Today was a lazy morning starting with a traditional American breakfast at Elmer's Diner which was so filling that we did not need lunch! After breakfast onto the main event - the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway.
Palm Springs Aerial Tramway was the number 1 rated attraction for Palm Springs on TripAdvisor. It's been running since 1963 and had a major upgrade in 2000 but it still climbs steeply from the desert floor up a very tall mountain.
The Tramway is at the end of what felt like a very long private road...
Turning 90 degrees north from where the previous photo was taken, you saw this... Looked great!
The steep road climbed up for about 600m and then you arrive at the base station.
Di took one look at this and nearly turned back! But she said "take our chances" and hardened up as per advice from Chopper Reed. This is how it looked from below...
The tram climbs from 800m to 2595m - the second steepest cable car in the world. And the inside rotates...just to add to Di's woes - twice around in the 11 minute trip.
Goodbye terra firma...
Off we go...
But the views are incredible.
We entered cloud long before reaching the top, but we knew that there would be no visibility towards the plains and Palm Springs from there as that was clearly stated at the base station.
At the top, it was eerie and gorgeous, surrounded by wet pine trees with a strong fresh scent. Lovely.
And then suddenly blue skies and the sun shone through aaahhhh...
We read about all the hiking and sort of regretted not being here in summer (or with the right gear for the day).
We enjoyed a hot chocolate and cup of soup in a nice cafeteria with friendly staff and fantastic views were good value. Hans said that Di was not in this location shot... promise... can't trust him as far as you can throw him!
2 hours after leaving we were back at base station. We then drove home for a swim and jacuzzi before we headed out in the late afternoon to check out some 1950s homes, Palm Spring Art Museum and Village Fest.
Some pool shots...
We stumbled onto this property in what is called the Movie Colony. We were not sure what it all meant, whether it was a private property or a commercial business. Very arty though...
Santa is still here with his reindeers
We swung by the Palm Springs Art Museum which is open to 8pm on Thursdays, with free entry from 4pm. Interesting building with some nice pieces...
After that, we walked around the corner to Thursday Village Fest in the centre of Palm Springs. Every Thursday from 5pm, they close off one of the main streets and set up food stands and stalls selling various products or services.
This is something that we don't see at Sydney markets very often...
Unfortunately, just like Sydney events, the food is over-priced and often smells better than it is. However, these HUGE steaks looked great but by the time we got back to them later, we were too full from eating a very ordinary paella.
After wandering around for a while including listening to a one man blues band in the outside bar of a Hyatt hotel, we decided to call it quits. Last night in California, tomorrow we go east to Arizona...
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