Just Respectful, Not Lazy

I have not been lazy, just respectful. I knew I did not dare share the desert with all of you while my friends in the northern plains were trying to stay alive in 30 degrees BELOW zero. When your friends' nostrils are sticking together, you do not complain about a sunburn.

Now that Spring has arrived in Minnesota with temperatures soaring into the 20's, I can finally share Palm Springs, California with you all.

Growing up in Shenandoah, Iowa, I never really knew that people actually lived like this. Of course we had television (I am not that old). I saw Lucy move to California and spent my adolescence "California Dreamin' " with the Mama's and the Papa's, but even then I could not imagine spending an afternoon in January napping around the pool.

Don't get me wrong, I cherish my childhood, but that does not stop me from counting the many blessings that have allowed me to escape the morning terror that I forgot to plug in the car engine heater so it might start and get me to work. Palm Spring is beautiful.

Since we arrived almost two weeks ago I do not recall a cloud in the sky. The days are in the 70-80's and the nights cool down to the 40-50's. There seems to be a perpetual breeze, and we even spent a day experiencing the Easterly mountain side of the Santa Anna winds (not as strong on the western side). We have driven the low desert and walked through snow in the quaint mountain town of Idylwild.

No place is perfect, of course. Dennis has a new understanding of how raisins are made as he lathers up with all the lotion he can find to prevent his daily molting of dry skin. My elbows are so rough I could sand wood with them. Even my eyes need lubrication. We are also reminded that it can reach the 120 degree mark in the summer--supporting our escape back to our Minnesota homeland in only a few months. But there is nothing like putting on a tank top in January and sharing some designer coffee on the lawn of our favorite downtown coffee house.

We are settled into the Two Springs R.V. Resort, although I cannot see any evidence of any underground source of water. Our motor coach lot is spacious and surrounded by a six foot tall hedge that provides just the right amount of privacy. We are surrounded by mountains (certainly not the Rockies, but still capped by just the right amount of snow). Once we got used to the huge propeller-style things across the road that use the wind to generate electricity, everything was good.

For those of you who have been to this area, you ahve seen that someone got the great idea to harness the constant wind rushing through the pass toward L.A. by putting up 40-60 foot high white, three-blade windmills. Now, I am the first to support alternative sources of energy, but this particular great idea has turned into literally thousands of these things littering a once spectacular mountain valley with endless, ever-rotating propellers. Surely there was some distant, uninhabited windy space in this endless Western plain where these things could have been placed. I know, I know, it is the eternal "not in my backyard" argument, and we must have alternative solutions, but I pray we find a way to use fewer, better placed, more efficient alternatives to these things (while we stop wasting so much power and other or our dwindling resources).

Dennis claims I get more "crotchety" every day. The re-reading of that last paragraph surely supports his theory. But boy, do I feel better getting that off my chest.

I recommend the desert. It is a very close toss-up between my love of Key West and this new found oasis (did I mention NO mosquitoes or "no-see-ums"?). There are so many magnificent places right here in our own American backyard, and Dennis and I look forward to discovering them all.