Quiet days in Palm Springs and moving on

Friday, January 10
A quiet day in Palm Springs. We didn't plan to do much other than a bit of shopping. We heard (thanks Deb Kyle) about a good Chinese/Japanese Buffet not far from our park so we headed to the Emperor Buffet for lunch.

They had a good selection of food. Excellent Sushi.

We went over to Hobby Lobby to look for deals. They always have deals. We scored a few and headed home. Not much doing today, except to walk off the huge lunch. We've been pretty busy all week so time to take it easy.

Saturday, January 11
Another quiet day for us. We had planned on just heading over to Walmart, but then we remembered the Street Fair at College of the Desert. This is an open air market with dozens and dozens of booths selling the usual jewelry, clothing, golf items, and all kinds of stuff. They had a great variety of food booths. Also unique was the used cars for sale. How about a 2013 low mileage Bentley for $59,900! A fraction of the list price.

Rows and rows of shaded shopping.

Some unique items

Huge selection of food vendors. I went with a chicken and lamb Gyro. Very good!

You don't see a used Bentley often.

Good deal too!

Want something sportier?

Listed at over $124K, on sale for $56,900

Maybe this sporty Mercedes?

What a deal!!

They also had a book fair in a nearby College building. We got there in the last hour of the sale and everything was half price. Great paperbacks for 50 cents each, so we picked up a bag full for about $6.

We stopped for fuel and a few groceries at Cardenas Mexican grocery. I think this is the first store I've seen that had no English signage. Kinda cool, but we had to be careful what we were buying! Then it was home to start packing up for our departure tomorrow.

Some tempting desserts

Pickled pork rinds and pigs feet in small or large quantities.

Huge selection of fresh peppers. Even Prickly Pear Cactus.

Corn husks for making tamales

Huge pork skins!

Sunday, January 12
Moving day for us. Our week in Palm Springs was a bit of a love/hate. We really enjoyed the weather with only one day of wind. The whole week hovered around 70 F. We also loved the sights we saw, but the crowds and traffic were more than we like. So, time to head out to what should be a quieter place.

By mid-morning we were packed up, said goodbye to the neighbors and headed on down I 10 East toward Arizona. We turned off the Interstate at Desert Center on Hwy 177 which takes us north around the east side of Joshua Tree NP. A very pretty drive.

The eastern facing edge of Joshua Tree National Park

This guy was parked near Desert Center on Hwy 177.

More Joshua Tree NP. Hard to see in the picture but the ground cover makes the mountains appear green.

Various shades of rock.

Not a lot of ditches along Hwy 177

At the junction of Hwy 62 we turned right and made the run toward Parker, AZ. We stayed on the California side of the Colorado and headed north toward Emerald Cove RV Park. This is an RPI member park so we pay $10/day with full services.

I assume they call this a 'shoe tree'.

A few hundred yards later was this mess. I'm sure it started out nice enough with shoes hanging on the fence. Now it's just junk. Too bad.

California Agricultural Inspection Station a few miles west of Parker.

Rolling hills heading toward Parker.

Train bridge over the Colorado River at Parker.

Alien rock!

This is a larger park with about 750 sites. We managed to get a spot just one row back from the beach. Turns out we are parked beside a couple from Alberta that we met in Bullhead City two years ago. If you are on the road long enough you tend to run into folks you have met along the way.

View from the front of our site. Just steps from the Colorado River. Arizona is on the far side.

Our site!

Some nice homes on the Arizona side.

Water level is quite low on the River.

......and that was Our View From Here!