either side of the highway greet visitors as they approach the crest of the pass and have become somewhat of a symbol of the area. The state's other wind farms are in the Tehachapi Pass between Mojave and Bakersfield and in the Altamont Pass near Livermore. Businesses Siemens Water Technologies, Palm Desert – manufacturer of industrial water filtration systems. Guthy-Renker, Palm Desert – producer of mail order infomercials. Ernie Ball, manufacturer of electric guitar strings, opened a manufacturing facility in Coachella in 2005. Shields Date Gardens, date producer – a local landmark and tourist attraction since 1924. Coca-Cola bottling plant facility in Coachella – opened in 2009 and employs 1,000 people. Eisenhower Medical Center, opened in 1971, is a 540-bed hospital with in-patient facilities, emergency department, and out-patient clinics and urgent care centers. Eisenhower employs approximately 2800 people. Recreation and annual activities With warm winters and more than 350 days of sunshine per year, recreational hiking and horseback riding are popular in the many canyons in the mountains that surround the valley. One of the most visited outdoor sports areas is Thousand Palms Canyon. The Coachella Valley was once a safe haven for hay fever allergy sufferers before the surge of golf courses and year-round lawns, and people with bronchitis, emphysema and asthma chose to relocate for health reasons in the early half of the 20th century. In the early 20th century, Palm Springs was an ideal farming town and had some space converted to a minor agricultural economy. After that failed, all the fields and groves were replaced by homes and golf courses. Agriculture succeeded in the lower Coachella Valley near the communities of Thermal, Mecca, Oasis and Vista Santa Rosa that had a large underground aquifer to sustain a year-round green environment. Roughly 125 golf courses blanket the area, making it one of the world's premier golf destinations and the most popular golf vacation destination in California. The Merrill Lynch Skins Game was held in La Quinta each Thanksgiving and drew some of the biggest names in golf. The PGA has a major presence in La Quinta as well with the PGA WEST golf and residential complex. One of the host courses of the aforementioned Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, a PGA WEST fairway represents the area in Soarin' Over California, an IMAX-based attraction at Disney California Adventure Park theme park. The area is also dotted with casinos run