A week in the Palm Desert area

We just completed a week in this desert getaway.  Staring with great camping at Lake Cahullia county park, and then: 
hiking, trails over and around the desert mountains, biking along the beautifully landscaped roads and housing developments, and touring some famous spots.  We can see why the Palm Desert area is THE place to be in the cold months of January and February.





With BIW, we pulled into site 69 at the county park, where Morey had picked out what he thought was the primo spot; right on the lake, with a tree for shade.  Oops!  No electric on this site, but all worked out great (even watched some TV) since our solar panels loved the desert photons, fully charging our new batteries daily. And the evening sunsets over the lake were stunning!

Camped with our good friends, the Feesers, who now are RVers like us.  Thanks Ray for the evening camp fires, and all of the great stories.

We biked the 8.5 miles into old town, La Quinta, a couple of times.  The first was on market Sunday, where we checked out all of the locally grown produce. 
We also stopped into the local "biker" coffee shop where we had an incredible brunch of bagels & lox (the best).

Great, flat, biking with all of the flowers, and landscaping along the route. 

Hiked the Cove-to-Lake trail which although relatively easy, did climb the desert hills to avoid hiking across the lush golf course in the valley.  The day started to heat up to the mid 80s, so we were glad to get back off the trail before high noon.

Sunnylands, the Annenberg Estate, was on our tour list.  This time we were able to get tickets to take the 90 minute tour of their home.  Built in the 70s, with an adjacent 9 hole private golf course, the modern structure and the Asian art and original masterpieces made for a very interesting tour.  Many US Presidents, international dignitaries, and famous entertainment people have visited and stayed for conferences and lavish parties. 
Ah..........the life of the rich and famous.


And then there was the "ordinary" of Palm Desert.  Shops to Trader Joes, Costco, and Walmart.  And the unordinary shopping along El Paseo with all of the designer stores and boutiques.

All in all, a nice week in the "Desert".