Palm Springs is a favorite destination for the “snow birds” when they want to flee the cold and snow.  I’m not sure if the volume of visitors is lower this year since the US has not experienced much harsh winter weather so far this winter.  But the town seemed pretty busy when we visited for a few days at the end of January.  We got into the spirit of things by checking out the happy hour snacks at the Village Pub.

Naturally, the weather was near perfect with daytime high temps in the upper 70’s with clear blue skies.  We took advantage of this to hike in nearby Palm Canyon.  This 15 mile long canyon was host to the Agua Caliente Cahuilla indians centuries ago.  The indigenous California Fan palm trees form a stark contrast to the rocky peaks and barren desert landscape surrounding the canyon.  There are several hiking paths available that take you through the floor of the canyon as well as along the ridges above allowing some very nice views.

We also took our bikes with us and did some riding around town.

No visit to the Coachella Valley would be complete without a visit to one of the date farms. We stopped in at Shields Date Garden.  Floyd Shields was a pioneer of the date growing business in California having arrived in 1924.  He has developed some varieties of dates which are unique to Shields.  We enjoyed tasting the samples but resisted the date shakes.  Of course, we came away with a sampler box.