Desert Trip (Day 5)

It was another nice day today. A few high clouds, sunny, and temperature in the low 80's. After breakfast, we drove into Palm Springs and walked around the shopping district downtown . We bought a few small things, then decided to travel east along the Highway 111 strip through the other towns in the Coachella Valley parallel to I-10 to check out other shopping areas we might want to visit in the future.

First, we had lunch at a very nice outside restaurant called Acqua Pazza in an upscale shopping plaza called The River in Palm Desert. I had a typical Southern California lunch - a pepperoni pizza and a Pina Coloda. Judy had chicken skewers on sliced mango and roasted pineapple - all very good. We almost went to Babe's, a good looking BBQ place next door but opted instead for the California cusine.

We then drove a little further east and checked out a very up-scale shopping district called El Paseo. Think Rodeo Drive in LA. We even saw valet parking in front of some of the stores. All this was well beyond our means so we just drove through the area without stopping. It will be probably be fun to window shop on another trip.

The next stop was The Old Town in La Quinta. This area is somewhat east and south of town and is surrounded by more gated communities/country clubs/golf courses, etc. The area has what appears to be a lot of little shoppes, but not very many people walking around this afternoon. They had a lot of banners advertising a big art festival in March and I am sure they are busy during weekends and special events.

We also continue to be amazed at the number of gated communities throughout the area. Who knows who live behind the walls (we suspect mostly elderly people with resources who like to play golf/tennis, etc, and enjoy good weather, security, and a variety of retirement options). The entrances into them are generally spectacular and the landscaping along the walls surrounding them and the streets outside them are superb.

We were back at the RV by 3:30 PM and started to get ready to break camp. In the morning we will head to Lake Havasu, AZ. We had a nice dinner, grilling steaks outside with red potatoes and fresh asperagus.

We have lucked out on the weather so far. The local forecast is for some rain tomorrow by mid morning and a temperature drop of about 10 degrees. The forecast for Lake Havasu is sunny-partly cloudy for the next few days with a 40 percent chance of showers on Saturday. Temperatures are forecasted to be in the mid 60's.