Christmas in the desert

We're spending the long holiday weekend in Palm Springs, my first trip to the gay and retirement mecca located in a valley about 2 1/2 hours northeast of San Diego.

The main road through the city (above) is lined with miles of restaurants, coffee shops, specialty stores, old motels and kitsch shops.

Click on any picture to make it larger.

This is our view from our motel room. The high temperature this weekend will hover in the low 70s (F) while the lows will dip to the upper 40s.

Palm Spring's main strip reminds me of the retro main streets of Florida beach towns. Most of the buildings date from the 1940s and 1950s but some, such as the theater above, are older.

There's a walk of fame honoring some of the town's most famous residents and visitors.

Hundreds of these power-generating windmills fill a vast portion of the valley north of town along Interstate 10.

We were a bit surprised to encounter this group of protesters in front of a library at the central downtown intersection. Seems as though the war trumps putting Christ back into Christmas here.