Last Friday morning we toasted our departure from the Pirate's Den RV Park, Parker Strip, Arizona, and drove about three hours through a very windy and desolate Mojave Desert to Desert Palms, California. This is a big community of about 600,000 people made up of several individual cities such as Palm Springs and Indian Wells (where the BMP Paribas Open tennis tournament is currently be played so the traffic in that area is horrific).

We are staying in the Emerald Desert RV Resort which is the poshest and most expensive RV park we have ever stayed in (one week costs more that a whole month back at the Pirate's Den). But it is a beautiful gated park with all the amenities:

We have yet to try out the pool, but we will before we leave, and

they have great dog runs at both ends of the park.

There is a different "class" of people staying here than at the Pirate's Den - no ATVs running around, no loud engines revving up to impress/irritate everyone, and no cigarettes (at the Pirate's Den and at Lake Mojave it seemed like everyone was always puffing away).

The reason we came to Desert Palms was to visit our friends and Pinehaven neighbors Bill and Nancy Goodman. They invited us over to their place for dinner on Friday night and we had a wonderful time (and great cuisine with BBQ'd lamb chops, veggies and wine).

On Saturday Bill and Nancy took us on one of the many hikes they regularly take.

The trail heads straight up the mountain and Nancy proved that she is in better shape than all the rest of us combined.

There were many vistas overlooking the valley along the way.

On Sunday we went to downtown Palm Springs to visit the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum to learn something about the native inhabitants of the valley. The exhibits were entirely historical - there was a lot of information but only about the last 350 years. We were hoping for at least some insight into the archaeology of the region. Oh well - but the downtown is a bustling center for food and live music, and it was packed with people strolling the sidewalks. This has been the playground for Hollywood movie stars and the streets have names like Frank Sinatra Drive and Bob Hope Drive.

After downtown we drove a little out of town and hiked out to the Thousand Palms Oasis on the Coachella Valley Preserve which is a nature preserve around a large spring situated directly on the San Andreas fault.

We finished the day off with pizza and beer (followed by a little wine) on the back deck of Bill and Nancy's place (That's a grapefruit tree on the left full of fruit). We were joined by Nancy's brother and his wife, and a good time was had by all.

The weather has been beautiful the whole time we have been here - highs in the low to mid 80s and lows in the upper 50s. No wonder the city if filled with snowbirds - and there are probably as many Canadians as Americans. But, the summers are supposed to be brutal and many of the attractions simply shut down (or on a very limited schedule) do to lack of people.

One interesting observation: very expensive cars are a must. We see Bentleys, Jaguars, Rolls Royces, each time we drive. The lower status folks have to settle for BMWs and Lexuses (which are the predominant cars). Along with this are the unusual driving regulations and behaviors. On many of the city streets the speed limit is 50 or 55 miles per hour so when the light turns green everyone floors it so they can immediately stomp on the breaks at the next stop light. The streets are as much race course as transportation corridors, and they get irritated at those of us who think 35 mph is a much more reasonable speed.