Philynda's Travels: High on the Heels of the Rat Pack

There is something very magical about Palm Springs , that has an empathy with Lynda and me from all the places we have visited in the USA over all these years and all these visits.

This is a City that really should not be here--- the valley runs along the precise line of the Andreas Fault -- I mean come on , if someone told you that were you want to build hospitals , houses, schools and recreate businesses on top of an area that has Teutonic Plates that are regularly moving and could have a catastrophic event in the future, would you really go ahead and risk people and finance that could be a disaster.

And yet we are drawn to return so many times. Well who else gets a sight of what's up Marilyn Monroe's dress -- only joking -- there have been millions who have looked up there -- well this 25 foot giant was in Palm Springs centre in Palm Canyon Drive for around 2 years-- great attraction.

I mean how can you have temperatures in the valley at around 100+ degrees and yet as the picture below shows , you can go up a cable car onto the surrounding mountain where there can be snow or at least the temperature will be 30 degrees lower than at ground level.

This platform shows the variance in the view of the valley from up there -- an amazing experience.

But we also took the opportunity on the drive from San Diego to pass through what we think are really beautiful parts of California as the following pictures show-------

Part of the revisiting that we have been doing is captured in the beautiful town of Temecula -- the town has grown into a real flower in the wine growing of the Californian wine growers snobbish association -- they took a lot of stick when they started there but now they are right up there with California's best and the old town is like stepping back in time .

This was just a drive through and I think Lynda and I would love to stop over in Terecula if we ever got back to California-- I would have quite liked to stop here for a beautiful steak -- The Gambling Cowboy--

From Termecula we set off over the mountains to Indio which is at the south east end of the Palm Springs valley -- Our Rod & Ann will remember the dive up to around 5000 feet and down the windie road the other side with some amazing views on the way--

When we stopped for petrol and we got a wonderful call from our youngest telling us the news that she had been successful in a job interview that she wanted , I realised that I had 2 missed calls on voicemail-- sometimes these play catch-up with the phone when we are abroad-- anyway they were both from Avis Car Rental saying that they were recalling this model due to safety concerns and that we should get it in to the nearest Avis centre -- well that's just great -- we are on top of a mountain about 80 miles from the nearest centre and if the safety issue is anything to do with brakes well we have 5000 feet to negotiate down a one in ten roadway.

So this is what we had that had to be chopped--

-- Of course that meant going through the whole issue of the fender bender we had had, but to be honest due to the cover we bought it was not an issue at all , so the Rep from Avis gave us this Infiniti suv --

-- but it was a little older than this -- 36,000 miles and it was so sluggish so we made the Reps day by going back to the centre at Palm Springs Airport and asked for another change-- must be his worst nightmare to get mad people like us -- so we have now got what we requested in the first place and that is this--

The Ford Edge SUV -- hopefully perfect.

So last night we went around to A) look for a sports bar that will open on Saturday morning at 9am to watch the mighty Blues play the Mancs in the FA Cup Final and B) find a restaurant that we want to eat in -- big decisions---

First time this trip I have included the badge in the blog--

So we decided to eat in LULU in Palm Canyon Drive which was recommended by Jonathon & Lynsey when they were here 2 years ago --- it was great - food -- ambiance --location-- and the price was ok too-- thanks guys.

Sorry but I was ponderous , not miserable , probably looking at the cruising vehicles or cruising people -- and maybe not believing what I am seeing---

However the centre of town is always watchable--

I will snap you snapping me , snapping you

Rubys Diner is pretty famous and be around a good while - we have enjoyed eating there -- it is like going back into a diner from the American 1950's , including the candy strip waitresses

Below is Kaisers Grill from Palm Canyon Drive which is one of my favourite eateries and was probably one of the first restaurants that I ever had misting all around the perimeter for those eating outside where you don't have aircon.