The Heat is ON

The first weekend of March featured the LaQuinta Art Festival. We had talked to several people that highly recommended this event. On Sunday, we decided to check it out. The event is huge with hundreds of artists showing and selling a wide variety of art. No flea market junk here....

There was a variety of interesting media and I enjoyed talking to a few of the folks displaying and selling photographic art.

We cut our stay a bit short when the wind started to pick up. Everyone was scrambling to secure their canopies and artwork as the winds started to increase to 25 kts+.

On Monday, two weeks after our first attempt at hiking in Indian Canyons (mountain lion problem), we returned and hiked a really nice loop trail. The temperatures were still quite nice for hiking (21C). We walked through a huge palm grove then climbed a ridge which provided great views of the snow capped peaks. Best hike so far.

The next day Chris and I had a game of golf at the North Course. We had the displeasure of getting teamed up with the worst a**hole I have ever encountered playing golf. He wouldn't wait for Chris to  hit from the ladies tee and drove up to the green to take his shot. It got so that if I was short of the green, I would aim at him rather than the pin. I'm sure he voted for Trump.

Mid week the weather gods flipped the switch to summer mode. It got hot in a hurry. Our long time friends John & Janet from The San Juan Islands in Washington State arrived on Friday for a few days visit. We hadn't seen them for a few years so it was fun catching up on what everyone had been up to.

On Saturday, we drove to Joshua Tree National Park and hiked the 49 Palms Trail with them.

With the weather a lot warmer, we saw a few more critters. A chuckwalla and desert tortoise.

After the hike we re-hydrated at the Joshua Tree Saloon and took a drive through the park on our way home. The wildflowers were starting to bloom in the area near the south entrance to the park.

We got home in time to greet another set of visitors from Sonoma CA, our very long time friends Jim & Sharon. We had a great time reminiscing as a group over supper and throughout the evening (Jim, John and I are all engineers from University of Waterloo)

Everyone wanted to go and see the "superbloom" of wildflowers in Anza-Borrego State Park so we all piled into the Highlander and headed out to Borrego Springs despite the 35C weather. I think everyone else in Southern California had the same idea. We got there early enough that we had some good viewing experiences before the traffic got really bad. We had to give up on a hike we wanted to do because of the traffic and limited parking.

We managed to get into a restaurant for lunch and on the way back, stopped at "The Slot" for a walk through the canyon.

Jim & I managed to get in a game of golf on Monday then the next day, we decided to return to Joshua Tree to do a hike. This was because it is significantly cooler there at the 5000 ft elevation. The 36C heat pretty well ruled out any hikes in the valley.

We stopped to walk in the wildflowers and cholla gardens.

We did the trail to the Lost Horse Mine. We never did find the horse.

All of the Joshua trees are in the north part of the park (they are not really trees, they are cactus). They are in full bloom now.

We also stopped at Key's View for a panoramic look at the Coachella Valley. You can almost see our place from there.

On Wednesday, the four of us went to the Indian Wells Tennis Gardens to see the BNP Paribas Tennis Tournament. It was the first time for Chris and I to watch a live tournament. We saw three good matches but the heat was bordering on unbearable. Again it was in the high 30's. We must have drank several litres of water each. I almost had the game figured out by the end.

Jim & Sharon went back to the tennis for a second day and we chilled out at the pool. The heat continued into the weekend so today (Sunday), we decided to head to the mountains to escape. We drove the Palms to Pines highway with a stop in the rustic mountain town of Idyllwild, a funky little town. The road climbs it way out of the valley.

Soon you are at 5000 ft elevation and in pine trees.

Idyllwild seems to be a daytime destination for folks from Southern California, lots of shops and quaint restaurants.

Coming back down from the mountains we had a great view of the Morongo Valley and San Gorgonio Mountain.

It looks like the temperatures are going to ratchet down to more normal levels this coming week so we should be able to get out and do some more hiking during our last couple of weeks here.