Our first destination on this trip was Palm Springs.
Palm Springs is a small city of about 40,000 people, located about 2 hours east of Los Angeles.
When I was a child, my father bought the home pictured below with some of his coworkers who were all in the real estate business (不動産業界). During the spring and autumn months we would spend about one weekend a month at the Palm Spring house, swimming in our pool, playing in the local park, taking walks in the evening, and eating at our favorite Mexican restaurant. It was truly a happy time for all of us.
About ten years later, my father sold that house and bought another slightly bigger one in the nicer Las Palmas neighborhood of Palm Springs. Here, our neighbors included the famous statesmen Henry Kissinger and actor Rock Hudson. All of the houses, or at least most of them, were designed by the same architectural company, so they have a similar style that is very Mid-Century Modern.
This was the house across the street from ours ↓
Although it may look dry—and to be honest, it is—this view is one I love. Palm trees, Mid-Century Modern architecture, the mountains and blue skies.
When we had the house, most of our neighbors had laws in front of their homes. The drought (干魃) of the past two decades has caused everyone to turn their gardens into desert ones.
Here is a more iconic image of Palm Springs. Golf course, palm trees, blue skies and mountains. As you can see from the photo, there is snow on those mountains. The highest mountain is San Jacinto. It is about 300 meters lower than Mount Fuji and can get a lot of snow. The water in the local springs come from that snow.
There is a tram that goes from Palm Springs all the way up into the mountains. I must confess that I have never been on it.
We meant to go up into the mountains this time, but it was too cold and rainy.