Essentially I'm writing this post for two reasons:
1. I'm out of school and now have tons of time to write (yay!),
2. I want to remember everything about this trip in vivid detail, and share it with the people who care.
This past week, Nick and I visited my dad and stepmom in Palm Springs, California. We made the 10 hour drive in a decent amount of time, taking a lesser known road through the Mojave Desert where you can drive like 110mph. True story. This route also goes through Route 66, so that was cool.
Palm Springs is an entirely different mindset, and yes, it deserves its own name. The majority of people live in Country Clubs, and money is viewed as a plaything. Countless numbers of Ferraris, Lamborgini's, BMW's, and golf carts are seen driving the streets daily, usually with people in their seventies at the wheel. I can't explain how foreign these things were to Nick, and somewhat to me; including the weather. The lowest temperature it got to be during the day was, I think, 65 degrees Fahrenheit. I was able to wear shorts, which was sooo nice.
On Monday, we rode the Palm Springs Aerial Tram. Basically you go straight up a mountain, roughly from an elevation of 2,000 feet to 8,000 feet in, like, 10 minutes, with the floor moving around you so you can see all the sides in a giant plexiglass dome.. There actually was snow at the top! It was scarce, maybe half inch spots every so often, but I did heard a local say, "Look at how much snow there is!"
That night, Nick and I ventured to downtown Palm Springs, and were able to walk around and have some dinner. Oh, and there's a giant statue of Marilyn Monroe on the Main Street of Palm Springs. I guess they're a little obsessed?
Tuesday we drove down to the Queen Mary. We took a haunted ghost tour and learned about the creepy stories of people who died on the boat, and who had seen spirits on the boat. The one story that stuck with me was of a crew member who was playing chicken with the water-lock doors as they were closing during a fog emergency. He didn't make it. I was able to snap a lot of pictures, and hope to put them on Facebook soon. Later on, we explored downtown Long Beach, and stayed on the boat for the night.
The next morning, we woke up and drove to Knott's Berry (Merry) Farm. If anyone feels like visiting Knotts, I would suggest doing it on a Wednesday in December. We were literally the first in line to almost every ride, and were able ride everything within our first two hours of being there. After that, we had to take a break, because as you can imagine, we were pretty motion sick. Walking through the park helped, and we were able to ride some more before a storm came in and it started to get pretty chilly. We had dinner in Downtown Disney, since it's just a hop, skip, and a jump from Knotts, and headed back to Palm Springs once we were finished. It was a wonderful day, and we were sad to see it go. At that point I remember it hitting us that there was only one week left until Christmas, which seemed preposterous because there wasn't snow and it wasn't cold. The things you associate...
Thursday was a whirlwind of activity. We woke up early to do a morning hike, and were even able to bring Bear, my dad's Shih tzu, with us. Seriously, Bear is the cutest and most cuddly dog ever. After that, we went to an ATV park and rode around the mountain side for about an hour. It was so much fun! I totally felt like a badass when I was able to catch air. To wind down from all of this, we went to dinner at the Yard House, which had the world's largest selection of draft beer - one of which was actually from Salt Lake - and watched We're the Millers when we got back.
Friday morning we went to breakfast with one of my dad's good friends/coworker that I know well. We all went to London together five years ago, and gave each other so much crap during that trip. I think he was expecting me to be quip-ready again during breakfast, but quite frankly, I was just too tired. When we got back, I was able to have a great discussion with my stepmom, and later played some tennis with my dad. That game is much more technical than I thought it was, and my dad was quite attentive to the technique.
Nick and I drove down to Las Vegas that afternoon and stayed in the Monte Carlo. This was our first time to Vegas in nearly a decade, and the first time since we both turned 21. We gambled (and lost), and walked up and down the Strip where we bought frozen drinks that came from something that looked like an ICEE machine, but had alcohol in it. Some vendors were much more liberal with the alcohol than others. We basically did the same thing Saturday, except I was able to do a little shopping, and we saw a Vegas show that night. Guess which show? If you guessed the Blue Man Group, you are so right. IT WAS AMAZING! One of the best shows I've ever seen. Smart, funny, musical, and vibrant, all wrapped in a fantastic package. The only thing that I didn't get to do that I wanted to was go dancing. I love dancing, but sometimes your body knows best. We drove back up Sunday, and now it feels like Christmas again.
Such a great trip, all with wonderful memories. Thanks for reading and Merry Christmas!
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