Yes, they had an avalanche in Palm Springs. I’m not kidding. My daughter texted me this photo yesterday from a Twitter Account called Coachella Valley: An Insider’s Guide.
We lived in our Palm Springs home for 28 years. Both my kids were born at a hospital a few blocks away. We had a spectacular view of Mt. San Jacinto from our backyard. Only one time did we see snow reach the valley floor. It was during a swim meet our team hosted for Southern California Swimming. It was raining at the pool, while at the base of Mt. San Jacinto it snowed.
I’ve been whining about the cold weather in our new home by Carefree, AZ. Yes, it’s cold. Yes, we may get snow tonight but no avalanches! At least not here. I think I’ll stay away from Flagstaff though!
This was our view of Mt. San Jacinto from out backyard when we lived in Palm Springs. Mt. San Jacinto is home to the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway.
Is anyone else getting hit by this current winter storm? What’s your weather like?
As soon as we crossed the border to Utah, a loud crack hit the windshield right at my head. “Welcome to Utah,” Siri announced from Apple maps. Large trucks barreled by us throwing up rocks in their path.
Last time we drove home from Utah our windshield got cracked due to big trucks. We’re two for two on Utah and windshields.
We left our Sonoran desert, crossed the green forest of Flagstaff, passed by the Grand Canyon’s south and north rims across Navajo Country to Lake Powell. Once in Utah (with the cracked windshield) we drove the final one hour leg of the journey to Kanab, Utah to spend the night.
It was an adorable town of 4,998 people filled with mom and pop motels where you pull your car up to the room’s front door. The woman at the motel desk told us the town’s best restaurant was next door, “The Rocking V Cafe.” Dinner was both delicious and affordable.
The Rocking V Cafe at the end of the block.
We walked around town and discovered why Kanab is known as “Little Hollywood.” My husband said, “This looks like where Westerns were filmed.”
Along our walk we noticed many plaques like The Lone Ranger one above. My brother and I used to play The Lone Ranger and Tonto when we were kids. I was always Tonto of course. It was in the 1960s, so we must have been watching reruns. Another one of the many plaques honoring the celebrities who made movies in Kanab.A view of a residential street in Kanab. The town was friendly, safe and I felt like I time warped to the 1960s.
Church bells in the morning in Kanab.
What sights traveling have you enjoyed? What things were new to you?
What other joys of road trips — besides cracked windshields — have you experienced?
This past weekend in Flagstaff my husband and I walked around Old Town, waiting for a text from a restaurant called Fat Olives that our table was ready. The restaurant had a 30-minute wait. My husband spotted a sculpture through a window of a shop. We are looking for a few pieces of art for our new house and he found something he thought would be perfect.
The front door of the shop was open so we started to walk in. An employee at the counter said “We’re closed.”
“I just want to check a price. I’ll be out in a second,” my husband said.
I noticed at least six customers in the store and several employees.
“Come back tomorrow,” the employee said.
“We won’t be here,” my husband said.
“We won’t be back,” I added.
We walked out but I turned around and saw the employee with fists up to her eyes doing a “wah wah wah” crying gesture and everyone in the store laughing. I flipped.
I walked back to the door and called out, “Are you the owner?”
“What?”
“Are you the owner?” I repeated.
“I’m the manager,” she said smugly.
“Well I’m going to write to the owner,” I said.
“Come in here and talk to me,” the manager said. “Don’t yell.”
“I’m not yelling. I just want the owner to know how you treated us.”
“I’m following the owner’s policy,” she said. “We were supposed to be closed 20 minutes ago.”
Really? I wondered if the owner of the shop’s policy included ridiculing potential customers behind their backs? I doubt it. Also, it was 6:10 p.m. so it was a lie that she was supposed to be closed at 5:50 p.m.
I told my daughter this story and she called me a “Karen.”
She said I had no idea what it’s like to work in retail and how the manager is underpaid and abused by customers all day long. My daughter worked in retail for Lululemon and had customers throw clothes at her face. My daughter added that the manager was just doing her job and I was in the wrong.
I told her that the manager lost the store a big sale. But my daughter said the manager is probably an hourly employee and that means nothing to her.
So what do you think? Was I being a Karen? Also, have you noticed a lack of customer service lately? I’m old school. I remember a day when the customer was always right.
We had a great weekend celebrating our anniversary in Flagstaff, despite the hail that scared me to death and damaged our car. I definitely want to return to do more exploring. Plus, I loved the hotel the Little America. We stayed at a Little America in Salt Lake City for all the swim meets during my daughter’s college years at “the U.” Go UTES!
We visited a meteor crater, the hotel had two and half miles of hiking trails, I swam in the pool, the food was great. Here are some pics from our trip:
The pool at the Little America hotel where I swam.The nature walk at the hotel.At the Meteor Crater.Cliff dwellings at Walnut Canyon.National Monument.Flowers on the nature trail. Anyone know what they are?THE Little America ROLLS! Boy, I missed these from our Salt Lake City trips. Light, piping hot, filled with butter! View of the meteor crater.Sunset from the hotel parking lot.
Friday we left for a two-hour drive to celebrate our anniversary in the cool mountain town of Flagstaff, Ariz. We were looking forward to getting out of the heat, exploring a new area, hiking, dining, and staying at our favorite hotel brand, Little America.
Halfway to Flagstaff, we were entranced with big dark clouds that had long threads of rain hanging from them. Then there was a thunderclap and it started to rain. The rain turned into hail within minutes. It sounded like our car was being hit by golf balls. I was scared out of my mind.
My husband asked me to turn on the hazard flashers. My hands shook so badly I couldn’t do it. I began praying the Hail Mary!
We saw cars pull over on the right shoulder of the two-lane highway. But there was a cliff on that side and the visibility was getting awful. We were in the left lane where there wasn’t room to pull over, just a ditch.
Visibility went to zero. My husband drove at one mile per hour, completely blind to what lie ahead. He said he didn’t want to stop in case someone barreled into us.
The hail turned back into rain and when we made it to Flagstaff it was sunny and close to 100 degrees. What a July.
At the hotel, shaken and exhausted, we inspected the car. It’s dented all over the hood, roof and trunk.
What type of freak weather have you experienced? I thought our snow when we first moved to Scottsdale was odd.
