Day 5 – Too Hot to Trot

Day 5 – Too Hot to Trot

I went 33 hours without being on the Internet. Is anyone impressed? I didn’t think it could happen, but now that I’m logged on it’s just like getting back on a bicycle. Can’t imagine how many e-mail messages I’m going to have. Most of them are junk anyway. Though a bit inconvenient, not having the Internet in our room (most of the time) is a blessing. Getting out of the room for short periods of time is a good thing, as well.

Anyway, it’s now Friday, but I’m writing about Thursday, our hottest day yet. The highest I saw the thermometer reach was 114, but it may have gotten higher. When we went to the pool in the afternoon, it was 108 in the shade.



This is the pool where I can bring the laptop and get on the Internet. I’ve written some of the blogs from here. Today, I’m in the activities center adjacent to it. Not much activity going on in here. But some kids are having a pretty intense game of Marco Polo in the pool, and I didn’t want to get splashed. Here’s the pool with our kids in it yesterday.
It’s not quite as big as it looks, but we’ve had it to ourselves every time we have been down here. It’s really nice, even though it is hot. It’s just perfect swimming weather. Alex is wearing a life-jacket and goes wherever he wants in the pool. Anna and Adam swim all over the deep end (8.5 feet) without a life-jacket. I think those swimming lessons have paid off!

The kids share a room in the condo. Most of the time it’s trashed, but this was a picture I took after the maid was there to make the bed.
Alex actually enjoys sleeping on the floor and has slept better than the other two.

The camera wasn’t working real well in the morning, but here are a couple of shots from Indian Canyons. We got there at 9:00, but it was already about 92 degrees. Back in the 1800s, the government gave 32,000 acres to the Coahilla Indians here in the desert. The government probably thought it was a good place to stick the Indians out of the way. Actually, many of them were already living in this area. It turned out to be a pretty good deal for the Injuns, because they have gotten very wealthy off the sale and development of this land. They charged us $24 to come and see their oasis in the desert and their village. It was pretty interesting.

This is the place where the Indian women used to come and grind their flour.


This was a windy, hilly road, cut around the rocks. This picture shows how tight one of the squeezes was: The Uplander did a nice job navigating the hills. Sandy wishes we could take it home with us, but I think Budget Rent-a-Car would have something to say about that.

Alex thinks he saw a rattlesnake, but we couldn’t find it in the bushes. I went back later with the camera and did see a little groundsnake. However, the camera wasn’t working properly. I forgot to put charged batteries in it before we left. Oops.

We climbed back through the rocks to a little waterfall that fed a pool of water, right there in the middle of the hot area. Shady, cool, wet, and refreshing. Sandy and I sat on a rock and watched the kids splash around a little in the pool and explore. Watched a nice Hispanic family with their little children as well. He tried to take a picture for me, but of course, the camera still wouldn’t work.

By 10:30, we were hot and tired, so we headed out. Before I left, Mr. Schantz told me that if I went to see Frank Sinatra’s home, he would never forgive me. I wanted to test his spirituality, so we drove to the site of Sinatra’s first home in Palm Springs. It isn’t marked or anything, but I had gotten the address off the Internet. It looked nice, but nothing huge. There’s a big gate around it, but I took a couple of pictures. It’s called Twin Palms.

Unfortunately, the camera still wasn’t working properly. Now the memory card gave me an error. Grrr. So now Mr. Schantz doesn’t have to be too angry with me. We also drove past Sinatra’s second Palm Springs Home, called the Compound. Couldn’t take a picture of it, because it’s behind a huge wall on a golf course. Fortunately, I found a postcard at a gift shop with a picture taken from a helicopter.

We had to go to the mall again (long story) to return something I bought yesterday. I wanted to eat at Marie Callender’s, which is a really nice Italian type restaurant. It’s sort of like the food Marie on Everybody Loves Raymond might cook. Unfortunately, the prices are exorbitant, so we Sbarro and Teriyaki Express at the Food court.

Spent the afternoon swimming and relaxing, trying to stay cool. Adam and I played some NBA Live 2004, which I had purchased here. I couldn’t justify buying sports games until I had a son old enough to play with. Now, playing video games is family time! Adam and I created our own players. He was 5’0” and 120 pounds on the screen. It was pretty fun!

After supper in the room, we went to the street fair. They shut down 6 blocks of the street for this. It was kind of like the night market in Taiwan without the scooters and the cheap merchandise. There were lots of live musicians playing and selling their CDs.

This guy played New Age keyboard music.


This magician drew quite a crowd for card tricks.


Not sure what he was selling, though. Or what that gong was for.

Spanish music came from this group . . . very entertaining.


The drummer on the near side is throwing his stick up in the air as I snapped this picture. Four guys playing music, and one friend selling CDs off to my left. Sounds like a great way for them to spend a Thursday night.

Then there’s some authentic Native American music.


It was probably our favorite of all.

We had a little ice cream at ColdStone Creamery (thanks Dawn for the suggestion). They were very busy, and I can see why.


Well, the battery’s about dead, so I’ve got to go for now.

Next Time: Day 6 – Time to get soaked