1. Hotel Zoso, Palm Springs, February 13-17, 2006 (former site of Marquis Resort, top left, with new pool, bottom) 2. Hotel Zoso was completely renovated just before we arrived. Would we return? Yes. G 3. The rooms featured 42" Plasma TVs with plain-jane cable, but the clock radios had an MP3 input! Forget the Cisco IP phones! G 4. The view of the mountains was always changing and especially nice at sunrise. R 5. On Monday, the red sunrise was spectacular. The peak is where the tramway station is located, stay tuned... R 6. Interesting architecture relative to the usual, but the pool was tiny. R 7. A shot of our next location: San Jose with its light rail. (Or else it is the miniature village at Living Desert that Greg visited.) G 8. This is where TR-41 really wants to stay next time. Greg toured the QM on the way from LAX to Palm Springs. Note the sub! G 9. This is a typical TR-41.3.x Working Group meeting! (Or else it is how they program Cisco IP phones!) G 10. Greg & Jennifer Slingerland visited the Painted Canyon on the weekend before the meeting. G 11. They ventured into Ladder Canyon, where Greg reviewed the regulatory issues pertaining to ladders. G 12. Deciding that they were unsafe, he retuned to Palm Springs, but... G 13. And he did, and they lived happily ever after in the Prickly Desert! Applause... G 14. Sunday was a hot, calm day. A perfect day for a balloon ride above the dessert. J 15. Greg, Roger Britt, Joanne McMillen, Joachim Pomy, Allen Woo & Efrain Guevara prepare to board. R 16. When it's sunny & 85, all you need is a really big propane torch! Can you say, "HOT!" R 17. And away we go, the first of three Balloons Above the Desert balloons leaving together. R 18. Looking NE, we didn't know it then, but the red line is the section of San Andreas Fault that we would explore on Friday. R 19. Allen & Efrain enjoying champagne. J 20. Joachim really enjoying (most of) the champagne :-)   Greg taking a self portrait. J G 21. Roger, Joanne, Greg & our aptly named pilot - Wild Bill.                                                                                                       Photo: Allen Woo 22. Although we took 1000 pictures, sometimes a picture is worth a 1000 words! ;-) 23. Looking N up the Coachella valley, the windmills are located in the San Gorgonio Mountain Pass (center). Stay tuned... J 24. This desert valley has 125 golf courses! The 123-mile Coachella Canal brings irrigation water from the Columbia River. R J 25. The depression left of the canal is the San Andreas Fault. The largest lake in CA, the Salton Sea is 227 ft below sea level. R 26. The Coachella valley gets 3 in of rain/yr. So water features are quite exclusive. But we didn't know what Wild Bill had in mind. R 27. Are they really going to put motor boats in that?? R 28. Hey Wild Bill, what's going on? Apparently, a touch-n-go demonstrates the skill of the pilot. R 29. Efrain & Roger are wondering if this thing floats! R                                                                                               Note: Photo Credits legend: 30. Splashdown! Finesse the burner & we hang there for a while. G                                              G=Greg Slingerland, L=Larry Truesdale 31. After that stunt its mutiny time, so we eject Wild Bill. J                                                                              R=Roger Britt, J=Joanne McMillen 32. Joanne & Efrain select a lot for their retirement homes! G 33. Up to 5000 ft, down to the water & back up again. But an hour & 15 min later it's over. An excellent adventure. R 34. How many engineers does it take to empty a balloon? You're right, none! R 35. This couch in the lobby was designed for giants, demonstrated here by Joachim, Joanne, Dorothy Lockard & Tommy Kee. R 36. On Tuesday afternoon, TR-41.4 took the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway for a so, so dinner, but a lot of fun. L 37. The cars & cables were redone in 2000. The floor makes two full rotations during the trip giving a fabulous view. LR 38. We think Joanne enjoyed the ride, but we had to censor her initial fear factor! R 39. 18 years in the making, it was completed in 1963. It's a 10 minute, 2.5 mile ride from 2643 to 8516 feet up the Chino Canyon. R 40. The San Gorgonio Mountain Pass wind farm has over 4000 windmills & provides enough electricity for the Coachella Valley. R 41. Today TR41.4 got a new executive, Chair: Joanne & Vice Chair: Roger. R 42. Tommy, Dorothy, Joanne, Kirit Patel, Roger, Larry Truesdale, Joachim & Marc Linsner with the "standard" look. L 43. How Tommy, Joachim, Roger, Dorothy, Joanne, Kirit, Marc & Larry really look, at 8500 ft that is! Which one is from Florida? L 44. The sun sets early in Palm Springs with the shadow of Mount San Jacinto. Note the airport in the upper right. R 45. After the cafeteria dinner & a few beers, it was a contest to see who could get the best night shot of Palm Springs! L 46. With a camera worth more than all the others put together, how could Larry lose? Well, he couldn't. Nice shot Larry. L 47. After the plenary on Friday, Roger, Joanne, Christina Gallagher & Efrain went on a jeep tour of the San Andreas Fault. R 48. The fault is visible as the row of vegetation part way up the mountains. The foreground is an avocado farm. J 49. This was the sixth crop this season. The packaging vehicle moves along with the pickers. J 50. The two plates of the fault grind a fine, impermeable powder that holds back the water coming up the fault, creating an oasis. R 51. We learned that Palm trees are fire resistant. R 52. Tom, our tour guide, showed us why they are fire resistant. He also explained the geology, flora and fauna. R 53. Red Jeep has this little mining town for BBQ's, parties & million dollar bashes. Tom also told us about the excesses! R J 54. We wound our way through numerous canyons, while Tom entertained us with amazing details on just about every topic! R 55. One of the inside jokes was that this was a 3 hr tour, so may I present Mary Ann, Ginger & Gilligan! R 56. Tom explained all the flowers & bushes & how they survive in a desert. R 57. This plant smells like petroleum when you blow on it. R 58. The view (our left) from this hill showed us the area we covered earlier in the week on the balloon ride. R