On a Clear Day...

You know when you travel you try to catch the key historical sites and famous points of interest of a region while you're there, but sometimes you get too busy or too tired to cram everything into your visit? Often times, we miss some of the most important treasures because we think we'll be back some day and time just runs out on us. It's rather like traveling to Arizona and not driving the extra 60 miles off the freeway to see the Grand Canyon...or visiting the Louvre and not fighting the crowds to see the Mona Lisa...or driving near the city of Pisa and skipping the Leaning Tower because you've already seen a million pictures of it...or like going to the Smithsonian and not seeing the Hope Diamond.

I have been to Palm Springs three times. I have shopped, eaten at great restaurants and taken in the beauty of the desert. Every year after the trip I was asked by people who had been there "did you ride up the Tram?" Naturally I hadn't - didn't even know what it was. Every year we would settle into our desert vacation routine and not take the time to get back on the freeway and travel a few miles down the road to see it.

Well, this year, I did. And I can tell you it's not something you should miss. The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway was just a dream back in 1935 which finally came to fruition in 1963.  Traversing the rugged Chino Canyon on the north edge of Palm Springs, the old tram cars have since been replaced by large state of the art round cars with a rotating floor.  Holding up to 80 people, it takes 12 minutes to climb to the top of the mountain at 8,500 feet.

And on a clear day, you can see forever.

There are hiking trails all through the San Jacinto National Park, which evidently wasn't "shut down", as dozens of hikers and campers came out of the woods to ride the tram back down the hill. We walked down a short paved, but very steep "sidewalk" to the the trail head to see this mountain meadow. Just lovely!!

 Easy going down, but coming back up was a drag...my friend is waiting for me on the bench behind her to stop wheezing...

 Laurel. Never be too busy to see the best an area has to offer.