Life at Bubbling Wells Ranch

May 12-13, 2013

Sunday

Today we plan to drive back to Palm Springs to have lunch with Lynne and Marc’s friends Anna and Tom (the same Anna who went hiking with us on Friday.) In the morning Lynne, Marc and I walk down the road to the ranch’s swimming lake, leaving Jack to pack up his stuff, since the “boys” are leaving today to go back to Solana Beach. The lake is a sizable pond filled with fresh, clear water from the underground aquifer. This ranch is blessed with both cold and hot mineral water underneath it, thanks to it being atop the San Andreas Fault. Since it’s Mother’s Day, Audrey’s daughter Holly and son Carter are here, taking a swim. Holly is an artist, and she lives in a separate house on the property. She has recently opened a thrift shop nearby and we make plans to go check it out, as she’s leaving shortly to go open it up. 

 

Holly, opening her thrift shop.

The shop turns out to be a great collection of “stuff,” including art as well as quality junk. Holly has a great eye and has picked out many treasures, from clothes to jewelry to furniture, housewares and bric-a-brac. And the prices are fabulous! The boys aren’t as crazy about it as we are, but there’s a comfy porch to sit in the shade. Lynne and I shop for awhile and both find several things we can’t live without.

We are going to meet Anna and Tom at a deli in Palm Springs near their house, so we eventually head in that direction. I don’t think we’ve yet mentioned in this blog the THOUSANDS of wind turbines that fill the desert floor and the hills in this valley (this is the Coachella Valley). 

When we drive anywhere, we pass miles and miles of them, and we can see hundreds of them from the ranch guest house, spread out on the valley floor below. Apparently the wind is strong and very consistent here, as the cooler coastal air mixes with the hot desert air—there have been wind farms here for decades.

We meet Tom and Anna and their son Brian at the deli. It’s a good New York type deli, so lunch is very tasty. 

 

Lunch at the deli (from left, Marc, Tom, Anna)

Jack has pancakes, his favorite. We go back to Anna and Tom’s for dessert, since Anna just celebrated a birthday and has cake left over. They have a huge German shepherd named Bear, and a desert tortoise in the back yard named Speedy, who chases Bear around and tries to bite him. 

 

Speedy stalking Bear.

We watch this for a while—it’s hilarious watching this tortoise tear around the yard trying to bite the dog! It’s apparently some kind of territorial thing. The dog gets involved in something else and forgets about the tortoise, and all of a sudden the tortoise stalks him and nips him on the leg, and Bear yelps and dances around. We have an entertaining afternoon, with good conversation and lots of funny stories. Jack and Marc leave for Solana Beach around 5 pm.

Before going back to the ranch, Lynne and I go in search of the house where Elvis and Priscilla Presley spent their honeymoon. Lynne has the address and we track it down with the help of the GPS on her phone. It’s another “California Mid-century Modern” place. Apparently you can tour it, or even stay there overnight, but we just wanted to see it.

 

Elvis and Priscilla honeymoon house in Palm Springs.

Back at Bubbling Wells Ranch, we relax and have a nice visit with Audrey. She shows us some of her nature objects. Audrey has written and illustrated two nature books, one called Beachwalk and one called Desertwalk, featuring natural objects she’s found on her nature walks and her reflections on them. 

 

Two of these cacti are art, rest are real.

She collects lots of interesting things she’s found—for example, she has a box filled with little hummingbird nests she’s found, which are about 2 inches in diameter and made of all kinds of things.

Earlier I mentioned the art that’s EVERYWHERE on this ranch. 

 

Metal life-sized lion.

It fills their house and you encounter it everywhere you go on the ranch. It’s amazing—all kinds of styles and media, and unusual objects. Here are photos of just a few examples.

Lifesize man and dog sculpture encountered on a trail near the ranch house.

Monday

Today is our “Spa Day”! Lynne and I always fit in some spa time during our annual week together and this time is no exception. Lynne has scheduled us a day at Two Bunch Palms spa, not far from the ranch. (In fact, their property abuts onto the ranch’s property.) This is a historic spa that was founded many years ago to take advantage of the hot mineral water. 

 

The Grotto, warm mineral water soaking pools, at Two Bunch Palms spa.

They have only recently begun to let day visitors come for their services—you used to have to be staying at their resort. They have a lovely stone grotto that has two pools filled with the mineral water, at different temperatures. We have a nice soak before our first treatment, a massage. They give you a spa robe and sandals when you get here, and it’s OK to wander around in your robe, including in the restaurant. After our massages we have lunch, then a facial treatment. Ahhhh—“spa brain” hits and we can barely find our way back to the car. 

When we get home we both take a nice long nap. Tomorrow we will pack up and drive back to Lynne’s house, as she has to teach her class tomorrow night. It will be sad to leave Bubbling Wells Ranch, a magical place.

Bird species count: Vermilion flycatcher, turkey vulture, Bell’s vireo, *golden-fronted woodpecker, Say’s phoebe, northern cardinal, greater roadrunner, house finch, common raven, *northern rough-winged swallow, *summer tanager, *prothonotary warbler, *yellow-breasted chat, *yellow-rumped warbler, northern mockingbird, mourning dove, cliff swallow, Mexican jay, black-headed grosbeak, black-chinned  hummingbird, Wilson’s warbler, *Scott’s oriole, chipping sparrow, house sparrow, lesser goldfinch, black-crested titmouse, acorn woodpecker, scrub jay, *western kingbird, white-winged dove, *canyon towhee, *Grace’s warbler, *zone-tailed hawk, *curve-billed thrasher, Bullock’s oriole, Gambel’s quail, great horned owl, black-throated sparrow, *cactus wren, ladder-backed woodpecker, white-crowned sparrow, brownheaded cowbird, Brewer’s blackbird, *pyrrhuloxia, hooded oriole, verdin, crow, Anna’s hummingbird, dark-eyed junco, white-throated swift, Steller’s jay, mallard, common egret, brown pelican

State count: 11 [Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California]