We said goodbye to the bright lights of Las Vegas around 10 am, (although during the day it could be anywhere), and within a minute or two we were in the desert again, heading west towards LA, before veering south-west in the direction of Palm Springs. We found a factory outlet centre not far out of Las Vegas, and bought a couple of things to take back, but it wasn't very big so we didn't stay too long. From there it took about three hours to reach Indian Palms Vacation Club in the heart of Indio in the Coachella Valley.
Indian Palms sounds exotic, but it is far from it! At first glance the golfing resort seemed fairly exclusive, with its gated grounds and full-time security guards, but we soon learned that this was to keep the many undesirables in the area out. It doesn't always work, as we were to discover on going to dinner at the restaurant one night, when we drove past a policeman with his gun drawn, ready to blow the bad guy away! We were also mortified to discover one day that someone had sneaked in while the kids were there and stolen our last piece of chocolate cake - quelle horreur! And to top it all off we were in the midst of Hispanic workers - definitely not timeshare owners - who insisted on playing their Latin music loudly in their overgrown utes and tooting the horn at five in the morning. Grrr.
Our unit at Indian Palms was, like the one in England, two storeys, but Richie managed the same way, sliding down the stairs on his behind. He could have stayed downstairs but Chelsea got in first and commandeered the sofa bed with the cable tv, so he used our room upstairs to do the same - courtroom dramas yet again.
We went to the supermarket down the road when we got there and I think we were the only non-Hispanics in the place. They had an incredible array of beans and hardly any spaghetti (of course). There was a good variey of things though, and pretty cheap.
We did some interesting day trips, including one to Knotts Berry Farm, south of LA. I've always wanted to see it, and since the kids already did the Disney thing in Paris, it seemed an ideal opportunity. Also the day we went was the first day back at school for American kids, so there were no queues, and most of the visitors were Aussies and Kiwis. Getting in was pricey, as we had to buy four adult tickets - no discount for wheelchairs or carers. Not very impressive. Altogether it cost nearly $200. Chelsea and Neil had fun on the roller coasters though, and were both even too scared to go on one of them! We had just missed out on a day at Six Flags, the seventeen-roller-coaster-meca for teenagers, as it closed for the winter during the week, but it was probably a good thing as it was a lot further than Knotts, being in the north of LA, and as it was it took a couple of hours to get to Anaheim, even with the ever-so-helpful GPS. We nearly ran out of fuel on the freeway coming back, but it told us that there was a gas station up ahead, and we made it with 11 miles to spare.
We had a lazy day after that, driving around the area, including the twenty or so miles into Palm Springs. The Coachella Valley is a group of communities in the desert, ranging from blue collar and farm workers in Indio to the rich and famous in Palm Springs. You can drive along Highway 111 and go from one extreme to the other. One place we visited on the way to Palm Springs was Rancho Mirage, where Richie discovered another Borders Books, and we found out the The Cheesecake Factory does not sell cheesecake! (It's a restaurant). The average age of the shoppers would be 65, all with blond hair, tans and false eyelashes - and that's just the men! We probably stood out like sore thumbs there, amongst the pristine shrubberies and cascading fountains. It's the desert, but there's no shortage of underground water.
All of the buildings in the valley are beige - shops, houses, everything. A bit of variety wouldn't hurt I feel. But that would go against the overwhelming desire be "acceptable" - no rocking the boat.
One person who was the perfect example of "the look" was Gayle, the tour guide on our trip down to Mexico the next day.
We had an early night as we had to be up at 5am to make it to Palm Springs to get the coach at six. Chelsea was not impressed!
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