DESERT X--MIRAGE, HOUSE OF MIRRORS

APRIL 18, 2017

 I have an app called Roadside America. It shows you all the quirky, interesting things to see in the area.  One of the items it listed was the House of Mirrors. In Palm Springs there are several Desert X art installations. The largest one is the Mirage, House of Mirrors.  It is a house built entirely of mirrors, inside and out. The exterior walls reflect the desert landscape.  This isn't a real house, just walls.  Amazing to see. It is nothing but glass. Wonder how much it took to build, how long it took to install and how long to dismantle?  It comes down Oct. 1st., that's why I wanted to see before we leave.

 Pass thru from room to room

 Denny at entrance to room

Taking pictures, looking into a wall

Ceiling

 Left side is the desert, right side is image on the exterior wall

Soffits, mirroring the desert floor

Back

front

 back

Wide view of back

CLASSIC OLD PALM SPRINGS

APRIL 12, 2017

I decided to be the typical, classic tourist  in Palm Springs. One of the things Palm Springs is noted for are all the old movie stars that had homes here. In the old days, it was in their contracts that stars had to live  within 2 hours of Hollywood. That is why Palm Springs became the playground and residence  of the rich and famous.  There are several tours to the different neighborhoods.   It was a 2.5 hr walk thru the Las Palmas neighborhood. The old homes were built in the 30's thru the early 60's.  They were either Spanish architecture  or mid century modern. Palm Springs is the mid century modern capital of the world.  It was very interesting. I saw the homes of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Clark Gable and Carol Lombard, Liberace, Kirk Douglas, Gene Autry, Lucille Ball, Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell and many others.  The only one in this neighborhood that is current is Leonardo DiCaprio. He now lives in the Doris Day home. He is actually in Palm Springs right now attending the famous Coachella Music Festival. You can't really see very much of the homes, they are all behind huge palm trees, bushes and walls.  I took a few pictures just to show you a big part of Palm Springs history.  Denny can't walk this far, so our friends, Linda and Fred went with me.

Would have been interesting to see what Palm Springs was like in the hey days of the 40's and 50's. I bet it was an amazing place

Typical 

This is Gene Autry's home. The bronze horse sculpture holds the ashes of his famous horse sidekick, Champion 

Side entrance to his home, his wife still lives here, she is 91 years old

This is the home of Jack Warner. This door was a prop on one of his pictures.  If a horse came thru, you opened the entire door. If it was just a person, you only opened the shorter light colored area. A 2 for 1 door,  HA, who knew you needed one!

Mid Century modern home, typical door was ceiling to floor height.  can't imagine how heavy that door is

Typical security walls and trees

This is the best view I could get of the most expensive real estate in Palm Springs. It is 4 acres, worth $4,000,000. A little too expensive for me!!

Anybody remember the TV show, Miami Vice?  This house was used as Sunny Crockett's home  in Miami, but really filmed in Palm Springs. Does look like it belongs in Miami

This was the home of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Notice the floor to ceiling green door to the left. Isn't this a beautiful gate.

GLUTTON FOR PUNISHMENT

March 29, 2017

In my last post, I mentioned that I would probably never do the Hike to The Flag again. Well, never say never!  Since I first did it,  I have gone up 2 more times.  Last Wed, I did it again, not sure why, just because  I could, I guess.  It was hot and we had to leave 2.5 hrs later than we did the week before.  I stopped a lot more because of the heat, but I kept up. Yahooooo!!!

What made it so much harder this time, is that I had gone up just 2 days earlier by myself.  There were 5 caches in the area that I had wanted to do for several years. I started with the closest and just kept going up. When I say up, I mean STRAIGHT UP  the mountain, no trails.  I should have done them in a different order, but, by the time I realized that, it was too late. I was committed.  Instead of the trail, I hiked up and over a small mountain, hiked into the valley, then straight up the side of a tall mountain.  The terrain I was on made the Hike to the Flag,  child's play.  Several times I stopped and told myself this was a stupid thing to do all by myself.   After I got to the top,  I started down and about  15 feet from the top,  hiked horizontally to the next mountain.  It was pretty steep. 

This is the last time I do it, been there, done that 3 times. Enough for me!!! The things I do for geocaching!!

Not sure these pictures will show how steep it was but I did take a few. At least you can see the terrain

Saw this little guy

 This is actually part of the Hike to the Flag, notice the trail.

After I climbed up and over a mountain, I walked across this valley, then straight up this one. After finding the cache, I dropped down about 15 ft and hiked horizontally across the mountain to the next one.

HIKING TO THE FLAG

March 19, 2017

There are a lot of hikes in the desert. One I had heard about for years, but never been on.  It is directly across from our campground.  It is 2.5 miles one way, but very steep.  Decided to go with  Cindy, the activities director at the park. She has done it many times.  The other man with us was  from British Columbia, Canada.  Even tho  I was the oldest of the group, I was able to keep up.  I had to stop a few times when it got really steep, thank heavens for my walking stick.   I had taken lots of  water.  Took us 1.5 hours to get up, 1 hour to come down.  Our guide, Cindi has done it in 1.5 hrs round trip, but she is a lot younger. Still, that is pretty fast.  Felt pretty good about it because a lot of people take 2 hours each way. At the top of the mountain are 2 flags, one U.S., one Canadian.  Glad I did it, but, not sure I would do it again. 

 Taken just before we started the steep part

You can barely see the flag at the top. We were fairly close when I took this

Taken from the bottom, across from our park. The flag is on the peak to the right of the tallest one. 

FLOWERS EVERYWHERE!

March 11, 2017

Last Saturday, we went to the Anza-Borrego State Park.  It is about an hour drive south  from Palm Springs.  Flowers bloom in the desert in the spring , but, because of all the rain, they are spectacular  this year.  It has even  been on the National News, at least in L.A.  Most of the areas in the pictures I'm sending are brown, but not now. Because this year is so unusual, the traffic was a mess. Everyone from Southern CA must have been there.

The town of Borrego Springs is also know for the metal sculptures.  They are from 20 ft tall to very tiny. A man puts them together somewhere else, takes them apart and installs them all over the desert. Amazing to see.  The pictures below were taken a few years ago. It was too crowded with people this time looking at flowers to see.