More on Palm Springs

I did not have much time to spend in Palm Springs despite the fact that I missed my main planned hike because of the storm but looked around a bit and was really impressed by its beauty. Big beautiful houses surrounded by flowers and tropical threes so dense that you could not even see the building! I always thought that southern California is very dry and in fact it is but I was there in the wet season! 

However, similar to other rich cities, it cannot survive without the poor. There are rows of rundown townhouse close to the airport where, of course, the low-income earners live. It doesn't necessarily look horribly ugly but you can tell, easily by a glimpse. Obviously where the poor shops is different from the healthy and rich does! Dollarama and Wal-Mart, both, apparently, linger at a corner of the town and other businesses are available for people who don't look at their receipt once it's handed to them. Some even refuse to get it! I have written about the a few of the supermarkets in the town as food and dwelling are the most basic. 

The front of the hotel 

I sometimes get tired of the cold here and I would like to add, emphatically, that I even think of moving somewhere to the south of the border. It's the 20th day of April and it's freaking cold and when I say cold, I mean uncomfortable cold! The freaking QE II was frozen at parts and I not only saw a few wrecked trucks and other vehicles, but also was about to have a nice roll over near my destination, the day before! I was not able to the photos of the road but what happened was that the right lane had two frozen straight lines parallel to each other, where your vehicles tires stand and you drive on those ice sheets(!), for a few short kilometers, near Penhold, I think l was, I lost the control for a second and was thrown to left lane forcefully! My heartbeat went up so fast but I was able to control the vehicle in the last minute! I only was lucky that there was no vehicle trying to pass me or I would have had hit them and perhaps was in a hospital now, if not dead! 

So with that said, you see why I would like to move so deep to rid of this 7-month long winter, after 20 years I have been living here! It mostly got into me now that I drive on QE II regularly now. I think if I move somewhere close to work, that desire diminishes, automatically! 

You can find something acceptable in Palm Springs for nearly US $300,000. If someone lives in that town and installs solar panels for his Tesla (That's the EV I would buy!), they could get a job anywhere in the state and they will be alright. I think if I plan for the hike of Mt. San Jacinto again, I will go to Palm Springs and will stay there but not in Renaissance Hotel, it's just so expensive for me! It cost me more than CAN $800 for two nights and I don't even know if breakfast was included but I don't thinks it was. I was comfortable there. No noise and no crooks but the bed and the pillow were awful and uncomfortable for me, at least. I like a hard pillow and mattress not the one that you sink into it! The hotel is beautiful but failed to impress me. One of my plans was to see one of the date farms but I cancel that before going. I bought a small box of date though for a reasonable price of US $4.99 and it says it's organic. Southern California has a lot to offer but also has horrible stories about homelessness but I will stay away from those places for sure. 

(Photo, top: I don't think Gucci's owner lives in Palm Springs but I don't have an explanation why it's name and logo is seen on the wall of this house! Maybe a vacation home?)