Street Fair in Palm Desert - a flea market on Saturdays and Sundays starting at 7am. New and used items,and arts and crafts-all sold outdoors and very reasonable. The market is on the College of the Desert Grounds at the corner of Monterey Ave. and Fred Waring Drive.

Palm Springs VillageFest (street fair), every Thursday evening in Palm Springs on Palm Canyon Drive from Baristo Road to Alejo Road, starting 6 or 7pm Arts, crafts, food and entertainment.

We took one day and went to see the high desert: Joshua Tree National Park (out Twentynine Palms Hwy No. 62). Lots of cacti, coyotes, and joshua trees, worth a visit. There's also a good viewing spot of the San Andreous fault.

We've gone up the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway and riden up the mountain to Mt. San Jacinto State Park where we saw snow and a great view of the valley.

You can turn right on the 111 and continue past Indio to the Salton Sea. It is a huge body of salt water in the middle of the desert - kind of desolate.

And we really mean to take a tour of the wind farm.

Apparently the desert has some great hiking trails. A favourite of one friend's are the marked trails in Andreous Hills. There are also trails up the aerial tramway, and guided hikes.

It is an hour and a half drive (115 miles) to Mexico: Mexicali in Baja California to be precise. Park your car in the U.S.A. and walk over the bridge. Or take a longer drive and go to Tijuana.

It is also very nice to sit on the patio and knock back a batch of Margaritas while watching the sun set.

Each time we go we pick up the current issue of Desert Guide - we find one for free (e.g. in a stand if we breakfast at IHOP). This lists all sorts of things to do, and has times and dates of current entertainment, phone numbers for restaurants, shopping, etc. Also, we keep our back copies of Palm Spring Life for more ideas of things to do or buy and places to eat.

We check out websites like the official Palm Springs one or a California cities one, as well as odd ones like "Top 10 things to do in Palm Springs" or "Things to Do" for other ideas of new things to do while we are at our condo.



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