While I was in LA last month my daughter and family took me for a trip to Palm Springs for a few days. It was a great experience. The landscape was amazing; desert, mountains and palm trees. The temperature was 40°C/104°F. It didn't bother me as I prefer hot than cold. We stayed in a lovely house (next post). Sonya packed a picnic snack and we drove up the foothills to the Tramway Valley Station.
We went into the waiting area where I read information about the Tramway. It has the largest rotating cabins in the world. 'Rotating!!! eek!' holding up to 80 passengers. It climbs from 2,643ft/806m to 8,516ft/2,596m. Wow! passing through 5 life zones from Mexican Sonoran Desert to an Alpine wilderness.
At the top we emptied out into the Mt Jacinto State Park, which has 54 miles of hiking trails and some primitive camping grounds. It is covered in snow in winter. Sonya found it strange to see it without snow.
I was very happy to read that it was made in Thun, Switzerland, Bill's hometown. So I knew it would be safe. (hee hee)
Soon we were swinging and rotating up the narrow valley to the mountain top. It was breathtaking.
The boys enjoyed the view. Only the floor rotated, the walls were stationary so Banjo had to keep letting go of the rail.
We set off down the other side of the mountain. I was thinking umm we have to walk UP here again to catch the tram. It was fairly steep.
Then we were in a mountain forest it seemed strange after being in a desert.
We looked for a nice rock to spread out the picnic.
My cute American family.
The boys preferred to climb up a big rock with their muffins rather than sit on our nice flat rock. After our snack we went exploring and hiking. The boys loved climbing and balancing on fallen logs. It was a lovely temperature up there, not at all hot nor too cold. All too soon it was time to head back up to the Tramway. By now the boys were worn out and had to be piggy backed up the hill. I managed to huff and puff my way up even though we had to rush at the end as we could hear the call to board the tram.
Boarding the Tramway at the Mountain Station.
It was an amazing view over Palm Springs and the desert. As the cabin rotates..........
you get a close up look at the walls of the canyon. It was a wonderful experience. In ten minutes we were back in the desert and the heat.
