Desert Hot Springs

We just returned from our second trip to California this year, so I figured it was time to get the pictures from the first one online. We made this reservation in later December and traveled down to the Palm Springs area in later February. We were all feeling the strain of COVID lockdown and needed to get away for a little while to catch our collect breath. Anyone who knows me knows I like to plan trips like nine months in advance, so a two month lead time qualifies as spur of the moment. That’s not entirely true, but you get the point.

We ended up renting a house in Desert Hot Springs (DHS), which is a small town just north of Palm Springs. With COVID measures still in place and none of us vaccinated, we figured we’d stay somewhere off the beaten path and spend our time lounging around and going on a few outdoor excursions. DHS has no major attractions to speak of and it’s really nothing like Palm Springs, but I can’t say we’re huge fans of that scene anyway. Really we were looking for somewhere sunny, warm, and away from crowds – we found that.

We did manage two hikes where we were there – one in a little known trail that enters Joshua Tree National Park and another in Palm Canyon on the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation. We’d been to Joshua Tree a few years ago and didn’t feel the need to drive the long way ’round to possibly have to deal with a bunch of tourists. The park is definitely something to cross of your list, but we find that we’re much more into water and forests than we are the landscapes of the area. We’re probably breaking some National Park unspoken law by not being terribly interested in JTNP. Oh well. The hike in Palm Canyon ended up being about three miles and Dom did it mostly complaint free… as long as we gave him a snack every hour.

Other than that, there really isn’t much to speak of about the trip. We spent a lot of time enjoying the sun in our backyard and just plain relaxing away from our house in Seattle, which was really starting to feel like a prison with amenities. For those unware, Washington and especially Seattle has had some of the most restrictive and long-standard COVID measures over the last year+. It was really nice to experience the outside world, given travel was pretty much the only hobby our family had before the pandemic. No complaints here.

Little Si Hike

Truth be told, Melissa and I wasted our first several years here. I mean, we made a good use of the music and nightlife, but we flat out wasted the outdoors here. You know, that thing we said was one of the reasons we wanted to live here? Come to find out, exploring nightlife does not play well with waking up early to play in the woods. So, yeah… Melissa and I have made a concerted effort this year to enjoy it.

The pictures and map here are from our Thanksgiving weekend hike. It weather had been relatively clear for at least a week and, although chilly, we had to make use of it. We’d never really hiked close to home and only wanted to get out for a few hours, so a quick 45 minute drive got us to the trail headed up Little Si. About 90 minutes later, we were at the top and enjoying the view. My GPS battery died (rookie) at the top, but you get the point. The hike itself was quite approachable and I’d do it again if out of town guests wanted a short day hike. In all, a good way to work off the gluttony of Thanksgiving Day.

On the way home, we made a quick stop at Snoqualmie Falls. This is a local landmark that you always see on TV, but another we had yet to see. There’s no matching the waterfalls of Iceland, but it’s cool to have something like that so close to home.

Summit Lake Hike

After living in Seattle for over three years we have finally made it out of the city for a day hike to Summit Lake. Over six miles in total, our never-ending uphill slog was rewarded with beautiful vistas.