Desert House Hunt, Day 1

Just to give you a flavor of what it’s like to drive through the Mojave Desert, Mormon Rock, and surrounding areas, the picture below is why we love it: a land of high-contrast scenery, Joshua trees and cacti, scrub-brush and sand. It’s truly a dramatic place – and the car even got drenched by a rare rainstorm!

After our drive down from Northern California, we took a day to rest and plan out the house hunt. Today, we made the hour’s drive out to Desert Hot Springs to see a possibility (nope – definitely beautiful views, but the pool was a mere puddle, and had built-in barstools) and then on to La Quinta to view another (awesome landscape, but again, a truly miniature pool). Tomorrow we’re speaking with some realtors who specialize in the area, and should be out tomorrow evening to see a few more places, hopefully.

We’ve narrowed the search a bit, in some ways, having driven through the whole area today. We’ve ruled out Desert Hot Springs as being just a bit too far off the beaten path and as having nothing really there except for a few spas (hence, “hot springs”). We’ve also decided that Indian Wells is far too much of a resort place, again without anything much in terms of people living there who aren’t wealthy and retired or in the service industries. We particularly liked Palm Desert, and could probably extend that liking into Thousand Palms – not only did they look like real places, where people have occupations other than playing golf or serving drinks, but there are a number of colleges and university extension campuses in the area, so D. could likely pick up a few hours of teaching.

The heat, here, is … well, not so hot. Yes, it’s been up above 100°F / 40°C consistently, but because it’s dry, you just don’t notice. Every time we’ve gotten out of the car, we’ve said, “huh, well, it’s hot.” Your body sweats, but the dry air evaporates it to cool you, and if you don’t linger at high noon, it’s reasonable to be out in the heat. It’s not something which can be understood without experiencing it, really – you have to be out in it, and to feel it, and then understand that it’s not so crazy to live in the desert.

The scenery is also something to behold. Hopefully when we’re settled we’ll be able to take some decent photos to share which can express the beauty of the place. Until then, though, we’re going to be taking a few shots from the car as we drive, or from places we’re considering. We’re also still trying to pretzel ourselves around work commitments, so the quiet here will likely continue for at least a few more weeks.

Until the next episode…

-D & T