Palm Springs

As a mid-winter Seattle gloom get-away, we again elected to travel to southern California given Kyle's annual tournament in San Diego. Since Lexi, Corey, and Avery have moved to Michigan, we drove straight to Palm Springs and then spent 3 nights in Las Vegas to visit my best friend of 30+ years.

At the Seattle airport, waiting to board the plane:

Sam and Elsa sat together in a two-seater and I was across the aisle from them. They were very well behaved and independent. I even read quite a few chapters of my book! When the plane took off, they announced, "California, here we come!"

Palm Springs at the Westin Mission Hills Resort. It has four separate pool areas. The one we went to had a small kids pool, a big pool, and a giant water slide that required a mat. Sam and I went down 10 times in a row! Elsa loved the kiddie pool because she could "swim like an alligator" with her hands on the floor or "like an otter," flipping over and over.

Sun drenched!

We drove into Palm Springs proper for dinner to revisit Las Casuelas Terraza. Once again, we enjoyed the food, the margaritas, and the live music. Elsa got up and danced in front of the band with a group of other girls. At the end of the evening, they were all hugging each other goodbye. We loved the ambiance of the place as much of it is open-air patio.

The next morning, we visited Cheeky's, a famous breakfast spot that was totally worth a short wait.

Sun, coffee, vacation!

Both times I've visited Palm Springs, I've thought, "I could spend another day there at least." Of course, the issues with sustaining such an oasis in the desert do not escape me. So, I'm not sure it'll be an annual visit, but I sure did enjoy the visit this year!