Yep!  I took a ride.  Under a lot of protesting and excuses, I was forced to take a tram ride (for the uninitiated, that is a cable car that goes high!).  The tram was from the desert floor of Palm Springs to the top of a mountain!  Fortunately, my in-laws surrounded me as the tram was lifted 8600 feet into the air and kept me from a panic attack!

But when we got to the top, it was awesome!  You could see the desert floor (a real desert), yet you were in an Alpine valley!  Complete with running stream, cougars, deer, beavers and other assorted wild life (we only way some lizards and birds - what?  You think a cougar is that stupid?).

But while the desert floor was 105, the top was a very pleasant 75!  What a differnce 8k feet makes!

And you can look down upon Palm Springs and the windmills out there.  Strange to travel but 1.5 miles and see the radical difference between 2 eco systems that are next to each other, yet worlds apart.

The top of the mountain had flora and fauna that could not possible survive on the desert floor.  And does not. yet it is just a stones throw (for the Governator, not me!) away.  We spent the day hiking around the long valley (as it is called) and looking down on the desert floor.  That is all of us except my wife who decided to take a dip in the stream (all of 2 inches deep).  Fortunately she was not hurt and laughing a lot.  As I helped her back out in her sopping wet clothes.

The desert is beautiful in its way, and I do love it.  But to see the contrast was something else altogether, and was awe inspiring!  It was a great day, marred only by the little dipper! (I hope she does not read this one).

Should anyone have the opportunity?  Please take it!  The tram ride is a bore (but it rotates 360 degrees), but the contrast is worth the ride!