The mixed bag

 

Palm Springs is pretty much a known commodity, but we never know what to expect when we come to Desert Hot Springs. Suffice to say, there are usually surprises. 

The weather has been sunny and warm, but unpleasantly windy for the past 24 hours. On the bright side, we have the nicest, biggest room at the Lido Palms--a quiet corner unit with a view of the San Jacinto Mountains (and a vacant lot) from the kitchen window. Desert Hot Springs is NOT a fancy spa town, like it sounds.

We're sharing the motel with a large group of elderly Armenians who arrived by van from Los Angeles. They all speak (very loud) Russian. Apparently, this same group comes several times a month, so you can hardly blame the owners for welcoming their business. Not so great if you just happen to be here for a quiet visit. 

Ack! They set up a smoking area in the courtyard adjacent to the indoor hot tub. Who smokes at a mineral water spa in the clean desert air? (Now you know.)

I pointed to the sign and complained, but the tough old lady just gave me the evil eye. I know what fights to pick. 

Fortunately they are late risers, so John and I had a beautiful solo swim in the pool this morning, watching the sun come up. As we shall do tomorrow, our last day here.

After our New York trip on Delta Airlines, I kept expecting something to go wrong but everything was perfect yesterday. Not a single apology from a single Alaska employee. How refreshing. We had the rental car in 5 minutes flat, and decided to have a quiet lunch in downtown Palm Springs. There was a huge pride festival and parade going on, so no parking places available for many blocks.

We gave up and had lunch in Desert Hot Springs instead. I had authentic pozole soup for the first time.

 

We eat lots of Mexican food down here, and it's almost always good. Today we went to the Windmill Market for a date shake and lunch on their patio--John had a single taco. I had a whole delicious pastrami sandwich and ashamed to take a picture of it.  

Headed down to Palm Springs tomorrow.

Blue skies, smiling at me

 

The Palm Springs weather forecast looks great next week. Yea! On our last few trips, we've had "unseasonable" weather. We're spending two nights in Desert Hot Springs, then three nights in Palm Springs. 

We've done this trip many times and don't seem to get tired of doing the same things. The big attraction in DHS (other than Cabot's Pueblo Museum) is some of the best hot mineral water in the world. 

In Palm Springs, we'll be at a quiet old inn where we stayed once before. It had pretty rooms and a warm pool; hopefully it still does. Our favorite place for many years (The Andalusian, now called The Lucille) changed ownership and just isn't our cup of tea anymore. But downtown Palm Springs stays the same, with good restaurants, shopping and crazy Village Fest on Thursday night, the legacy of Mayor Sonny Bono.

There are beautiful hikes in the Coachella Valley to different palm oases and waterfalls. We've done most of them over the years, also a celebrity house tour which was a blast.

But something more adventuresome planned this time-- a three hour jeep tour featuring an up-close and personal look at the San Andreas fault. That will be on Wednesday, the day after the election. Geology surely helps to put things into perspective. 

Here's a video of the jeep tour highlights from a few years back.

Halloween soup

 

I bought a big Kombucha at Lone Pine and made a labor-intensive roasted squash soup yesterday. I forgot to take a picture of John chopping it up with a cleaver and hammer, a dangerous task if you aren't being mindful. Or as he would say, "have the right tools."

Most soup recipes start with raw cubes (peeling is a pain) but this roasts the squash chunks in a hot oven until tender and caramelized. Then you just scoop it out into a broth already seasoned with lots of garlic, onion and spices.

Finally, I used my handy immersive blender to puree everything into a super creamy and healthy soup. That little tool is a dream come true, after years of slopping hot mess in and out of a blender.

It turned out restaurant quality delicious. Let me know if you want the recipe.

As promised, here's Maya and pals ready to hit the town last night. She is dressed as a "1960's Corpse Bride." That decade when their grandparents came of age is ancient history.

We had about 75 trick-or-treaters, all of them very cute and polite. And soaking wet along with their poor parents-- it poured rain. For future reference, the treat of choice seemed to be York Peppermint Patties. 

Ready or not

 

Quite a few trick-or-treaters come knocking at our front door, but it will be raining tonight so traffic might be lighter. There are many neighborhood kids around, but this is about the only time we see them. Children aren't free range anymore. In the old days, Amanda would costume up and head out alone or with a group of friends. 

 

This is Twisp back in 2017-- Nova is the witch and Maya a unicorn. Nova is too grown up now for trick-or-treating, plus she never eats candy, but she will probably hang with her friends or go to the haunted house they set up at the Community Center. 

Maya has a major sweet tooth, and so does her best friend Kate, so this is their kind of holiday. The last time I asked, Maya wasn't sure what she was going to "be." Amanda will send a picture tonight. 

I'm just going to be myself-- the old lady witch who has lived in the blue house on the corner for the last 40 years.

Western Larch

 

The Western Larch is a rare conifer tree that only grows at elevations of 1,600- 8,000 feet in the Northwest. In the fall, they turn bright yellow and drop their needles. I had perfect driving weather on Blewett Pass yesterday, and they looked like gold candles scattered through the evergreen forests-- a strange and beautiful sight.

This trip wraps up the easy driving seasons. In the winter, our visits are short and I don't go alone. The house is winterized and in good hands, the driveway snow-plower confirmed for another winter, so now we just wait and see what it brings.

After three years in Twisp, I'm cooking Thanksgiving dinner in Seattle again. My sister Marji is coming from Las Vegas and the family from Twisp, so we'll squeeze eight around the table in our little dining room. 

We don't usually plan trips this close together, but we're flying to California on Sunday. New York was a trip, but this is more of a mini-vacation to familiar old places in Desert Hot Springs and Palm Springs. The weather looks perfect there next week, with high temps in the mid-70's and clear desert skies. The dark time has certainly slammed down in Seattle.

 

Spooky week ahead

 

In more ways than one...

Downtown Twisp is all decorated for Halloween with funny and realistic scarecrows. 

I enjoyed walking around town yesterday checking out the spooky neighbors.

 Wonder who lives here?

We had a nice weekend visiting and unpacking the little treasures Dave brought from our parent's Cripple Creek house, including these stained glass panels Dad made long ago. 

Our Mom was such a creative and energetic person, and she loved collecting, writing and especially recording family history. She was a tireless archivist. Even the most ordinary objects have little notes attached in her familiar handwriting, giving old stuff meaning and context.

One of the things salvaged from their garage was a can containing thousands of matchbooks they obsessively collected since the 1950's. A real trip down memory lane from by-gone places, documenting their long, full lives.

On Saturday, Nova drove us out to the horse barn where she works and rides. Wow. She's a careful driver and seems to be doing really well.

Amanda and I wrestled open the barbed wire gate-from-hell so she could ride Ginger in the adjacent cow pasture. 

I'd planned to leave today, but the weather is a rain/snow mixture on the passes. It won't affect the roads, but makes for unpleasant driving. And people tend to freak out (myself included) at the first snowfall. Tomorrow mostly looks sunny and dry so I'll go home then.

It will be many months before I make another solo trip, and I still have some chores to do around here. Winter is closing in fast, and this placid fall view will soon transition to bare trees and snow.