California Vacation ...

... day 3.

We came to California not only to celebrate my mom’s birthday but to celebrate our 38th wedding anniversary … which is today!  We will be spending the next two days/night in Palm Desert, Ca. I chose this location for an anniversary trip because we recently learned that Shirleyray, her husband T and Bunker will be in Indio at this time.  She has graciously invited us to their place for an anniversary dinner later this afternoon.

But before we left for the two+ hour drive East we all (Richard, Mom and me) went to Double Peak Park which is a stone’s throw from my mom’s house.  I was hoping to see some hummingbirds as we have seen them here on past visits.  To my utter delight we saw lots and lots of them! The lighting wasn’t always the best but I managed to get some good shots.  Please see the Extra photo for a collage of just one of the many hummingbirds we saw.  The one pictured is a male Anna’s Hummingbird … I think!  I also make an appearance as well as my mom looking at the wonderful landscape. 


We left for Palm Desert after lunch and packing up the things we’ll need for the next two days.  The trip to Palm Desert took us just under 3 hours as we made several stops along the way.  One of said stops was at a roadside art gallery which offered up mega iron sculptures!  I’ve added a couple of shots in this collage … top two photos.  We also stopped at Cahuilla Tèewwenet Vista Point and Coachella Valley Vista Point before heading down the winding road into Palm Desert!  And I mean winding! In the large picture on the left (with Richard) you might be able to see the road a little bit.  We stopped again on the way back to San Marcos in two days which shows it better.
 
We got to our hotel by 3:30 which allowed us to freshen up before heading over to Sheryl’s for a wonderful evening.  Thanks, Sheryl, for a delicious dinner, lovely anniversary flowers (we left the flowers for my mom to enjoy but we still have the vase!) and, above all, a really lovely evening.  They showed us around the RV park after dinner and then we sat outside for a while before we bid them goodnight.  We have arranged to meet Sheryl tomorrow at the The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens … despite the 100 degree temps!
 
More fun in store tomorrow … see you then!
 
Backblipped: July 24, 2022 … more to follow.