Palm Springs, California is a second home for Jeff’s parents and earlier this month we visited with the kids for an action packed, yet extremely relaxing family vacation.
The mornings are slow in Palm Springs. There’s coffee and fresh apple fritters from the bakery down the street - courtesy of my mother in law, Mari. Sometimes there are long, leisurely walks through the Movie Colony which is very near to their condo, unless of course, there is an early tee time at Escena.
One of the mornings while Jeff and Dad golfed, Mari and I took the kids to the Children’s Discovery Museum of the Desert. There were three buildings full of fun stuff to explore including an entire exhibit of dinosaurs and a whole building committed to science. Thomas loved the bottle rocket exhibit propelled by air compression while Natalie enjoyed the electrical car race track.
Another morning the group went to The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. There’s enough to spend all day there but we limited ourselves to just the morning. Most everyone’s favorite animal exhibit was the cheetahs - three female sisters. Natalie and Thomas both also got a big kick out of the giant train display and even spotted a ‘Thomas the Train’ on one of the tracks.
This year we also made the visit to the top of the Mt. San Jacinto State Park on the Aerial Tramway. It’s the world largest rotating tram car and ascends 2.5 miles to an elevation of 8,516 feet. Once at the top we took a near two hour hike around the park with the kids to the different look out points. It was the only time all week that we wore pants and long sleeves.
We spent our afternoons at the condo laying by the pool. We read books, took siestas and floated in the pool. The 1pm to 4pm hours were quiet and peaceful. Natalie turned into a prune in the pool preparing tea parties while Thomas averaged 3 hour nap times. I finished all my Christmas shopping online and even got started on furniture shopping for the new house.
Speaking of shopping, one of our favorite places to visit while in town is the Street Fair at COD. It’s a mix of vendors selling everything from produce to artwork. We picked up sunglasses for the kids, a few Christmas gifts and some asparagus for dinner later that week. Jeff had his watch battery fixed and Mari got flowers for the dining room table. There were also more apple fritters. All in all, COD 2019 was a success.
Later in the week Mari, the kids and I went shopping downtown while Jeff and Dad golfed another round. I picked up some souvenir long sleeved tees for the kids (heard there was snow back home!) and we made a stop at Starbucks Reserve for our morning caffeine fix. I’m still geeked out for our local friends at Rowsters who’s logo was purchased by Starbucks for this new chain of cafes.
For Happy Hour in Palm Springs, drinks and snacks begin promptly at 5pm. Jeff’s Dad makes the best vodka gimlets and the regularity of both our cruise-ship-like schedule and expert bartender had me thinking how difficult our transition back to reality would be post vacation.
Dinners there are almost always al fresco (outdoors) on the patio and unless we eat out, we grill. One of the nights we had a ‘pizza party’ with extended family who also have condos there. Jeff’s cousin Betsy was in town with her family so we ate poolside and hung around until the sun went down. The kids ran around the courtyard in the dark playing hide-and-seek providing the adults with entertainment.
On Saturday evening the kids stayed home with Jeff’s Uncles, Steve and Samuel, while Jeff’s parents introduced us to Le Vallauris. We were celebrating a little bit of everything (birthdays, our anniversary, new home purchase, Dad’s retirement) and Le Vallauris was without a doubt the place for the occasion(s). The menu, service and atmosphere were all incredible but those things aside, it’s the time together and the conversations within that time that are what we travel for.
Palm Springs, we love you.
Read about our trip to Palm Springs in 2017 HERE.