Patio Lanterns (and more)

The weather is warming every day and the sky is bright blue here. Morning and evening walks around the park take nearly an hour. We've had time sitting around the pool and R&R.

Linda was finally able to photograph one of the elusive hummingbirds which frequent our site.

We enjoyed our first round of golf  at Cathedral Canyon course; was a bit of a challenge for our first outing given the narrow fairways with plenty of homes to hit and water hazards.

We joined up with two very nice ladies with the same last name.  Linda remarked to them something about 'sisters' to which they smiled, but no reply:)  Linda momentarily forgot that we were in Palm Springs- just a little faux pas.  Unfortunately, one of the "sisters" tripped on the tee box on the third hole and badly sprained her ankle and they both had to leave.

A lot of water….hence Ron was able to “fish” frequently!

Linda won round one, marginally!!

Today we hit Shadow Mountain and again proved to be tough with narrow fairways and houses in close proximity.

Linda won round two handily  Could be a trend developing

We've hit a couple of tourist attractions. The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway was spectacular. It is the largest tramway in the world rotating 360 degrees for at least 2 full revolutions while ascending 6,000 feet to the summit of the San Jacinto Mountains which is 8,600 feet above sea level . 

Typically, the temperature between the valley floor and the top of the Tram is usually 30 degrees (F) cooler.  .

The views from the top of the mountain are incredible. To the south you can see the Salton Sea and all the way to Mexico.

Several kids brought their sleds up the tram and snowball fights took place; hard to believe atop the desert!

From the Tram you can see the San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm.  Development of the wind farm began in the 1980's and is one of three major wind farms in California.


The San Gorgonio Pass, the gateway into the Coachella Valley, is one of the windiest places in Southern California.  This wind farm contains more than 4,000 separate windmills and provides enough electricity to power Palm Springs and the entire Coachella Valley. The largest of these windmills stands 150 feet tall with blades half the legend of a football field. A wind turbine's cost can range upwards to $300,000 and can produce 300 kilowatts - the amount of electricity used by a typical household in a month.

Next stop were the Cabazon and Desert Hills Outlet Stores in Cabazon; self restraint!

Our friends Ray & Sandra LeBlanc and Don & Debbie McEwen surprised us, prior to our departure,  with a diddy they wrote to the tune of Patio Lanterns by Kim Mitchell, and with patio lanterns to adorn our awning.

You see Ron is rather fond of patio lights - all kinds, hot peppers, pumpkins, globes;  whereas, Linda, well....

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