Friday, February 9th - Tram Ride & Dine

This is our last full day in the Coachella Valley which includes Palm Springs, LaQuinta, Indio, Rancho Mirage, Desert Hot Springs, Cathedral City and several other cities. It has been delightful to experience this oasis in the desert..."the Playground of the Stars".

Our final adventure was the Aerial Tram Ride up San Jacinto Mountain. We started the trip up (from 2500' to 8500') around 4:30. It takes only about 11 minutes to travel the 2+ miles up the mountain. Also, the gondola car (largest in the world - holding 81 people) makes two revolutions enroute. So you get a complete panorama during the trip.

Once at the top, we had a grand view of the Coachella Valley, the Windmill Farms of the Gorgonio Pass and the Salton Sea. Part of the Ride & Dine Package was dinner, cafeteria style, at the mountain top. It was a Chinese-y dinner with peanut chicken, noodles-ly vegetables, rice and a mandarin salad with cranberries. Pretty good but definitely NOT worth the $16.95 price tag. Our package deal made it cost an additional $15 (more than the tram ride alone)...still not a good deal.

One really nice aspect of this was that we took the return tram ride down the mountain at night, with the interior lights of the gondola off for better viewing. These two pix are pretty much the same scene, shot around 5pm and then at 7pm.