As we planned out the upcoming six months of destinations, I told Tim that I would like to go inland for California. Now I don’t like deserts. I really don’t like anywhere without a lot of vegetation, so of course, Palm Springs wasn’t on my top ten list, but I said I’d like to at least check it out.

We scheduled the last two weeks at Emerald Desert RV Park in Desert Springs, CA, the more upscale town next to Palm Springs.

The first thing to know about Emerald Springs is I’m pretty sure they have the most trees and grass in the entire county. Its a lovely location with nice, well-maintained, green lawns, ponds and rarely will you see a kid at the resort. The average Palm Springs resident in January/February consists of a high percentage of retirees escaping the winter from up north. While at the farmers market my first weekend, I swear I discovered a larger variety of license plates from the US and Canada than I’ve seen any other location I’ve been in my entire life.

Along with having a very nice RV Resort with activities each day and evening, they had two large, grassy dog parks that the pups really loved. They got to play with other dogs and the space was quite large, so they could run and just be off leash for a considerable amount of time.

The city is immaculately landscaped- the ones I admired the most were those working with zero-scape designs to save on water. I found, even with my fondness for vegetation, I viewed those areas where grass was used as an insecure need to flaunt an individual or company’s wealth to waste water vs. it being attractive.

As with much of the west, I had no worries about not finding gluten-free options for groceries or at restaurants. Selection in shopping was excellent and the produce, as would be expected, is incredible in California.

Overall, the Palm Springs area still wouldn’t be on my top-ten for a place to live, but as a place to visit, especially when hoping to escape the cold, it scored a 9 out of 10.