Flashback post: Palm Springs

When I started telling people I was moving, the conversation almost always led to my LA Bucket List, all the things I wanted to do before I moved. Every single time, the other person would ask what was on it... and then they'd add something to it. There were several trips that happened because of this.

In this particular instance, the conversation ended with, "What are you up to this weekend?"

It was a Thursday, and myself and my friends Lynn and Sarah Who Is Not the Sarah I've Reference Before had me come over on Saturday, where we went on a road trip to Palm Springs. I'd been there once, literally for a couple hours before having to go back, and hadn't really gotten to do it right. It's about an hour and a half to two hours between LA and Palm Springs, but takes longer because there are places to stop along the way. There are two outlet malls, for one, plus a place called Hadley's Fruit Orchards, where you can pick up snacks. Also definitely get a date shake, they are amazing. And then there's the Cabazon Dinosaurs.

There are giant dinosaurs just hanging out in the desert. It's awesome, but it's about $9 for adults and you can easily spend like twenty minutes hanging around and taking pictures. As a tip, when they're closed you can still get pictures with some stuff, and that's the way I like to go, personally.

Semi-impossible not to hum the Jurassic Park theme here.

Palm Springs itself is home to a giant wind farm that you drive past, which is more interesting than I would have thought. And then we got to our hotel, the Twin Palms Resort and I LOVE THIS PLACE SO MUCH. We walked in and immediately decided it reminded us of the Golden Girls. It's a great little condo, much bigger than your average hotel room, and has a pool, grill, and A BARBIE PINK KITCHEN STRAIGHT OUT THE 50'S. No, seriously, the kitchen had most of its original appliances from the 50's. Though, as we learned, don't try to cook a frozen pizza in it unless you want to spend an hour switching it from the oven to the broiler to make sure both sides of it actually cook.

Wasn't kidding.

A lot of people party in Palm Springs. We did not. We hung out and talked, hit up the local Ralph's to get food, and went for drinks at a tiki bar called Tonga Hut downtown. The drinks were good and it was quiet at the time, so we got to chat with the really great bartenders. And since Sarah talked about her love of tiki bars, we maybe got a glimpse of the place that most people don't get to see.

Sunday, however, I got to do the coolest thing I've ever done in my life (so far). The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway starts towards the bottom of the mountains, and depending on where you park you can take a bus up to where the tram loads. It's a car where everyone piles in and then you ride the cable up 10,000 feet. It rotates so you can see every view, and there are a few points where there can be quite a bit of swinging, so people who are afraid of heights might want to be aware. At the top is the San Jacinto Mountain, where you can climb some stairs and get views from super high up, and it's amazing. (And while you're in the desert, you're also in the mountains; it was 80 degrees when we left, and 40 degrees at the top of the mountain.) And it's also a state park, so you can walk around and take different trails to see even more. Be advised that you are at a higher altitude, and asthmatics like me might not have the easiest time, and there can be hills or stairs, but if you can handle that it's soooo worth it. Plus it's only $25.

On top of the world! Now let's pretend I didn't say that.

So that's my two days in Palm Springs. Next time I'll do other stuff. Except for the Tramway, which I will do every time.