Our Town: Preface

The San Jacinto Mountains from my balcony.

Those of you who have followed my wanderings know that I recently moved to Palm Springs after visiting here twice in the last year. Even though I had heard about 'other the desert cities' I really didn't know much about any of them except for names and decades old short visits. I knew Palm Springs only a little better.

I've been here two months now. I have come to realize, much to my surprise and so far my delight, the Coachella Valley is a rich and varied landscape. Wonderland. Oz. Candyland.  Lost boys. munchicans, amazons, and more queens and fairy princesses than you can count. And that's just Palm Springs.

It's called a cenotaph. I know why the last
three names appear on the stone,
but the others?

I'm told the cathedral in Cathedral City next door is a reference to the San Jacinto mountains. There's no cathedral, but there's Trader Joe's and Target and it's only 10 minutes from where I live on the edge of Warm Sands (subject of future posts). It has a lot of good local restaurants and uni-culture and box stores. Long-time locals call it Cat City. Depending on who you ask it's either short for cathedral or an acknowledgement of its reputation as a den of iniquity in the 19th century, and as a haven for speakeasies in the 1920s. Several entertainment celebrities are buried in two cemeteries here.

Rancho Mirage, the next town East on Palm Canyon Drive, would feel familiar to people who have lived or visited the San Gabriel Valley area of Los Angeles. Upper middle-class strip and outdoor malls. There's more to it than that, but I haven't done much in those parts yet. There's a Cheesecake Factory. I've actually eaten there twice. Those of you who know my history know that I enjoyed a special time there in a past life and lived to not write about it.

White Water Preserve. an honest-to-god oasis
twenty minutes from downtown.

The desert city that intrigues me the most, aside from Palm Springs, is Indian Wells. Have you ever driven down an avenue in a strange city and known instantly you are in "that" part of town? River Oaks in Houston, Bronxville NY, Sea Cliff in San Francisco.

No stores, no advertising, no mac-mansions – driving through Indian Wells on route 111 all you really see are walls and manicured palm trees punctuated by conspicuously understated gated entrances. The road is noticeably better-paved, the trees better tended, the walls pristine and luxuriantly planted. Bill Gates has a place here and "lots of other famous people," or so I'm told. I doubt I'll be attending many dinners there.

★★★

It's taken me a week to get this much down in a post. I've been wrestling with a decision and haven't been inspired to do much blogging. It's little more than a Trip Advisor review. I'll try to do better in future posts. I may also be inspired to write more about the decision.

The windmills of my mind have been working
overtime lately

For now, I'll share that, like most people who have reached the so-called retirement years, I've been looking for a hook for this next act. I'm sixty-seven now. I haven't found the idiot's guide to subsistance retirement living yet, so I'm trying to get in touch with what I want to manifest for this next stage. I've been putting a fair amount of energy into trying to manifest an idea I had for an import business. Unfortunately, the numbers just don't add up. So, unless deus ex machinas with a direct order and a check, I have decided it's time to explore other possibilities.

The photos included have only peripheral relationship to the text.