Water Canyon Coffee Co.

I am completely hooked on this coffee shop. My opinion may well be influenced by the fact that they're currently playing "With or Without You," but that's on top of its many other positive attributes, which include an entirely blue-paned glass front wall (providing a view of immaculate cloudless sky, hills, and joshua trees), embossed tin ceiling, large semi-circular covered front porch, and cast-iron-railed loft. Yes: a loft, accessible by a small staircase near the counter. There are also multiple nooks filled with books for sale, plants trailing along the large supporting columns, and three distressed leather couches with a guitar between two of them, which, given its distance from the small stage and sound mixing board, I can only assume is for playing by patrons. The music is a bit loud and may be from some huge corporate station, but it's 80s (with a playlist that has so far included not only U2 but Blondie, the Police, Madonna, the Bangles, the J Geils Band and Asia), so I'm feeling inclined to forgiveness. Given all of this, the fact that my iced coffee was not only $1.65, but is quite delicious, and that they have a full and impressive menu of bagels, pitas, sandwiches and salads, feels like a bonus. In addition to coffee and smoothies, they also sell yerba mate--and candy.

It's the off-season (even though today's high is projected to be six degrees cooler than Palm Springs' 104°), so the clientele is undoubtedly a bit different now than it is during the winter months. Today's lunch crowd includes small families, women dressed for the office, and a young couple on the shady porch. Earlier I saw a finely wrinkled, appropriately squinty older man in an expensive pinstriped suit; a blonde two-year old with round, chocolate-smeared cheeks escorting her grandfather; and only one spiky, black-haired 20-something who looks up bashfully from his laptop at the bar when I go into the back. Water Canyon is only about 10 miles from the entrance to the park, so in the winter, it may compete with the excellent Crossroads Cafe for climbing trash.

I'm here because this morning I endured the requisite poking, prodding, scrutiny, and bloodletting of my physical and drug test, but won't be able to start work until they're sure I don't have TB and am drug-free (on Wednesday). Until my mom is done with her work this afternoon, I'll try to use this free wifi to do my own.