On Saturday morning we came back to Thousand Trails and set up to vend waterless car wash at their craft fair. I had fun shopping and then kept warm inside working on a jigsaw puzzle.
We played pickleball with Sally and Jerry before they left Thousand Trails for the next few weeks. This is their new 2011 Sun Cruiser RV and their little dog, Muffin.
Saturday evening Larry Weaver came and visited us for a few days. Larry sold insurance with him 34 years ago. They had lost touch and then they located each other on face book a few months ago. Larry lives in Florida, but he came out to visit his son in Utah. He took a "little" detour to see us ( about 400 miles) before going to his son's. It was nice meeting him and we had a great visit.
The wind farm by Palm Springs is very impressive and just amazes me every time I see all those wind turbines. Sunday was very windy, as it often is.
We had heard about the aerial tramway but had never gone to it. After moving our RV back to Thousand Trails, we decided to take Larry W there since it is something everyone says you should do when you come to Palm Springs. I definitely would agree now that I have done it .
The tramway has the world's largest rotating tram cars. The floor makes two complete turns on the trip up. The trip takes 10 minutes.
Our trip begins leaving the Valley Station which is already at 2,643 feet. (The drive to the parking lot was pretty steep, one sign we passed marked 1000 feet.) The Mountain station is at 8,516 feet. You pass through 5 unique life zones, from the Mexican Sonora Desert to an Alpine wilderness .
The tram works on counter balance with one tram going up and one going down. At the bottom of the picture you can see the other tram whizzing past us.
A view of the Coachella Valley as we go up. What a sight! It was 3:30 when we went up so my pictures are full of shadows, but the views in person were great.
You pass five towers on the way up. They are the only place where I felt a little sway. The trip was narrated and told fascinating information about the tramway and the different things you were seeing or passing. There is also a very good film at the mountain station about building of the tramway.
It had snowed last weekend so there was 2 inches of snow on the mountain. What a beautiful winter scene.
It was cold, but not to windy. We took a little hike and watched families having fun sledding.
This is Mt. San Jacinto State Park which has 54 miles of hiking trails. I had no idea there was so much up here to do.
My camera's battery was dying so this isn't a very good picture. But this is the Peak, a very nice restaurant, where we enjoyed a delicious meal. The view of the twinkling lights in the valley was impressive.
The stations were all decorated for the holidays. Next weekend at the Mountain station they light a 40 foot tree with 6,400 bulbs to kick off the season. Our tram ride to the "north pole" put me in the Christmas spirit, so now I'll decorate the RV. May I be the first to wish you Season Greetings from Palm Springs
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