Palm Springs - Cabot's Pueblo Museum

We had our usual slow start, which for me was a couple of cups of coffee, a run in the neighbourhood, a swim, hot tub, walk Bentley then breakfast.

Breakfast was a culmination of more than a weeks planning. Eve and Anita bought a crepe cookbook
and a crepe pan before I arrived. We have perused the cookbook a number of times. Bought the
ingredients a few days ago but have been too tired in the evening to make them. So Eve decided
this morning to "get off the pot" and we had wonderful fruit filled crepes topped with honeyed Greek
yoghurt and grated chocolate.

Today's agenda included a visit to Cabot's Pueblo Museum in Desert Hot Springs, on the other side of the valley. The museum is in a pueblo styled house that was built from 1940 to 1965 by  Cabot Yerxa. The story of his life is quite amazing as he travelled extensively in the early 1900s, was in the first world war, married twice, made and lost his fortune a number of times, studied art in Paris and painted extensively and built this museum from found materials (all the doors and windows are different. He embedded jars and cans into the walls to serve as safes) to house the artifacts from his travels.

The main building is situated on about 5 acres with odd little out buildings and desert landscaping.

We had a tour of the main building and learned about his life, how he built the museum, accommodating his 2nd wife, kept the building cool, and viewed the artifacts. He was also the man who discovered the mineral hot springs at Desert Hot Springs and helped facilitate it becoming the spa city that it is today.

The main museum building, on the National Register of Historic Places

In the gardens there was a huge wooden carved Indian head. It was carved by Peter "Wolf" Toth who carved 67 of these giant heads in the US and Canada to honour Native Americans. It is a "Waokiye" or "Traditional Helper" and part of the Trail of the Whispering Giants. The paperwork indicated that there is one in North Bay.

We were there from about 2pm until the facility closed at about 4:30pm. We then popped into Two Bunch Palms to book a spa day for Friday. They let us tour the facility and we then had a drink and appetizers on the patio. I am really looking forward to Friday.

It was a great last day for Anita, who leaves tomorrow.