Palm Springs City Tour & Tram Ride

Objective(s):
Palm Springs City Tour & Tram Ride Date: Sunday, August 1, 2010 Time: 2:00 pm – 6:00 pm It's easy to guess how Palm Springs got its name. The nexus of this desert oasis was a true oasis: a natural spring surrounded by palm trees. Today, you'll find it just outside the Spa Casino Hotel, a spot owned by the Kausik Cahuilla Indians, who believed that the pool connected this world to the powerful underworld. You will see a statue that illustrates the story of how the people learned to respect the spring after a young woman perished while trying to save a baby she found in the water. Palm Springs' modern historic center is this small park on Palm Canyon Drive. The McCallum adobe is the oldest building in town, built in 1885 for the area's first white settlers and moved to this location in the 1950s. Our tour will take you through downtown Palm Springs and on to Rancho Mirage, playground of the Presidents...Cathedral City...and Palm Springs. Palm Springs' days as the playground of Hollywood's elite are long gone, and today you'd be hard-pressed to find even a trace of it downtown. Palm Springs is home to over 80 golf courses as we will see along our tour. Next you will ascend two and a half miles to the pristine wilderness above Palm Springs aboard the world’s largest rotating tram cars. By the time you reach the Palm Springs Tram visitor center, you'll be at a little over 2,600 feet elevation. At the top, it's over 8,500 feet. Two tram cars travel back and forth, each one holding up to 80 people. They pass over five towers along the way and cross five distinct vegetation zones (the botanical equivalent of driving from Mexico to Canada). At the top of the Palm Springs Tram are two restaurants, a self-service cafeteria and a sit-down dining spot. Both are open for lunch and dinner. You can watch a film about the Palm Springs Tram construction and go outside to enjoy panoramic views of the Coachella Valley. When the weather is nice, you can take a 3/4-mile, self-guided nature hike or let a volunteer guide show you around (summer only). In winter, they rent cross-country skiing equipment if there's enough white stuff accumulated on the ground. The more energetic will find over 50 miles of hiking trails, including a 5.5-mile climb to the top of Mt. San Jacinto. You will also drive past Palm Springs Wind Farm where you will witness nature at work. You can't miss the giant windmills that sit in one of the windiest places in the world, a great place to get some free power to generate electricity with. Tips for the Palm Springs Tram • Bring your camera. Take your binoculars if you have them with you. • The temperature at the top of the Palm Springs Tram can be 30 to 40 degrees cooler than in town, leaving you shivering in your shorts if you're unprepared. • You'll need sunscreen even more at the top than you do in the valley. • The Palm Springs Tram is accessible, with an elevator at the visitor center. Some areas at the top can't be reached in a wheelchair, but you'll still find plenty to see. Cost: $67.00 per person The Departure Site will be at front of the Marriott Hotel at 74855 Country Club Drive