08.04 - Day 84 - Mission Viejo to Palm Springs
Monday 8th April - Mission Viejo - Palm Springs (Day 84)
A sunny day, but a chill in the air. After playing with Annabelle’s and Juliet’s toys and some school work, in this the last week of term we drive a short distance from Daniel and Maggie's home to Dinosaur Park. This suburb of Laguna Hills is known as a rich source of fossils hence the themed playpark. Surrounded by two baseball fields, one football pitch and American Football pitch of Laguna Hills High School there are just a few other families - all occasionally glancing at the sun as this is the day of the solar eclipse sweeping a swathe from south-west to north-east USA. We only get a 40% eclipse of the moon taking a bite out of the sun.
Lunch of leftover Mexican dinner at Chez Webb before we pack one of the two suitcases into the charged up car and head off for two nights in Palm Springs. The two hour drive east takes us out of wider LA past town’s we’ve never even heard of that are home to hundreds of thousands.
As is fast becoming our go-to saying ‘Everything is bigger in America’ from outlet shopping centres that run alongside the freeway to cargo trains with double stacked containers so long they have four engines at the front. And a wind farm that signifies the start of the valley home to Palm Springs with thousands of wind turbines (over 3,000 google tells me).
We pass through downtown Palm Springs to get to Delos Reyes, our motel. A selection of the rooms by the pool have been painted brightly but otherwise it is a functional accommodation.
We visit the library doubling as an Information Centre where the helpful Juliette gives tips and recommendations for us tourists who have arrived unprepared other than wanting to visit the Joshua Tree National Park, so we step over the stars lined in the pavement (Kate and I only recognising about 2% of the names) to a 30 foot statue of Marilyn Monroe which leads to the front of the Art Museum nestled at the bottom of the hill / mountain. This mountain is a natural border to the west of Palm Springs, looming over and also dominating the view from our motel room. It reminds me a bit of Phong Nha in Vietnam with its presence.
Downtown Palm Springs is home to many ice-cream shops, upmarket homeware stores and now big brands like Starbucks, H&M and Sephora. It still reclaims some mid 20th century charm though with low buildings and palm tree lined streets. The white low strung identical homes have mostly pebble front yards with cacti or other hardy shrubs - the occasional grass lawn pristine green and presumably water intensive.
Dinner at a rooftop bar is an American fare of burgers, hotdogs and nachos after which we stock up on food for our outing tomorrow. Once the kids are in bed I drive back 5 minutes to a Tesla Supercharger station, thankfully having no difficulties as I sit alongside half a dozen other Teslas watching the battery charge up.