Manning Park

All the crazies were at breakfast when we went in. Lilo Lil & her boyfriend totally blanked us, luckily. They told staff they were doing exactly the same as yesterday, presumably she getting drunk & falling over, whilst boyfriend hides in his room.

Skinny muscle man had his breakfast outside with his dog. He twitches & talks to himself, he could have Tourette’s Syndrome. I overheard him ask, actually shout, if he could keep his room for a week. I think he & his family are homeless. It is definitely time for us to move on.

Our first visit of the day was to Indian Wells Tennis Garden. We planned to take a quick photo outside, but the gates were open so we walked straight in. Our story was that we were English tourists & keen tennis fans. We strolled past the practice courts & outside courts & circled the main stadium, Court No.1 looking for the main entrance. We were halfway round, when inevitably we were stopped by a security guard who raced up to us on a golf buggy.

Before I could say anything, Jackie had blurted out that we lived near Wimbledon. He said “I can hear you have come along way”. I added we were keen tennis fans & just wanted to have a look because we were in the area. The security guy, was an old boy & he said you are not allowed to be here, but if anyone asks tell them you are going to the Box Office. We thanked him & continued circling Court No.1.

We saw the Box Office & had just gone past it, when the security guy raced up behind us again & said we had to go in the Box Office because we couldn’t return to our car by continuing the way we were going. A rotund lady then exited the Box Office & asked what was going on? I said we wanted to get a program for forthcoming events & felt a bit silly when she said they only have one tournament a year & we had missed it. Their tournament is the Indian Wells Masters, also known as the BNP Paribas Open, which takes place every March.

The lady, Beatrice, invited us into the box office & showed us the winners trophy & took photos of us with it. She then led us down a couple of corridors & out into the stands of the 16,000 seater No.1 court. Beatrice was a lovely & enthusiastic lady, who spent 30 minutes or so, telling us stories about the tennis players. She said that she went ‘gooey’ for Bjorn Borg & Stefan Edburg, but I suspect Jackie was more her type! Funnily enough, Jackie was wearing her Navratilova’s & Beatrice described her as cute. Beatrice gave us tips on where to visit & sent us on our way with a copy of the Official 2019 programme for the BNP Paribas Open.

It was now 11.30am as we left Indian Wells Tennis Garden & I was delighted to see 2 Roadrunner birds on their lawns. It had been a good start to the day. We then drove east along Interstate 10 for about 20 miles before turning off on to the road for Joshua Tree National Park’s southern entrance. I was disappointed to see there was no entrance booths, just a sign asking people to pay at the Visitors Centre. It appeared to be an honesty thing.

We went in, I showed my Annual Pass & got a map, Jackie bought a Joshua Tree baseball cap. We then drove into the park. It was a 28 mile road from the southern entrance to the western entrance. We stopped at all the stopping points. Jackie will tell you there wasn’t a lot to see, it depends whether you like lots of cactus’ & other Desert plants.

We stopped at Cholla Cactus Garden, where you can walk a short loop through an abundance of Cholla Cactus’🌵. Slightly worryingly, there was a sign warning of the dangers of getting pricked by a cactus, they are barbed & don’t come out & beneath the sign was a 1st aid kit in a metal box. We did the walk, but came out feeling itchy, which I’m sure was psychological.

Next stop was Skull Rock, which was 150 ft away. We managed to miss it & walk for about 600 metres, before realising I was stupid for missing it. It was a scorcher, around 100 degrees & we were grateful for any little cloud. We returned to Skull Rock, but it wasn’t really worth it.

The scenery then consisted of 1000’s of Joshua Trees, which apparently all looked the same! We drove to Keys View for a view out over Sky Valley. We then called it a day in the park & drove to the western entrance of Joshua Tree NP, where I was pleased to ring an entrance booth who checked my pass. I think some people got caught out & had to pay the $30 fee.

We then drove through the little town of Joshua Tree, then Yucca Valley & Morongo Valley, before arriving at Palm Springs. Our 1st stop was The Alexander Estate, which is known for where Elvis & Priscilla had their honeymoon in 1967, but actually they lived here in 1966 & 1967. Beatrice (from Indian Wells) told us that Palm Springs was a place where Hollywood Movie Stars hid their secret or gay lovers. Albert Einstein even had a mistress living in Palm Springs.

We cruised the Palm Springs Main Street & noted that nearly every single bar & restaurant was pumping out dry ice. It looked too posh or more likely too expensive for our wallet, so we cruised back out again.

We then joined Interstate 10 westbound & headed towards Los Angeles. The traffic was pretty horrendous, but we drove to Anaheim & then got caught up in the traffic going to the Anaheim Angels game this evening. We drove to Disneyland in Anaheim, which was a disaster because we drove to the car park that wanted $25 to park. We only wanted a photo outside, so we did a U turn & got out of there.

At 7.00pm we finally arrived at our hotel, the Best Western in Surf City, near Huntington Beach. We popped out for a shared Panda Express, then retired to our room.

Song of the Day - I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For by U2.

Bonus Songs of the Day :-

Tennis Court by Lorde
Roadrunner by Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers
Surf City by Jan & DeanRead more