Monday, January 2, 2017 in Palm Desert, California

Rumour had it that it was snowy and icy in Vancouver but not here in Palm Desert

 The view from our deck this  morning

I went for a walk then an update with member services where I scored some dining discount vouchers

this is was  in the town of Palm Springs

And then we attempted to go up the mountains above Palm Springs on the aerial tramway but we got there and were lined up for awhile and then told it was a three hour wait so we went into the town of Palm Springs and eventually had lunch using a 25 dollar discount so it was a cheap lunch...the Palm Springs film festival has just begun and lots of stars in town but we didn't spot any-Palm Desert is  about half an hour away.  

Next stop was The Living Desert which isn't far from where we were staying-I had enjoyed going there 30 years ago when it was mainly an interpretive centre about North American deserts but it has now really expanded.  Above gives you an idea of the topography.  

There is an African section and here is a Meerkat.

And a zebra…

A cheetah (he was a bit shy).

and a particular favourite of mine- the black footed cat who is Africa's smallest wild cat.  

Now we are back to the desert, American variety, with a type of heron

And this rather tubby badger!

 You can see a short video I took of a jaguar above.   I decided I could capture him more easily that way.  We saw lots more animals but  there is a limit on how much I can bore you!!!

 I think this is a desert sunflower-I have lots more pictures and since I did something like 11000 steps  there was lots to see…

Back at our place, the sun was setting around 5 and temperature dropping and I did manage to get in the hot tub.  The pool seemed a bit cool for me but kids were enjoying it…There are several pools but the near one to us is a family pool and school isn't back yet in some places.  In Palm Springs area it was the last day of holidays here like in BC.

It was a rather nice sunset!