{"id":64378,"date":"2015-07-19T00:51:08","date_gmt":"2015-07-19T06:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wend.ca\/?p=64378"},"modified":"2021-12-29T15:56:34","modified_gmt":"2021-12-29T20:56:34","slug":"roadtrip-palm-springs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wend.ca\/?p=64378","title":{"rendered":"Hollywood to Coachella Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"

Me:<\/strong> Do you see all the desert sand?<\/p>\n

La Ni\u00f1a:<\/strong>What! Sand! I thought that sand in the desert was just a myth and that it was really made of lots of grass.<\/p>\n

Me:<\/strong> No. That would be savanna. Deserts are made of sand.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This road trip was a learning experience for both of us… because this was our very first trip to a desert, in this case, the Coachella Valley Preserve, in the Colorado Desert. The name is a misnomer because much of this part of California’s desert extends southwest in North America but doesn’t creep into Colorado.<\/p>\n

The drive is rather straightforward: head east from L.A. and follow the traffic to Palm Springs, which is a popular vacation destination for Californians. July and August are the low seasons because no one wants to contend with the 108F heat.<\/p>\n

The road trip started with a typical SoCal surprise:<\/p>\n

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The normal 1:45 hour trip grew to 3:28 and unfortunately, GPS was correct.<\/p>\n

In order to get us to our destination faster, GPS took us on a twisty, bendy, side street, stop sign filled, bizarre back route. This included lots of time in Beverly Hills, attempts at left-hand turns through gridlocked intersections (without lights), a trip through messy downtown L.A., and a pause at every fricken stop sign in Los Angeles. Somehow this was the “fastest” route (which I questioned) and I debated whether sitting on the freeway parking lot was a better option to saving an extra minute or two — but GPS doesn’t give you details about the experience; it just gives you the fastest route.<\/p>\n

We joked for a while because never ever in all my time in California have I been to the centre of Los Angeles. And, yet on this mysterious never-ending journey through L.A., GPS kept taking us into the core and driving us around in circles. At some point, I had no idea where we were but somehow GPS got us out of the traffic snarl by using a series of illogical left-hand turns onto back alleys and side streets.<\/p>\n

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By the time we reached the Coachella Valley, it was dark and the sand looked like grass, so I can understand La Ni\u00f1a’s<\/em> initial confusion. The only other things we saw along the way were box stores, Starbucks, and other cars. I guess you can say it’s not the most scenic of routes.<\/p>\n