Vacation

From Carlsbad we drove south along the Pacific coast towards San Diego, first stopping for a couple of ocean pics:

We drove into La Jolla, following some nice roads winding through the town and leading up to a view point & memorial:

 

We then stopped on the beach front to have a walk around, but noticed a crowd of people – and then saw what they were looking at! Apparently it is the time of year when seals come onland to raise their pups – and a large number had chosen a small beach in La Jolla; they seemed undisturbed by all the people (who at least were keeping their distance):

Later, after a quick drive into San Diego for dinner, we returned to our “Sweetheart” room in the Cardiff Lodge – the room has heaps of character, being curved and designed with hearts everywhere, but sadly is in dire need of some repainting and other sprucing up:

Palm Springs is one of a number of towns nestled in a valley, one side has pretty high mountains – and there is a “tramway” (cable car) run to the top! To get to the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway you first drive from the valley floor (at about sea level) to around 2500ft – quite a climb in itself! Even just the walk from parking to the entrance takes you a good way higher, but the tramway itself lifts you more than a mile vertically to about 8500ft!
I am not at all keen on heights or riding such flimsy transport, but we made it to the top in one piece and I must admit the view from the top is impressive!

There is a big temperature difference from the 80s in the valley to around 40, with snow still not melted away!

After returning to the ground, we headed further west towards San Diego, driving through & over the mountains, eventually staying overnight in Carlsbad, right opposite “the flower fields” (read about them here).

After a nearly sleepless night in the otherwise lovely Pepper Tree Inn we were transferred to another room with better design, and happily stayed a second night.
During the day, we toured Palm Springs and the surrounding area; we first visited the Living Desert Zoo & Gardens, which was interesting but had some rather sad animals in disappointingly small cages. Nevertheless, the Zebra seemed happy, and Margaret enjoyed brushing goats in the petting zoo section:

In the early evening we headed over to Palm Canyon Oasis – the palm trees are amazing in their “wild” state where they appear to keep their old leaves; there was not much water visible at the oasis – but obviously enough to grow many palm trees!