Santa Barbara to Palm Springs
We Departed Santa Barbara at 8:30am and took highway 101 South towards Pasadena. About 1 ½ hours away. The closer to Pasadena we got the heavier the traffic and more lanes on the highway. California has this rule of keeping up with the traffic, speed limits seem irrelevant.
We stopped at Pasadena and went down Colorado Blvd where the main shopping mall is and the heart of downtown. Parking is free on the weekends and plenty of street parking or parking in the mall. We also visited City Hall which is just around the block.
As we drove further from Pasadena towards Palm Springs and into the desert the temp went from 67 to 105 by the time we arrived into the scorching desert of Palm Springs.
The drive from Pasadena is about 1 ½ hours drive along the highway 10 east past San Bernadino. Palm Springs is a pop up town in the middle of the desert, with a population of 40,000. Palm Springs is very popular with the gay community and filled with nightclubs and places to play! The main shopping precinct with restaurants/bars etc is along N Canyon Blvd lined with palm trees either side of the road.
We had lunch at Ruby’s Diner – a traditional diner in the heart of town. Burgers were great and the diner was cute as a button! We strolled up and down the streets sweating it out in the 115 degree summer heat. We Purchased some licence plates from a souvenir store to go with the collection.
We checked into our hotel the Days Inn and headed straight to the pool area.
The hotel is only a 2 star but Is reasonably priced for an expensive Palm Springs. The rooms were large but not walking distance into town especially in summer. There is free parking at the hotel and parking is town is plenty. It is an okay option if you are only there for a night or 2 and plan on spending your time out exploring.
Later in the evening we went back into town for a light snack and enjoyed the summer night. Pat had the most amazing fruit juice at Tutti Frutti and I got one of the famous Chocolate Fudge Shakes from Rock n Shake Bar which had a line out the door for most of the day!
Then went to Ralph’s grocery store on sunrise way grabbed some groceries and cruised back along N Canyon Blvd with the top down on the convertible enjoying a warm summer night in Palm Springs.