June 28, 2006: Palm Springs

Mom treated us to a ride on the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway today. I sang “On a Clear Day” as we drove to the tram, and the weather cooperated all the way to its upper terminus in the San Jacinto Mountains National Monument. There the sky opened up and poured buckets as we ate an eminently forgettable lunch in the overpriced cafeteria.

But we didn’t come for the food. Located on the south side of Coachella Valley, the park offers breathtaking views of Palm Springs and neighboring towns, as well as 54 miles of trails through verdant forests and meadows and a surprisingly cool microclimate: about 60 degrees on a day when the temperature on the desert floor again rose well over 100.

After the sky cleared, Mom waited at the tram’s mountain station while the rest of us walked a mile-long nature trail; it felt a lot like hiking in the Cascade Mountains of the Northwest. Unfortunately, while she was waiting, Mom tried to wander into the tram boarding area, and when she didn't produce intelligible responses to questions from the staff, they became concerned. We returned 45 minutes later and found an EMT talking to her. He suggested we not leave her alone again. We really need to prepare a laminated card she can give to people explaining that she has aphasia but that she is compos mentis and does not need assistance unless she indicates she does.

We watched a film about the construction of the tramway, the second steepest in the world. Built beginning in 1945, the present cars were installed in the year 2000 by a Swiss company at a cost of over a million dollars. Their circular cabins have a capacity of up to 80 passengers, and their floors slowly rotate as they make 15-minute, 12,708-foot ascents and descents (a 5,873-foot elevation gain). The ride is indeed a thrill – “one of the most unique adventure attractions on earth,” as the brochure ineptly describes it - and it actually turns out to be worth the $21.50 per person it costs ($14.50 for kids), fares which seemed to me at first almost as steep as the incline we traversed.

We stopped for Jamba Juice on the way back to our resort, where the boys quickly resumed their swimming. We had salad and leftover pizza for dinner and spent a quiet evening. I watched another DVD, a VH1 special about another late, great Southern California musician, Warren Zevon, and the recording of his final album, The Wind. Then I swam with the boys until 11 p.m., when the pool closed.