Sun Aged Skin

I noticed today that my neck and upper chest skin is getting "crepey" and have some brown age spots. All due to aging and sun exposure. I'm not too upset about this because it represents time spent outside on hot sunny days and well earned tans. I do believe memories from sunny summer days are typically happy memories for me.

Sunshine+warm weather+a tan = happy

Delayed in Paradise

We were supposed to depart Palm Springs last Friday morning and get into Green Bay at 7:00 p.m. While Patrick was in the lobby getting coffee that morning he overheard a conversation discussing three hour flight delays in Chicago. Come to find out, our flight was canceled! Unbeknownst to us Chicago was in the midst of a snow storm --- snow was such a vague notion to us in the 80 degree, palm tree, florally deluged climate of Southern California. A call to the travel agent confirmed the canceled flight and notified us that we wouldn't be leaving paradise until Saturday evening. That meant TWO MORE DAYS IN PALM SPRINGS!

Patrick pouted for half the day because he was ready to return to New London and spend some time with his friends over the weekend. And let's face it, the kid had spent five days with his mother and sister which was proably enough for him. He had been a good sport and agreeable about whatever we wanted to do. So, Ann and I left him at the hotel (he sat by the pool and ordered a pizza) to go to Tiffany's and the art museum.

Ann and I thoroughly enjoyed our delay in Palm Springs. Tiffany's is in a beautiful outdoor mall that boasts sculptures and flower gardens. I felt a bit intimidated walking into Tiffany's but the staff made us feel so comfortable, and we laughed a lot.

We stopped for a soda at an outdoor restaurant in the mall, and Ann introduced me to endamame (pronounced attamommy) which is steamed pea pods topped with sesame seeds. This was so tasty and the perfect snack for us. After sitting there for about 15 minutes a sprinkler-like system located on the overhang of the restaurant turned on. It seemed like a soft spray of water but didn't really get anything wet. I'm not sure what the spray was but it cooled down the area and was refreshing.

Next it was on to Saks. Ann had never been to a Sak's before. We just browsed the clothes which were out of our price range. When we stopped at the Chanel purse department a delightful sales associate stopped by to ask how many of each we wanted. He had a great personality and told us about living in Palm Springs; he had moved there from New England and loved being in California. After looking at a $1600 Chanel necklace, Ann and I moved on.

There is an art museum downtown and Ann had originally wanted to stop there but we had run out of time. This delay afforded her the opportunity to finally see it. We didn't view the entire museum but what we saw was impressive. Both of us love contemporary art and that is what we saw. The staff was also chatty and informative. Apparantly some people think it is acceptable to touch the artwork and these two staff members regaled us with some of their horror stories about such happenings. (It is amazing that people think actually touching the painting is an okay thing!)

After the museum we headed back to the hotel and then to dinner. Since we were going to pull an all nighter the next evening no one was in a hurry to go to bed so we stayed up til midnight or so and didn't get up until mid morning on Saturday.

After packing up all our belongings and loading them into the Ugly-mobile (PT Cruiser) we went for lunch at an outdoor cafe. The hotel was agreeable to our using the pool after checkout so after eating we went back and spent the afternoon working on suntans.....or in Ann's case, brightening her burn. I swear the girl was a glowing beacon of red! We sat, chatted, read, and splashed in the water until about 4:30 when it was time to get dressed and head to the airport.

We left Palm Springs to fly to LA at 8:00 p.m. Departed LA at 11:00p.m. and arrived in Chicago at 4:55 a.m. We finally arrived in Green Bay about 7:30 a.m. Easter morning. I have to admit that the night wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I'm sure watching "Alvin and the Chipmunks" made the flight whiz by!

This trip meant so much for me. To spend that time with my children is something I won't forget. Who knows when I will have them together again for a vacation. So this was a special

time for us.

Thursday in Joshua Tree

We took our second trip to Joshua Tree on Thursday. We drove straight to Keys Point from which the San Andreas Fault can be seen. The road to this lookout spot is lined with large Joshua Trees. Patrick commented that the scenery looked like something out of a Dr. Suess book and that was an apt description.

Then it was on to the Cactus Garden which is an area in the park covered by cholla cacti (pronounced choya). These cacti are also known as "jumping cholla" because the stems easily detach when brushed against and easily (and painfully) attach to the person who brushed against the plant. Both Ann and I actively interacted with these cacti and can attest to the hardiness of the needles! One stem attached to my tennis shoe, worked into the seam of the shoe and into my sock. In order to get rid of the needle I had to remove my shoe and sock, turn the sock inside out to remove the needle! Ann encountered a stem that attached itself to her toes that were housed in her walking boot. She was NOT happy!

The wildflowers bloom in the Colorado Desert portion of the park and seeing them was different from the picture in my head. I expected to see the desert floor carpeted with them when they were actually scattered about the desert. Most were yellow and delicate although purple flowers could be found.

The rock formations in the park are striking. When first entering at the west entrance there are hills of rocks piled about. Apparantly these were soil/vegetation covered hills but the rock hills are what's left after the soil eroded. The rocks became huge as we drove east through the park. In fact, in an example of understatement, one turnoff indicated "Jumbo Rocks."

There are campsites throughout the park and the appearance of these sites is so alien to those of us from Wisconsin. We are used to campsites being surrounded by trees, shrubs, usually near some body of water. The Joshua Tree campsites are in the open near boulders with a few scruffy, dry bushes. No privacy in these campsites! I bet the stars are breathtaking at night.

We all decided souveniers we all wanted were cacti. Morongo Valley had a store that advertised "Dig Your Own Cactus" and we stopped there on our way back to Palm Springs. This was so much fun! There were cacti dish gardens, small individual cactus, and large cacti to purchase. We all picked out small dish gardens and several of the small cacti. They were placed in a box and was one of our carry ons for the flight home. These were some of the more original, meaningful souveniers we've ever gotten!

Delayed in Paradise

Our flight out of Palm Springs today was cancelled due to snow in Chicago. We have been rescheduled to leave tomorrow evening. This has got to be one of the most perfect cities in which to be stranded! We are able to stay in the hotel the extra night and can have use of the pool after check out.....we'll work on our tans in the afternoon before heading to the airport.
We won't get into Green Bay until 7:45 on Easter Sunday but I'll take being tired to being stranded in an airport.

I'll write more and include pictures in the days to come.

Palm Canyon Drive

We stayed in Palm Springs today. Breakfast was at 11:00 at Baker's Square and then onto the shops on Palm Canyon Drive. We mostly browsed and Patrick found two great T-shirts. At the first shop he did buy one and although he really liked another, the $80 price tag turned him off. At Crazy Shirt a hemp died, pro-hemp use shirt also caught his eye. Ann picked up a top at a store and I ended up with some T-shirts from "Life is Good." Ann and I fell in love with a metal, moving roadrunner and it is being shipped. The woman in that store was originally from Michigan and identified us as Wisconsinites immediately. Something about how I say the word "no." We enjoyed talking to her and learning a few things about living in Palm Springs vs. the Midwest.
An art gallery was the best stop. This was the most tasteful gallery I've seen and most of the work focused on Native American pieces. Ann was quite taken with an oil painting by B.C. Nowlin. The gallery owner was quite helpful, pleasant, and spent a decent amount of time with us. The painting she liked most was $12000 and a smaller version was $6000. They were spectacular.

The rest of the day was spent at the hotel pool. Although all of us are red from yesterday, we slathered on the sun screen and relished the sun. So relaxing. Bright blue sky, palm trees, chirping birds, flowers, pool.....everything to like.

Dinner was at the Blue Coyote Grill for Mexican food. Since it was early we took at drive into Rancho Mirage, stopped at an upscale mall for a short time and left after finding the Tiffany's store closed for the evening. Ann and I had wanted to introduce Patrick to that store even though he wasn't as excited about it as we were.

Tomorrow is back to Joshua Tree. We're hoping to see the cactus garden and wildflowers plus dig up our own cactus at a place we saw on Tuesday.

Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua Tree National Park is starkly beautiful and amazing. The park is aptly named because Joshua Trees cover the landscape and are a unique looking tree. They are flowering now and look kind of like a huge cone shaped hyacinth. There were many other cacti and some wildflowers. (The wildflowers bloom more in the Colorado Desert and we were only in the Mojave Desert today. We will drive into the Colorado Desert Thursday) There are huge rock formations all around and the mountains are in the background. Some of the higher peaks still have snow. There is a peacefulness about the park and the rough, spottily green terrain is appealing in contrast to Wisconsin snow. At 70+ degrees, bright blue skies, and slight breeze it is a welcome respite from winter.

The cacti are sharp, by the way. I had flip flops on when we made our first stop to look around in the park and somehow got a dried piece of cactus stuck in my heel. Yow! Fortunalty I have some callouses on my heel but it still hurt. (I changed into tennis shoes then) Patrick then stepped on a live cactus but was wearing tennis shoes. Needles did lodge in the bottom of his shoes.

We didn't see much wildlife: crows, lizards, duck (Barker Dam area), and some kind of little bird that happily chirped. We're hoping to see a jackrabbit and roadrunner at the very least.

Ann was quite the sport and walked a 1.5 mile loop at Joshua Tree. It wasn't a straight flat path but involved climbing some rocks. She did well and is feeling fine. She took 400 pictures today for a photo essay she is doing for a class assignment. Her eye for unusual shots is amazing and I can't wait to see what she comes up with for her assignment.

There is a huge wind farm on the outskirts of Palm Springs. It is very science fiction-esque. There are probably a thousand of the devices, most huge but some smaller ones. I suppose from one point of view they mar the landscape but on the other hand they do provide a great deal of energy. Whereas there is only a small area on Highway 41 South to Milwaukee that has these windmills, what we saw today may be a glimpse into the energy future.

Dinner was in downtown Palm Springs tonight....a very nice, long road of shops and restaurants. Most of the restaurants have outdoor dining, and we ate outside at a place called Kaiser's. Patrick was blown away by the prices but they were pretty much on par with California decent dining costs; and the food was very good. Again, the weather was still perfect and at 8:00p.m. we were comfortable sitting outside PLUS there were no bugs.

I forgot my camera at home so borrowed one of Ann's today. I'll post pictures when back home.

Tomorrow is going back downtown to browse the shops and then come back to sit by the pool.

Spring Break

Ann, Patrick, and I arrived in Palm Springs at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time today. Since we've been up since 4:30 a.m. everyone is tired tonight but we'll head for Joshua Tree National Park tomorrow.

The flights were more turbulent then we would have liked but we all survived. Children sat behind us and at first we thought we would have to through them into a storage compartment. They kicked the back of our chairs, drummed out cadences on the lap trays and were just generally annoying prior to the plane getting off ground. I typically don't find children bothersome in restaurants and on planes so these kids had kicked it up to "bugging the hell out of me." Since my kids have always traveled well and were not allowed to annoy others I have little patience for children whose parents believe they can inflict their children on the rest of us.

Upon deplaning we immediately liked Palm Springs because.... well, the weather was 72 degrees and there was no snow. The only snow to be seen was at the top of the mountains where it was picturesque and not a reminder of an endless winter. We didn't see much of the city but it looks clean, has lots of flowers and palm trees and the gorgeous mountains are in plain view.

The hotel is nice and will work just fine. http://www.shiloinns.com/california/Palm_Springs_services.html Our room has a refrigerator and microwave plus a balcony. Ann and I sat by the pool after supper until the sun went behind the mountain.

The general population seems quite.......mature. Spry but certainly a geriatric crowd. I think I should do a photo essay on the "mature" men as they all have a similar look about them. Golf clothing is a sure fashion statement with these men.

Oh, our rental car is a bright blue PT Cruiser. We found the car, looked at each other, grimaced and then laughed.