In The Sound of Music, Maria sang:
Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things
Well, to each her own. Maria might have like the items listed above but when I’m in Palm Springs my list might read:
Brown sheep with big horns and two dips of ice cream
White snowcapped mountains and palm trees in sunbeams
roses in winter and birds on the wing
Palm Springs has some of my favorite things.
If you couldn’t guess, we’re in Palm Springs and today we got to indulge in some of our favorite Palm Springs things. Several days ago, Gary got an e-mail from Panera telling him that they had a special treat for his birthday but he had to come in within 1 month. Oh, shucks. Our Panera is in West Des Moines and, though Panera treats are pretty special, they aren’t special enough to drive up to WDM for one and then drive back here. But, hey, we knew we’d be in Palm Springs on the 1st and there are 2 Paneras in that area. Saved, oh, joy.
We started the day at Panera where I had my usual bearclaw and Gary had 2 bagels. Note that Gary’s ‘special treat’ turned in to a bearclaw for Nancy. What a guy. Classical music playing in the background and a newspaper with a good crossword - what more could we want?
We checked out Best Buy for the new I Pad mini and DSW shoes for some new shoes. But, finally we headed on home - and along the way was a Rite Aid. Yep, a drugstore. But that’s the way it is here - the best hard ice cream is in a drug store. And, we know where they are in this area.
Thus for breakfast we had pastries and for lunch we’ve had ice cream.
Then it was time for grocery shopping and we were prepared for the sticker shock. In the eastern Phoenix area where we were for the last few months, we’ve been produce shopping in Superstition Ranch Market. Here we’ve been buying 4 red or yellow or orange peppers for $1.00. I bought 3 huge heads of romaine lettuce for $1.00, 1 lb boxes of blackberries for $1.00. $.19 a lb for bananas a huge bunch of baby spinach for $.39. Absolutely stunningly low prices. My theory was that the produce came from southern California or northern Mexico and, while the best looking produce was shipped to the regular grocery stores, the not-so-pretty produce made it to Superstition Ranch. And, what’s so bad about a pepper with a few curves? Actually, that’s not true since the produce looked great and tasted great too. That theory was just a theory and I’m not so sure that it pans out in real life.
Today, I paid $.69 for bananas, couldn’t find blackberries and paid $2.99 for grapes (more than a gallon of gas, huh? Of course, whereas the price of gas is less than $3.00 in Arizona, the price of gas in California is about $3.49. It costs to live here in Sunny Southern California.) But the prices were more than we’re used to.
But, look at the pictures above - I’m thinking it’s all worth it.
And, that’s the sticker shock in the grocery store. Home, unpack and store and we’re off for our daily walk. For our walk today, we toured the campground, looking at all the huge vehicles. There are some large RV’s here. 40’, 43’ - you name it, it’s here.
Back to favorite things. Interstate noise and the freight trail rumbling are not my favorite things. We got here on 1/1 and, decided to try the other side of the campground from where we usually stay when we’re here. We found a spot, set up and were ready to go. Then, in the evening, when things quieted down, we could hear the traffic noise and we could feel the rumble of the train Oh, oh. Did it keep us awake? Not a chance. However, we like our campgrounds a bit quieter. On the afternoon of the 2nd, we were walking around and spotted a site on the other side of the campground at the end of the line. I left Gary there, talking with a neighbor, ran back to our campsite, drove the car back to the new campsite, parked it there and we hurried back to our RV to ready it for the move.
We hate to move but, in the end, we’re glad we did. Good move.
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