Palm Springs

This year for the first time, I accompanied Steve to his company's annual sales meeting. The meeting was in Palm Springs, CA. We landed in Palm Springs on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. As we walked through the airport we noticed how clean and fresh the air was, like being outdoors. Then we looked up and saw that we were actually outside! After a short drive to the hotel we spent the afternoon by the pool, it had rained recently and the water was too cool for me but it was nice to be poolside with the sun shining down on us.

We later wandered the hotel's golf course.

Dinner was an informal affair. We opted to sit around the fire on the back patio, while looking out at the golf course.

Monday morning meant that Steve had to work. So off I went with some friends. The Palm Springs Tram proved interesting. The tram took us 8500ft up the San Jacinto Mountain to the beautiful forest above.

The top of the mountain was wooded and green, the air was clean and cool. Very different from the desert below. We enjoyed a short hike, lunch and a trip to the souvenir shop. Back at the hotel it was time for reading and relaxing on the balcony and then dinner. Dinner was an 'informal' affair. The front of the hotel was converted into an outside restaurant with an amazing assortment of food.

The next two days, Steve worked while I explored the area and hung at the pool. The last evening was a formal affair with Steve in a tux and me in my 'little black dress'.

The sales conference was an incredible event. We spent four days meeting new people and  catching up with some that I met back in the CS&S days.

On Thursday, we spent the day in Joshua Tree National Park. The park is the convergence of two types of deserts. The high desert is greener and full of granite. The low desert is brown and flat. We were fortunate to be there about a week after a rainstorm and were able to see some green in the low desert.

On the way to the park we passed the windmills. I had seen them before (back in the CS&S days) about 17 years ago and was amazed then. Now the numbers have grown and therefore they are even more amazing. They line both sides of the road and back on the side road on the way to the park.

Joshua Tree

High Desert

Joshua tree                        Dandilion

Granite Outcropping

 San Andreas Fault

The fault can be seen running horizontally through the middle of the picture. The ridge is higher on the far side because the plates are pushing against each other and lifting the earth. I never imagined that you could actually see the famous San Andreas Fault. We were glad it was quiet that day!

Low Desert

As you can see from the number of pictures we enjoyed the high desert much more than low desert. The rock formations were amazing. The granite looked as though it had just been dropped from the sky. They hadn't though, they were actually pushing up through the softer rock. The park was a great experience and an amazing exploration into an ecosystem very different from ours.

Friday morning had us up very early for our trip back home. This is a picture of our walk to the gate after having checked our luggage. Those trees are outside, just as we were. What a great place to spend the winter!

We got home in time to meet CJ off the school bus. While it was a great trip, it was hard to be away from CJ for so long. He did great without us, but was happy to have us home.