Oasis Date Gardens in Thermal

I drove down to Thermal today, about 6 miles SE. Here on 245 acres, is a huge date farm. I enjoyed a date shake made with real chopped dates, not the crystals like Shields but found I prefer Shields. This was so thick you had to eat it with a spoon. They have a nice store, history area, restaurant and gift shop with a picnic area under the palms. You can see some of the ancient machinery and very large sorting and packing area to ship dates worldwide. One thing very interesting was a picture of the invention of the original farmer, a ladder on a round steel track so he could scoot around the whole palm tree to pick the dates.
We've loved our week in Indio, sunsets nearly every night. At this time of year we face south and enjoy the sun every day.