Palm Springs and two very short days with Ron...

Tuesday, January 5, 2010 Palm Springs
Amtrak station; Meeting us at the station was Ron, our mentor and
very special friend from Connecticut. Ron moved to Palm Springs 5
years ago and has established a nice community of friends in his new
home in Rancho Mirage. We dump our gear at Ron's beautiful home, have
a quick cocktail then head to one of Ron's favorite restaurants.
Since eating out is a major form of recreation in Palm Springs, bad
restaurants cannot survive. After a splendid meal with Ron and
introductions to some of his friends who passed by our table, he
took us on a tour of the various Cities as the areas are called which
makes up the Palm Springs region. After an hour of touring, Bob and
I were both surprised by how much the desert had exploded with new
buildings and businesses since our last visit over 12 years ago.

With a day to spend exploring the area,
Ron took us up in the mountains about an hour drive to the Town of
Idylwild located high up in the San Joacquin mountains, which is a
perfect escape from the hot weather in Palm Springs and a nice drive
anytime of year. They get snow up there on a pretty regular basis and
the Town's streets still showed signs of a 12” snow fall within the
last 2 weeks but most of it was melted which is a nice way to
experience a blanket of white: short term! Ron took us out to see
his new building lot where he hopes to build a cabin to escape from
Palm Springs. Location, location, location with spectacular panoramic
views of the valley and mountains below and around his track of
paradise. Ron will certainly enjoy the peace and beauty of this very
special place and if we are lucky, we'll get invited back to see it
in person. after it is built.

Our arrival in Palm Springs coincided
with the Palm Springs International Film Festival so we treated
ourselves to two exceptional movies before grabbing our bags,
visiting Jules, another friend of ours and Ron's who just recently
bought a five-bedroom house in Palm Springs. Then it was off to
catch the 5:08pm Sunset Limited for the next leg of our trip to
Tucson, AZ.