The ultimate destination of our first week of travel was to get to Palm Springs to visit my parents. I had originally hoped to visit for one of the following: Thanksgiving, my birthday, Christmas, or New Year’s. We finally made it though. I have loved visiting my parents and more since they moved to Palm Springs in the 90s. Something about having the mountains and canyons so close to the city does it for me. That and the almost endless sunshine. We both would love to live there or somewhere nearby in the desert.
Although the sunshine was not endless for our visit this time. There was rain and lots of clouds. But I’m not going to complain when I just came from subfreezing temperatures and snow.
There is a gate from my parent’s neighborhood to the Carl Lykken Trail. No driving is required to do some hiking. We hiked up the twists and turns of the switchbacks to have lunch at the top with a view of the city below.
Another day we walked the trails below and were rewarded with a close encounter with a herd of bighorn sheep. The rams were keeping a close eye on us.
After a day’s hike, it was nice to take a dip in the pool. Not something the locals are prone to do in the winter. But for an Ohio girl, it was perfect.
One morning while walking by a golf course along the wash with my dad, I saw two coyotes running across the golf course. Another one of them was within a few feet of us and gave me the stink eye thinking I may try and take his breakfast. Don’t worry Mr. Coyote, I’m a vegan.
Not far outside of Palm Springs is the legendary Nude Bowl. It’s a swimming pool that was part of a nudist colony that closed in the 70s. Over the decades the police have filled it in with dirt and broken it up. Through the perseverance of the skate community, it still exists today. Although we weren’t planning on skateboarding in it, we did want to see it in person. It’s definitely off the beaten path with only desert and dirt roads to get to it. A wall runs the length of the road to the entrance to the Nude Bowl. It’s covered in graffiti. We drove up (and I mean up) on a Monday afternoon, not expecting to see anyone else out there. However,, a few people were there skateboarding and riding BMX in the bowl. Apparently, we had missed a party of about 30 people there the night before.
WanderLyd 
Pictures were great and so your writing !
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Thank you so much!
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