Monday, 19 April 2010

California Road Trip - Part 2 - Palm Springs

I'd gotten to know LA pretty well - and so I already knew my way out of town. It's really not that hard once you know where the main freeways go. So I headed to the 134 and then onto the 210, which would eventually become the 10 for an over night stop in Palm Springs.

LA Friday afternoon traffic:



Although it soon cleared:



On the road:



And the view:



Thankfully, Diane had told me about a Starbucks on the way, and so after an hour or so I pulled off at Campus Drive and stopped for coffee and a slice of Z Pizza. And then it was back on the road heading for Palm Springs with an amazing sunset :



I pulled into Palm Springs around 8pm having made pretty good time, only to find that everywhere was busy and rooms were in short supply. Luckily for me, I managed to get the last room at Motel 8 and dumped my stuff off and headed to downtown Palm Springs for some food.

The strip is pretty good fun - although it seemed really quiet to say that all the hotel rooms were full. I ended up eating at a great Mexican place, and as usual in America - there was enough food to feed three people. All I can say is - I did my best and ended up leaving feeling way too full.

On the way back to the motel, I stopped in to buy a beer and some snacks and they were playing Yes on the radio...I ended up browsing a little longer than usual to hear the end of the track...

California Road Trip - Part 1 - Introduction

For those who don't know - I've just spent seven weeks in California - and while I was there I got the chance to do a weekend road trip.

While there are loads of places I could have gone - and thanks to everyone who suggested options - in the end - I decided to do a trip I'd read on Neil Peart's excellent blog...which you can find here for anyone whose interested.

It was one of those journey's that stuck in my mind - and the chance to do it for myself - rather than just read about it - was one I wasn't going to pass up.

So on Friday afternoon I jumped in the car and set off on a journey of a lifetime...