I love how much you can learn while traveling, as long as you are curious and ask questions. We recently decided to trade a portion of our wet and windy Pacific Northwest winter for some dry, sunny days in southern California. Because this is Covid era, we decided to drive in our own bubble on wheels. En route driving south, we suddenly started noticing crooks, curved posts along the highway with… what was it? Was that a bell in top? Or a lantern? We couldn’t tell while zooming past so we stopped to investigate. It looked like bronze… something historic?

One of the posts had a little sign on it: El Camino Real. What îs that?

I googled for it and loved what I discovered: El Camino Real or “the Royal Road” turns out to be a 600-mile trail, stretching from Mission San Diego de Alcalá in San Diego to Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma, created by the Spanish to link 21 California missions. Missions were located approximately 30 miles apart – a long day’s ride on horseback…

Originally this ‘royal’ trail was a dirt footpath but it brought a whole new world to California. The trail’s website states that “Over a short period – little more than 50 years – the Spanish brought a new culture to California, spreading European religion, agricultural practices, and eventually forms of government. Together, the missions performed over 87,000 baptisms, and 24,000 marriages. The mission communities kept over 150,000 cattle, and grew 150,000,000 pounds of wheat.”

Bronze bells were placed in posts representing a shepherd’s crook: 550 along the entire trail. Who knew?! Nowadays El Camino Real is an 800 mile hiking trail for those brave enough the walk the length of southern California!

While we stayed in Indian Wells, near Palm Springs, we discovered our favourite desert snack: dates! Nothing beats a date in the desert! Literally…

And on a visit to one of many local date farms we learned more than we had ever dared to ask. One date farm advertises with a large banner outside: Romance & Sex Life of the Date!

If that doesn’t peak your curiosity, I don’t know what does. This being Covid season, we did not want to sit inside in the theatre and were delighted that we could watch the sex life of the date on YouTube! (You can, too: see the link below).

Shield’s Date Garden is probably the best known date farm in the valley, although there are others. They have a large shop with all sorts of dates in all sorts of containers - from expensive gift boxes to inexpensive bags. I learned that there is a whole alphabet of dates: from Abbada to Zahidi dates! Ever heard of Thoory and Khadrawi dates? Deglet Noor and Madjool are the most common, with 97% of the crops grown in the Coachella Valley. Some dates are gooey, others quite dry. The sugar content varies but it is an incredibly healthy snack. The video also taught me a lot about how dates are harvested.

Outside the giftshop, in the back, is a lovely little but very popular restaurant that offers an amazing menu, from date pancakes to jalapeño burritos. You can also stroll through the palm gardens on a winding, paved path. Inexplicably the path is lined with biblical scene. Perhaps there’s a date/middle eastern/holy land kind of connection here. Or perhaps the owners just felt like putting their favourite bible stories on display. I found it a bit disjointing to walk among California cacti and come face to face with concrete apostles…

But the dates are fabulous. We munched on fresh dates stuffed with walnuts, almonds and almond paste. But my favourite treat by far here is a decadent date milk shake. If you are ever in the Coachella Valley, do stop for a date shake!