Celebrating One Year of Friendship, and 2 Months of being in the USA!

The 15th of June marks exactly a year since we met in Palm Springs. We were introduced by a mutual friend, Kerry, at the 2008 conference and our eyes met that day for the first time! It just so happened that Resolved this year fell on the exact same weekend so we got to celebrate this anniversary in the same place that it all went down in! After the morning sessions we jumped in the car and headed off to the Aerial Tramway that takes you up the mountain against which Palm Springs is nestled.

We arrived and bought our tickets for the cable cars and watched ours dock at the station ready to take us up, up and away! We had no idea what to expect up there, but we had had some suggestions to take a jacket with...

When we arrived at the top after an exciting ride in the rotating tram we landed on what seemed to be on another part of the world because it was so different to the desert-like, flat terrain of Palm springs. The view of the surrounding area was absolutely breathtaking and you could see for miles and miles!
After a bit of exploring, we headed indoors where it was warmer to get some lunch. On our way there we met a tame squirrel who was quite happy to be stroked. This was a great treat for me because we don't get to see squirrels like this back home in Durban... Such delightfully bushy tails and cute little ears... I believe they are seen as a real pest here in California.

We spent the afternoon just chatting and wondering the peak of the mountain but had to head back in time for the evening session of resolved so we begun our descent to the warmer plains down below!


Before we headed back to the conference centre we went to see the giant wind turbines that litter the hills around the area, also something I'm not used to seeing, and enjoyed the arid landscape that is so typical of southern California (I've been told to use the term SoCal - it's what the locals have nicknamed it!)

A random boat in the middle of nowhere! For the video of the parable of the "Pearl of great price" which was filmed here in Palm Springs for last year's Resolved Conference, click on this link - it's very cool:

http://www.resolved.org/Video.aspx?height=410&width=640&titlevar=TheParable&videosource=

We had such a great time of reflection over the last year of being the closest of friends and the wonderful journey that our 2 months of living in the USA has been. Thanks for sharing it with us!