neighborhood roads toward the junction with the 10. As we did, we saw even more evidence of the windstorm the night before, including tons and tons (seriously, the amount cannot be overstated) of palm fronds on the road.
Just crazy piles of fronds everywhere,
but no downed trees, thankfully.
If this were Phoenix, there'd be dead mesquites for miles.
The drive home was uneventful; we made our normal set of bathroom/lunch/gas stops, and we got home around 4pm AZ time. I took a few shots of the big sign as we crossed back into Arizona; since it was Valentine's Day, that meant it was also Arizona Statehood Day, and it turned 109 this year!
Happy birthday, AZ!
Overall, even with the nutso Saturday night weather that made us cancel our swanky dinner plans, we had an amazing trip. Travel is truly one of our passions, whether it's domestic or international, whether the trip is short or long, whether the weather is perfect or it's horrible - it doesn't really matter, as we can always find something to enjoy, something to laugh about, and something that makes for a pretty decent story years down the line. This adventure was no different, and we can't wait until the next time we're back in the "Playground of the Stars!"
Later!
Amy
PS - For more info on Palm Springs itself (including its history), just Google it, but one factoid I've always liked is the reason it became such a mecca for vacationing Hollywood types. See, actors and actresses back in the day were essentially always on call for a particular studio, so if it was "movie season," they could be called in to work at a moment's notice. Given this, if they wanted to get away, it had to be no more than a few hours drive from Los Angeles, and Palm Springs is about two (faster now, but with cars and roads at the time, it was about two). This neatly coincided with the fact that most gossip columnists and paparazzi of the day were paid expenses to include up to 100 miles of travel to hound movie stars for pictures and interviews; Palm Springs is exactly 107 miles from Hollywood, so it was juuust out of range, and stars could enjoy their time without being hounded by the press. And so, the "Playground of the Stars" was born!
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