An Oasis in the desert....

Today we headed out into the desert and the desert cities of the Chino Valley - Palm Springs our destination. To our surprise the Valley was littered with hundreds of wind turbines which generates its electricity. Also to our surprise the temperature was 100 degrees! - back to the shorts and T-shirts! Palm Springs was a much smaller city than we imagined and the Downtown area, with its manicured palm lined street and Spanish mission style architecture, had a lovely village feel about it.
After we'd explored the town area we headed for the Aerial Tramway which whizzed us up 8516 ft Mt San Jacinto to take in the breathtaking views of the valley below, as well as the pristine wilderness of the 14,000 acre State Park at the top of the mountain. The park is very popular with hikers with it 54 miles  of hiking trails. What an amazing area - one minute we are on the valley floor sweltering in the desert, and the next minute we are on top of a mountain with snow everywhere and the temperatre 40 degrees cooler!
The Tram car ride was exhilarating! and a bit scary! It holds 80 people and takes 10 minutes to do the 2.5 mile trip from bottom to top. The car rotates 360 degrees so you ascend and descend so you can take in all the beautiful vistas. During the ascent you pass through five unique life zones - from the Mexican Sonoran desert to an Alpine wilderness. Again, a great experience.

The desert, the alpine mountains and wind turbines!
Interesting contrasts.

The forest of wind turbines

Downtown Palm Springs

Main Street Palm Springs - palm lined and Spanish mission
architecture.

A golfers paradise with 300 golf courses in the Valley

The sandy desert contrasts with the snow capped mountains

The beautiful Chino Valley with the palm lined H111 leading
into Palm Springs

Looking back to the Valley Aerial Tramway Station

The Tram cars pass each other halfway

Looking up to the Mountain Station

The valley below

The desert cities in the Valley

The beautiful Mt San Jacinto State Park

We enjoyed another night of camping at the Banning KOA.