Sunday, Feb 9th

Our Campsite:

Kristi and Jason are stuck in England for another day with their flight cancelled due to the huge storm they are having over there. 90 mph winds in some areas. Managed to book another flight out tomorrow early and will arrive back on the island by late afternoon if all goes well.

Today is laundry day in the coach and Ray used the California Duster to get all the Quartzite dust off the coach before we might get some sprinkles tonight. We hired the local RV wash dude yesterday, to clean and polish our MH tire rims. What a difference. Ray is really happy with the job. Now the whole coach has been washed, waxed and polished. Good until next year. lol

We decided to eat at the Emperor Buffet for lunch today. We have been drooling over the prospect of going there ever since I made the plans that we would be coming to the Palm Springs area. It did not disappoint! There are many, many choices and being a Sunday they had the biggest selection of all. Tons, and tons of seafood and great sushi. 6 rows of food not including an ice cream station, a stir fry station and a large salad bar with cold shrimp and fruit.You really had to look carefully at every station as there was seafood mixed in everywhere.

Lots of seafood including Snow Crab Legs etc. A lot of the choices spicy however.

Fried food options, some Chinese and other things for kids like french fries. Even deep fried apple pie.

Fried rice, chowmein, shu mai, steamed barbecued pork buns, stuffed baked mussels and 4 different soups including Wonton.

Sushi Bar. rolls and sashimi. Ray even ate a bunch of octopus from here.

A great lunch. This is one of the best buffets we ever ate and one we look forward to stopping here. Ray and I were so full we could hardly walk ... time to get home and nap. lol $16.95 a person on weekends and during the week lunch was only $10.95 but you would not get as much choice as on the weekends.

We got home just in time for the clouds to come in and by 4 pm the wind had come up and it had started to sprinkle a little. Hoping our neighbours come home soon as their awning is not happy but we don't want to take responsibility for it as we don't know them. Freya is not happy with wind, I think she expects thunder to arrive.

We were still full from lunch so other than a few snacks we did not have dinner. lol It sprinkled a few times overnight but certainly not very much. Roads were all dry in the morning.

Monday, Feb 10

Today the plan for me is to continue with the laundry and catch up on making bread etc. I will also work on getting more dust out of the MH now that we are in civilization. Ray will head over to the hot tub this morning, unfortunately with my torn up knee I cannot.

Woke up to a breezy cloudy morning with blue patches. Should clear up by this afternoon for another nice day. Very moody sunrise.

A trip to Costco yesterday yielded a package of tenderloin steaks at $10 off per package and a package of lobster tails. Steak and lobster for Valentines Day Dinner a few days early. lol Yummmmm.

Since it was cloudy and windy outside, I enjoyed a "Debbie Day". Love it when I can play in my kitchen (Ray here... me too!). Also love having my washing machine working again so I can do my laundry while I'm playing in my kitchen. lol First up was getting bread going in the bread maker and then making Ray some Fry Bread for breakfast. He has been asking for it for about a month, Afternoon snack is fresh artichokes and dip. Love getting them fresh here in California.

While I was busy in the coach, Ray went to drool over tools at Home Depot. Didn't buy anything but loves to look anyways. On his way back he stopped at a farm market a few blocks from the RV Resort and picked up some fresh strawberries picked that morning. Yumm. All of this for $10.

3 pint baskets

For dinner we had Tenderloin Steak and Lobster done perfectly on the barbecue. Another fabulous day in spite of it being mostly cloudy.

Kristi and Jason made it back home today, a day later than planned with their cancelled flight yesterday due to that huge storm in Britain.

Tuesday, February 11th,

It was very breezy overnight. Had to put in the window awnings in the "wee hours" as the whole coach was shaking. Upside is that the haze has mostly gone away. We were going to take a drive up to Idyllwild today but the forecast was winds up to 60 mph up there so we decided to take a trip to Indian Canyon instead.

Our first stop was at the Visitor's Centre to check it out. Not too interesting but it is a historical building refurbished from an old gas station.

Then up to Indian Canyons

We chose to see two of the four canyons, Palm Canyon and Andreas Canyon, which represent the easy trails.

Agua Caliente History

Since time immemorial, the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians has called the Palm Springs area home. Long ago, they built complex communities in the Palm, Murray, Andreas, Tahquitz and Chino canyons. With an abundant water supply, the plants, animals and Agua Caliente Indians thrived. They grew crops of melons, squash, beans and corn. They gathered plants and seeds for food, medicines and basket weaving. Today, remnants of the early Agua Caliente society such as rock art, house pits, foundations, irrigation ditches, dams, reservoirs, trails and food preparation areas still exist in the canyons.

The Agua Caliente Indians have always been industrious and creative with a reputation for independence, integrity and peace. In 1876 and 1877, the U.S. Federal Government deed in trust to the Agua Caliente people 31,500 acres for their homeland. The Federal Government previously gave the Southern California Railroad 10 miles of odd-numbered sections of land to induce the company to build the railroad. Of the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation’s 31,500 acres, about 6,700 acres are within the Palm Springs city limits. The remaining sections span across the desert and mountains in a checkerboard pattern.

As early as the 1900s, Palm Springs and the surrounding area have been described as a recreational oasis. Tahquitz Canyon and the Indian Canyons are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Palm Canyon in the Indian Canyons is the world’s largest Washingtonia filifera (California Fan Palm) oasis.

What a fabulous place. Being seniors it's $7 a piece. Ray and I drove to the trading post first and walked down into the Palm Canyon.

"Fifteen miles long, Palm Canyon is one of the areas of great beauty in Western North America. Its indigenous flora and fauna, which the Cahuilla people so expertly used, and its abundant Washingtonia filifera (California Fan Palm) are breathtaking contrasts to the stark rocky gorges and barren desert lands beyond. A moderately graded foot path winds down into the canyon for picnicking near the stream, meditation, exploring, hiking or horseback riding. While in Palm Canyon visit the Trading Post for hiking maps, refreshments, Indian art and artifacts, books, jewelry, pottery, baskets, weaving, and conversational cultural lore."

Palm Canyon is considered the world's largest California Fan Palm Oasis. Other than the 200 foot drop into the canyon, the rest we walked was all flat and lovely fine sand. We maybe walked 1/2 mile total. You could go for 15 miles if you wanted and then back. lol Not for us. The road up to the start of the trail was very windy and narrow but was paved. No large vehicles ... no parking for them at the top.

Old building.

Looking back down towards the valley.

View towards San Jacinto Mtn from the Visitor Centre

Split Rock

Looking down at the road up from the parking lot.

We checked out the small trading post and then headed down the trail just outside their door,

Palm Canyon

You go down about 200 feet on a switchback trail. It was not too bad, I didn't even have to stop on the way back up. lol

Looking up from the Hogan to the Trading Post at the top of the hill.

Picnic area. There are also Porta Johns here.

This shows how tall the palms actually are. The California Fan Palms are the only native species, the rest were imported.

A truly magical place. After we climbed back up to the trading post it was time for a hot dog and water to get some energy to do the next trail in the Andreas Canyon.

Andreas Canyon

"The contrasting greens of the magnificent fan palms and more than 150 species of plants within a half-mile radius beckon the desert-weary traveler to this lush oasis. A scenic foot trail leads through the canyon passing groves of stately skirted palms, unusual rock formations and the perennial Andreas Creek. One can still see bedrock mortars and metates used centuries ago for preparing food. This tranquil setting is excellent for photography, bird-watching, or a picnic at one of the tables along the trail."

We walked up the right side of the creek first, which turned out to be the right choice as coming back on the other side provides short distance views of the palms and great rock structures, but not many views of the creek.

Pride Rock seen from the parking lot

Another magical place walking up the perennial Andreas Creek.

The park rangers put back these little rock waterfalls after flooding so you can hear the sound of the running water. Very peaceful. Lots of birds chirping. I even saw several small lizards, one that jumped out into the air to land 4 feet down on another rock outcropping. Too fast for a picture.

One happy photographer doing what he likes best .. new things to see.

You can really see that this area was all "uplifted" as all the rocks are tipped.

Crossing the creek to start down on the trail on the opposite side.

Just before crossing the creek for the return trip, there is a fence and several rock houses above on the cliff.

The further we went down the trail the more roofs you can see. Hard to believe there are 22 structures here. You can barely make them out at the top left in the picture below along the ridge.

Here is a newspaper article about them:

Secret rock houses of Andreas Canyon

Special to The Desert SunPublished 4:50 p.m. PT Sept. 10, 2016 | Updated 4:57 p.m. PT Sept. 10, 2016

Situated above Andreas Canyon are 22 rock houses that blend almost entirely into the sides of the canyons. Hikers and horseback riders with sharp eyes are often surprised when they look up into the mouth of Andreas Canyon and become aware of the rock houses that are perched on the canyon walls.

During a dispute over the primary rights to the water coming out of Indian Canyons, an attorney who was working for the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians purchased 509 acres that sit above the oasis in Andreas Canyon from the tribe.

In 1921, he formed the Andreas Club, a private club comprised of 24 members. The membership consisted of friends, many of whom were businessmen from the Los Angeles and Long Beach area. For many years, they had been coming as a group to this area to camp by the stream that winds its way through the canyon.They enjoyed the peace and beauty of Andreas Canyon.

Soon after the Andreas Club had been formed, members decided that they wanted to build small homes, like cottages, on the property. They built a clubhouse for all of the members to enjoy. All of the houses and the clubhouse were built of the rocks that are indigenous to the canyon. Restriction were put in place to keep the area as natural as possible.

The rickety dirt road that was built to provide access to the cottages was narrow and guarded by two locked gates to protect the community from curious onlookers who wanted to get a closer look at the homes that are barely visible because of how well they blend into the canyon walls.

The rock houses were constructed preserving as much of the natural state of the environment as possible. A minimal amount of building materials were brought in to construct the buildings due to the membership wishing to keep the setting as undisturbed by development as possible.

Propane gas provided gas light to illuminate the inside of the houses before the availability of electrical generators. Today generators are used for electricity and propane tanks allow the kitchens to be functional and, in some of the cottages, the water to be heated in the rock hot tubs that offer majestic vantage point for views of the valley below.

Members still bring in their own supply of water and also use water from the nearby creek. No utility lines have been allowed, to keep the environment pristine. There are also club restrictions against killing any animals except rattlesnakes and members enjoy hiking, swimming in the stream and evenings on patios with spectacular views of the entire Coachella Valley.

Members and their families usually come to stay during the winter months. Renting or selling these houses is prohibited. If a member dies, the rock house reverts back to the club and the surviving family members can request and must be nominated to become members of the club to retain the right to access the area. Members still do much of the maintenance themselves such as cleaning out clogs in the waterlines.

Elmer Stone, who was the treasurer of the club in 1983, said, “We want to keep as low a profile as possible – attracting attention is the last thing we want.”

Really cool rock that split in half

This rock seemed really out of place. Wonder if a glacier dropped it here?

Back to the upper parking lot.

Picnic Site

View of the valley from the parking lot.

These are houses you pass by on the way to the Indian Canyon native lands.

Needless to say Ray and I were both bushed and hungry after our adventure. We were lucky the Emperor Buffet is on the way home. lol We stopped and refuelled for $10.95 each before coming home to a very happy dog. The buffet was still pretty good although not quite as many seafood dishes as they offered on the weekend.... no sashimi for Ray.

Another great adventure.

We sat outside for a couple of hours enjoying the sunshine before coming in and calling it a night. Ray is incredibly sore so it will be a "toes up" day tomorrow but he said it was so worth it having taken 180 pictures. lol. He did go for a hot tub which helped somewhat. I was surprisingly okay once I sat down for awhile we shall see if tomorrow is okay too. lol. No hot tub for me with my big knee scrape that is still healing.