The Holiday Draws To A Close

Yesterday we went to the exhibition park of Palm Springs Gay Pride. It was dull and parochial and we left quickly. A friend described it as 'lame'. The rest of the day was about ill-advised overeating. We had lunch at Las Casuelas, a Mexican restaurant and somewhat of a Palm Springs institution. The place has a considerable capacity. We were seated quickly, served charmingly and quickly and the food was good. We went to nearby Cold Stone for ice cream which was delicious and completely unnecessary. We did all this in spite of having dinner booked at Wangs In The Desert at the not particularly late hour of 7.45. We arrived early to a busy restaurant but were seated immediately. The main impression was one of massive and intrusive noise. It was only conversations but made ones own virtually impossible. Service was remarkably efficient, attentive and accurate. Wangs serves mixed oriental rather than strictly speaking Chinese. The food was good but many elements were essentially unremarkable. Coconut shrimp could have been much more exciting and its accompanying 'aioli' was pink gloop. Once again defeated by quantity we left without dessert.

Today, Sunday, was bound to involve an undercurrent of regret and tension as it was our last day in the desert this time. We thought we might go to the aerial tramway with our friends but had agreed to go to the start point of the Palm Springs Gay Pride Parade first. A strong sun, whose effect was magnified by the clock change, needed to be periodically avoided by ducking in and out of available shadow. Quite unlike the park yesterday the parade was vibrant and very well organised. Various types of police were in attendance and others participated. Roads were re-opened swiftly and it was all very enjoyable. Our interest went on late enough to make it pointless to go up the mountain. Crowds would obviously linger in Palm Springs so we walked back to the hotel and then drove to Rancho Mirage for The Cheesecake Factory whose vast menu is not at all reflected in its name. Food there is very good but portions are, frankly, ridiculously large and even Americans think so. Service was once again excellent. It remained only to allow the afternoon and evening to drift away before printing our boarding passes. Strong winds should see us cross the Atlantic in plenty of time for 30mins holding at BNN.