The drive to Palm Springs was very intense. It was extremely windy for most of the drive, and at times the wind got up to 75 miles per hour. When I filled up the car at one of the gas stations near Yermo, the wind blew gasoline out of the nozzle of the hose and gas sprayed all over my shorts. It smelled in the car, and we were concerned about a combustion hazard, so I changed and tossed my old shorts at the next stop in Eddie’s World. The wind got stronger the closer that we got to Palm Springs. We pulled in late and the last five minutes were the most intense. In parts of Palm Springs, there is nothing, but sand on both sides of the road. On one of those stretches, the sand was blowing so violently, that we could barely see in front of us, and during some gusts, we couldn’t see at all. Cars put on their hazards and drove at 5 miles per hour and stopped when there was no visibility. It was an intense stretch, but we made it.
Today we woke up to a beautiful AirBnB, perfect weather and no wind.
We started the day with a fun game of Twister.
Then we used the host’s bicycle. I called it Chitty-chitty-bang-bang. One tire was half flat, but the pump was broken so I couldn’t pump it up. And a screw was missing from one of the chain guards, so the chain guard banged into the chain making a constant steady clanking sound (that was fun to beatbox with). Lily steered because my legs were too long to peddle under the steering wheel. But all those quirks only made the bike more endearing. We loved our bike ride. Mary especially loved it, and was the one who would ask for more bike rides on subsequent days, and we did do one more.
We then went to the Botanical garden. As expected, Ammon started a conversation with strangers almost immediately, and we pulled him away eventually so as not to burden them with an unexpected conversation that was too long. The cacti, Yuccas and other plants were amazing. The first sign we saw encouraged us to go slow, and it was a mindful experience of beautiful desert plants.
We then went to Elmer’s, a fun diner in Palm Springs that serves delicious German Pancakes and other great food. They had great things to take the kids attention while we waited for food.
At home, everyone enjoyed the pool, and then Lily, the girls and I played Wingspan.
What a great day!