Out to The River today

We had to return items to Rancho Mirage Library so I suggested we take a walk around The River which is nearby.   This development really suffered in the economic downturn  and it was sad to see a lot of prime space still not occupied.  Babe's,  The Cheesecake Factory,  and the movie theatres still seem to be doing well.  

This morning we had fresh orange juice and picked some more oranges after our swim.

The River is nicer than your usual mall given the wonderful water feature.

This is around the back and I was pleased to see this tree was saved when the complex was built.  There are fewer empty spaces at the back.  I guess because the rents are cheaper here than the prime front areas.   One of these places is an ice cream parlour...$5.50 US for a small cone!  

We used to go to Babe's quite a lot but in recent years,  those big dinners of ribs somehow don't appeal.  There is a wonderful smell of ribs cooking as we pass.

This is quite the hat shop!

I could be tempted by these "mad hatter" hats...

The last couple of years they have made a small ice rink for folks during the holiday season.  $15 gets you skates and access to the rink.  We might have given it a try if our knees weren't so tricky.