From coast to desert

Grey skies in San Diego today as we left Shelter Island and drove north-east towards Palm Springs. The I15 is a pretty busy roadway, having up to eight lanes in each direction, in places! The journey took around two hours and when we arrived the sky was blue and the temperature, hot. Having checked in early at the Las Brisas Hotel, we ventured downtown to rediscover what Palm Springs has to offer. In truth, its trying to reinvent itself from a past steeped in nostalgia.

Many of the stars who made Palm Springs famous are long gone, as can be seen from their names on the sidewalk 'palm stars'. Sonny Bonno was the Mayor here, once. And who's he, I hear you say?!

We stopped off at Ruby's diner for a cold drink. Its a neat place, but not dissimilar to Johnny Rockets!

Then we looked around the old Plaza Theatre .... first opened in the 1930's and once the home for some of Jack Benny's radio shows and other giants, such as Bob Hope, its now closed; another ghost of a bygone time. Hey ho!

Anyway, we beat it back to the hotel and did some laundry where I got talking to George, a nice guy and retired lawyer, from Massachusetts. Washing done, we headed for a Happy Hour dinner at Kaisers and watched the party goers roll-in.

A somewhat obvious musical choice today, but I make no apologies .... America's "On a horse with no name"