There’s no reason to create a post for today really, other than to remind ourselves of how happy we are to be down in Borrego Springs again. I’d lost track and was surprised to look back through the journals and see that this is our fifth stay here, and the fourth winter in a row. Returning to Borrego Springs is starting to feel as much like a homecoming as our returns to Portland do.
It’s Christmas Day of course, and we’ve gotten an early start on the short two hour drive because we want to arrive in town while the Red Ocotillo is still serving lunch. We arrive around noon and are seated outside on the patio, in the shade of the building - a good thing, because it’s 80 degrees out. It’s windless and perfectly comfortable in the shade though as we enjoy our Christmas feasts - a Reuben sandwich for me and a chicken burger for Rachael. In the distance we hear the crazy trill of what I think must be a curve billed thrasher, but I forget for sure - I’ll have to relearn the few desert birds and bird calls that I know all over again, as I do every winter.
Afterwards we drive over to our lodging, the Borrego Springs Motel, and sit outside in the shade until check-in at two.
The view from our room at the Borrego Springs Motel - a simple, economical and excellent lodging choice here.
We had thought we’d spend the afternoon on a short hike up Palm Canyon, but it’s too hot - a crazy situation in a time when we watch the news and of ice storms and record breaking cold across so much of the country this week. Around 3:30 it’s cooled off a few degrees and we decide to brave the sun, thinking it will be cooler in the canyon and knowing that dark will come soon so it’s now or never.
The planned hike up Palm Canyon gets scrapped though when we drive over to the trailhead and find it’s inside a day use fee area. It seems silly to pay $9 to park the car so we can take a hike of at most an hour, so we turn back and look for the closest free parking spot. None materializes though until we’re back in the center of town, so at that point we just head back to the motel. When we get there though, we see that there’s a trail out into the desert starting right from the edge of the property. We take it enjoy a very peaceful walk for the next hour, wandering through the creosote bushes and trying not to crush any ant mounds as we watch the sun drop behind the hills to the west and the colors and shadows intensify on those to the east.
This giant palm will have to be the stand-in for our Christmas tree this year.
