Palm Springs Tram to San Jacinto Mountains for the Weekend!!!

Sunday was Amy's birthday and instead of a gift, I decided to give a "day".  About 45 minutes down the mountain is Palm Springs, CA.  It was in the 90's on Sunday down there and in the 80's up where we live.  At the base of the San Jacinto Mountain range in Palm Springs, there is a tram that takes you up to 8500 feet in a rotating tram car.  I thought it would be fun, but we had a blast!!  The tram car had some open windows and the ride, views and experience were fantastic!  We went from mid hot desert in the mid 90's to snow and forest in less than 15 minutes.  It's just what we needed.  Surprisingly, even though a lot of people take the tram, visit the restaurant, bar and lodge on the mountain and go on the "nature walk", very few took real hikes and we saw virtually nobody while hiking.  There are miles and miles of trails and some campgrounds to hike into (no cars) and if you go far enough there are some U.S. Forestry lands with primitive back country camping available.  We hiked for almost 3 hours, lost the trail due to the snow, but went off trail heading back to the origination since we were taking a loop and did find the orignal trail.  Even though there was snow, we were able to hike in warm weather clothes cause it was almost 70 degrees.  Nice!  After spending most of the day there, we took the tram back to the desert floor and stopped by a casino in Palm Springs, spent about 15 minutes there and won about $10.  We then went to our favorite Palm Springs restaurant called "Native Foods" which is all vegan and mostly organic.  Delicious!  Came back up to our home and watched a big, beautiful almost full orange moon rise over the mountains just before sunset.  The sunset was spectacular also as there were a lot of high, thin clouds.  So, my plan to give Amy a great day was a huge success!!  For anyone who comes to visit Palm Springs, the tram is a MUST!
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