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<\/a>Marriott Desert Springs Hotel<\/p><\/div>\n
As you read this, I\u2019m in \u2018The Desert\u2019.\u00a0 No, my worlds travels have not taken me to the Gobi or the Sahara Desert, but rather the Colorado Desert, more specifically, Palm Desert.\u00a0 Yes, this week I\u2019m at our timeshare at the beautiful Marriott Desert Springs<\/strong>.\u00a0 Those who have been following us here for a while, have read about some of our exploits at this timeshare that we have never traded away and never missed spending a week, or two, every year.\u00a0 It’s a place that is only an hour and a half\u2019s drive from our home, but that drive takes you into a whole different world.<\/p>\n After nearly 30 years of enjoying many of the things that the desert has to offer, I thought it would be interesting to try and discover some things that we have never seen or done.\u00a0 My search of the Internet provided me with this list of the following attraction options:<\/p>\n Inside Ruddy’s General Store<\/p><\/div>\n Ruddy\u2019s General Store<\/strong><\/p>\n This store is a recreation of a 1930s general store, where proprietor, Jim Ruddy has assembled a collection of nearly a century of Americana<\/strong>.\u00a0 Items that he\u2019s collected are in their original packaging and a majority of them hold their original contents.\u00a0 I already hate shopping, but shopping for things you can’t actually buy or use is out of my ‘fun zone’.<\/p>\n Volkswagen Spider<\/strong><\/p>\n This former auto repair shop has a 28-foot tall, metal spider, made from old Volkswagen Beetle parts.\u00a0 The property was once the Hole in the Wall Welding Shop<\/strong>, and now is just called the Hole in the Wall<\/strong>.\u00a0 The structure is adorned with cacti and metal spider webs.\u00a0 If this is as bad as it looks, I’d have to have a ‘Hole in my Head’ to spend any time looking at a giant, metal Volkswagen spider.<\/p>\n Babies<\/p><\/div>\n The Naked Bridge<\/strong><\/p>\n Also known as the \u2018Bridge of Thighs\u2019, it is a 140-foot overpass created in 2003 at a cost of $500,000, so people could walk naked across this bridge.\u00a0 There are five-foot canvas panels along the bridge to ensure that only the heads of crossing nudists are seen and thus prevent fender benders from happening on the street below.\u00a0 Yeah, that’s what I really go to the desert for, to see senior citizens walking across a bridge naked!<\/p>\n The Babies<\/strong><\/p>\n These 10 sculptures of babies appearing to crawl in a sand pit are found in the Palm Springs Museum courtyard.\u00a0 They are intended to be a statement on the negative influence of big tech and data in our lives.\u00a0 These babies have no faces, rather a \u2018bar code\u2019 appears in place of their face.\u00a0 With any luck, my GPS won’t be able to find this creepy place.<\/p>\n Shiprock<\/strong><\/p>\n Where’s the Spanish galleon?<\/p><\/div>\n According to tourist information, \u201cShiprock gained its name from its uncanny resemblance to a Spanish galleon, but no matter what photo I pulled up, and there are plenty, I never saw any resemblance to a Spanish galleon.\u00a0 It sits at the bottom of a prehistoric tropical sea that existed over 250 million years ago.\u00a0 \u00a0‘Uncanny resemblance’???\u00a0 No matter how I looked at this heap of rock, I just couldn\u2019t \u2018see\u2019 the ship, maybe it’s better in real life – I’ll never know!\u00a0 What I do know about Spanish galleons, is that when Columbus discovered America, he got over 3,000 miles to the galleon!\u00a0 Rim shot!!<\/p>\n Romance Theater<\/strong><\/p>\n Shield’s Date Knight<\/p><\/div>\n Floyd and Bess Shields opened the Shields Date Garden<\/strong> in 1924; finding that date competition was very strong in the Coachella Valley, they created a slide show with a recorded sound track and called it, \u2018The Romance and Sex Life of a Date\u2019<\/strong><\/em> and put a mammoth Knight in Armor<\/strong> just off Highway 111 to direct people to their date farm.\u00a0 It’s open all year – don’t miss it!\u00a0 Sorry, not my idea of a ‘date night’!<\/p>\n So, if this is what I\u2019ve been missing for the past 29 years, I think I\u2019ll continue to play golf, enjoy fine dining and have a rum and coke while I watch the sun sink behind Mt. San Jacinto<\/strong> from the deck of our condo.\u00a0 But perhaps you’ve found something here to make your next trip to the desert a unique one.<\/p>\n You\u2019re welcome!<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Bob Sparrow As you read this, I\u2019m in \u2018The Desert\u2019.\u00a0 No, my worlds travels have not taken me to the Gobi or the Sahara Desert, but rather the Colorado Desert, more specifically, Palm Desert.\u00a0 Yes, this week I\u2019m at … read more![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Ruddys-General-Store-300x300.jpg\")
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