The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Saturday, April 2, 2016

Arrived in Palm Springs!

First order of business yesterday morning was to pick up our rental car. I had it booked at an Enterprise location about 3 miles (5 kms) away, but I had made a slight error and booked it for 12 noon. It was booked at a fantastic rate, and I tried to change the pickup time the day after I booked it but we would lose the great rate. So I left it booked for noon.

I called them to see if we could pick up early, and they said no...it wouldn't be ready until noon.

We said goodbye to Mike and Tamara at around 11:00am, and drove over to the rental place to wait there.

Sure enough, it was noon when they came out to the motorhome to tell us it was ready.

We're driving a cute little red Beetle for the next two weeks!

And no, Sherman is not pulling a trailer. We just happened to park in front of one while waiting for the rental.

Not a bad little car for $205 USD ($266 CAD) for two weeks, tax included and with unlimited mileage. I love getting a great deal!

From there, it was an 80 mile (128 km) drive to Palm Springs. Helen went with Ruth driving the Beetle, and Tony and I in the motorhome.

Now there's a view of Sherman that we don't often see!

Heading down to the Palm Springs valley.

Ruth, having fun driving the Beetle!

We arrived at Happy Traveler RV Park in Palm Springs, and registered . Yesterday I had said that the price was  $45 USD, but in fact it is $55 USD ($71.50 CAD) per night. Yikes. But, there are two couples sharing the price, so we'll spoil ourselves a little. It's not a great park for that price, but it's nice enough and the location is very close to downtown Palm Springs.

Sherman and the Beetle tucked into our site. Fortunately, we have no neighbors on ether side, although that could change.

Relaxing with a cold drink or two.

Good thing for hedges!

A little hummingbird visitor to our site.

The pool area is dated, but nice and clean. Hot tub as well.

We had a nice dinner, and then went for walk. On the main road, we realized that there is a free shuttle bus that takes people downtown, so we hopped on that for the short ride downtown. Helen had broken her leg last December and she's still in recovery mode so we have to be careful with the amount of walking we do.

We spotted a fancy looking car, and I happened to notice the licence plate was from Saskatchewan. Spoke to the guy for a while (he was from Saskatoon) and the car is for sale. Turns out that it was one of only eight made...a 1980 Cadillac with a stretched front end.

Nice..only 26,000 miles. Everything original but the tires. Yours for $35,000 USD.

Out for a walk in Palm Springs.

Ruth and Helen went into this shop where everything in the store is priced at $16.99. Didn't buy anything though.

Lots of people out having fun. 

We didn't know this, but apparently 50% of the annual population of Palm Springs is gay. And there's a lesbian convention of some kind going on this weekend. Makes for some interesting people watching.

We had a great first day! Today, we'll go out and explore the area with the Beetle. Fun to have a vehicle with us for a change.

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Decent quality binoculars at great price...





26 comments:

  1. I guess there's a first time for everything. That park rate is a bit of a whopper. Just depends on how much you really *want* to be there. And that's where they've "gotcha".
    You didn't get Enterprise to pick you up? Or maybe that would have screwed up the price.

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    1. The Enterprise location was along our route anyhow. No, it wouldn't have affected the price.

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  2. Looks like you're in for a fun two weeks!

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  3. That redesigned Beetle is a nice looking car.

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    1. It is a fun little car and yes, it does look a little more sleek now!

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  4. Love the old Caddy.
    Lots to see and do in the area, we have spend many weeks there over the years, I am sure you will enjoy.
    Yes the people watching there is very interesting.

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    1. We thought that the Caddy was even more interesting because it was from Saskatchewan!

      Yes, lots to do in the area if you are into the touristy kind of stuff which really doesn't interest us all that much but there is lots of hiking that can be done and we really like that side of it here. And the people watching, definitely lots of that around!

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  5. I bet the car will grow on you:) Lots of opportunities there for having fun and spending money:)

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    1. Yes there can be opportunities for spending money but you can also have a great time without doing that as well, and that is just the way we did it! :-)

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  6. Love the pics - brings back memories! Outside of Palm Springs is a nice visitors center. Also, the road up to the aerial tram is right there. Even if you don't ride the tram up to the top, it's a neat place to park your red Beetle, take pics, and enjoy the view.

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    1. Glad that we are bringing back some good memories for you Connie and Barry. BTW, we went to Sees Candies the other day and got to sample one of their chocolates and it was delicious. Kevin even bought me one of the discounted chocolate Easter eggs. :-)

      I think we saw the Visitor's Center that you are talking about but they wanted $12.50 each to get in and we weren't about to pay that. We did go for a hike though and could look down on the trail that leads to the springs from the Visitor's Center. Never made it to the aerial tram.

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  7. In January and February, I rented for cars/SUVs from Enterprise in McAllen. All super good prices. If I had to rent on my own it would be an issue. We don't have a credit card with insurance coverage for rentals. Our only Mastercard doesn't cover that and the insurance, full coverage, is where they make their money. BTW, Enterprise is a family-owned company.

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    1. Our son, Alex also rents from Enterprise all the time. Maybe it is time to look for a new credit card that includes the insurance coverage, Chris. We have had several great deals with them, Kevin is always patient in waiting for that good deal to come along.

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  8. Kinda expensive! But, it IS a resort. Heckfire, you'll have fun, just kick back and enjoy the desert!

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    1. Yes, it is expensive for us but it is a treat after all and we are splitting the price so that makes the whole "resort" thing better and we have definitely made some use of the pool here.

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  9. Not too bad when you consider you're splitting the cost. Looks like the fun has begun! Have a great time.

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    1. And that is the way we are looking at it, we really have enjoyed our time here. :-)

      Really looking forward to heading into Joshua Tree National Park tomorrow though.

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  10. Great price for the car rental. Love that shop where everything is !6.99...I certainly would have done some serious shopping.

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    1. Yep, even the guy at the rental place couldn't believe the price.

      You would have loved that store store Contessa, they had some nice clothing but nothing that shouted out "buy us" to either Helen or myself.

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  11. $55 a night? Pretty expensive for that old park and that time of year (most snow birds have left already)...but it's close to downtown and you pay for that convenience. There are others in the area that are nicer for same price. Although, you wouldn't be able to get into some as your coach is too old. There is a LPGA tournament at Mission Hills that will attract a fair number gay females. Enjoy the nice weather!

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    1. It's an older park but we have really enjoyed it here. Some of the other parks may have been a little nicer but they seemed much more open, this one is nice because it has hedges between all the sites so it felt much more private and it was certainly a clean and quiet park.

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  12. Most places I go the ratio of heterosexuals to othersexuals is about 10:1. Makes for boring people watching.

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    1. Well Palm Springs was certainly not a boring place to people watch and that includes all genders. :-)

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  13. That is not as dated as the Thousand Trails we stayed in there a few weeks ago. great deal on the beetle.

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    1. Glad we didn't stay at the Thousand Trails place then. Actually this park was quite good and we certainly made good use of the pool while we were here.

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