Neil and Sandra's Roadtrip to Palm Springs Day 1

Day 1
Up with a start at 5AM to the beeping of the alarm. As discussed the night before, we jumped straight out of bed (well at least I did (Neil)) for fear we fall back to sleep. Not much to pack, since we did most of it last night and it’s already in the car. Fed the cats and said our goodbyes.

First stop, Centro Espresso (aka Susan’s), for a latte and toast – excellent, as always – what did we do before Susan opened this café in our neighborhood? The best latte ever – hands down. 5:45Am and we are leaving Susan’s.

The GPS says arrival will be at 1:54PM – ha, I’ll believe that when I see it! We could not find the “book on tape” (actually disc) we thought we had – so it could be mind-numbingly boring. Never mind, I’ve got my trusty iPhone with all of my vast collection of music on it – about 6 hours

Traffic is not too bad, and we get to go in the car pool lane for most of the crowded bits. We got through the Bay area and out to I5 with no problems; now the really boring, really straight, never ending road – we should have flown!

First stop – Pea Soup Anderson’s – though we are in need of a different kind of pee. Sandra made up a couple of bagel sandwiches, using the bagel we brought from Susan’s and bacon that I cooked last night – it’s the dogs bollocks! We are actually bringing quite a few picnic items – since we recently invested in a refrigerated cool box – it’s working great – plugged into the outlet in the back of the CRV.

Driving

Driving

Stopping for gas and coffee – unfortunately its Starbucks, and we have a hard time drinking this stuff after Centro Espresso – but we need the caffeine so there you go.

The Grapevine looms, I always find this bit of the drive interesting – well, anything would be interesting after that long, long I5 drudgery! We remember stopping at Pyramid Lake on a previous trip, and agree this would be a good spot to stop and drain out that Starbucks rubbish – and have lunch – from our schmancy cooler.

Lunch was great, I made egg salad using finely chopped green onions last night, and we are having it on some thin Foccacia bread from Traverso’s . We also have some excellent deli meats from Traverso’s but decide to keep them for another day. The egg sarnie is accompanied by pasta salad and potato salad – also from Traverso’s. Boy are we glad they moved to our neighborhood!

And we are off again – only about 5 hours to go!

Driving

Driving

Rest stop – another call of nature. Boy, getting old is tough – why is my bladder shrinking? And the weather is getting warmer – approaching 90F.

Off again, there goes Magic Mountain…

Coming down the LA side of the Grapevine – traffic getting a bit heavier, still at least 3 hours to go. OK, now we get to turn off I5 and into unknown territory – at last scenery we have not previously viewed – oh but it’s much the same – is it like this everywhere in America?

One final stop, another rest area near San Bernardino – only about 45 minutes to go! Now it’s quite hot – mid 90s!

Approaching Palm Springs – wow a lot of windmills and casinos – who knew casinos were so environmentally conscious! Maybe this is some sort of sin cancelling scheme?
Lots and lots of billboard adverts for super-cheesy “stars” performing at the many local casinos. Wow – there’s one for Engelbert Humpadink – I thought he was dead!

Where’s our bloody turn off – I can’t take much more. Really should have flown.

We are staying the first two nights of our 4 night trip at the Hyatt Resort and Spa in Indian Wells – here it is at last. Arriving at about 4PM. Well, you know that this area is hot when you pull up to reception and the whole area is doused with mister sprays to cool things down!

We decide to self park at $10/ night compared to valet at $25/night. Check-in was very smooth. Now for the room…

Wow – very nice, king size bed on an elevated level with 2 steps down to a sitting room then out to the balcony on the second floor (first floor for you Brits) overlooking the golf course – very nice indeed. OK, first order of business – get ice and chill down that bottle of Chardonnay we’ve brought – along with a bottle of Guinness, just in case.

We are both knackered and zonk down on the bed to get some rest. This did not last long since the in-room air conditioner is a bit like a large earth mover – like the ones they use to make new freeways. I hope we don’t need the aircon on during the night.

So up we get and off we go to explore the hotel. There a very nice pool area – there must be 5 pools! Cabanas can be rented for $100/day – and they have TVs inside them! I think we’ll be spending time at the pool tomorrow – though not in a cabana.

Nice bar; Sandra had a cosmo at $15 and I had a fat tire.

Back to the room for supper of Costco roast chicken (purchased yesterday), bread, camembert, pate and washed down with a glass of chardonnay – the dogs bullocks – again!

OK, time to log off and try to get some sleep – though we’ve just heard the doctor’s convention dinner get under way at the conference center along from our room. Hope it does not go on all night!