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thegrassisaalwaysgreener · 6 years

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Palm Springs 2017!

This year for Christmas, I was fortunate enough to be invited to spend the holidays down south in Palm Springs, CA with Alex and his family. I was super excited (and nervous of course) about this trip! I was looking forward to a few days of warm weather and meeting Alex’s family. Since the majority of the trip was spent lounging, I am just going to highlight a few of the great things that we did and suggestions for future travellers to the Palm Springs/Palm Desert region. First off, Palm SPRINGS is in California and Palm BEACH is in Florida. Many people asked where exactly Palm Springs was and to be honest, I wasn’t totally sure. I knew it was in the desert somewhere in Cali, but beyond that, who knows! While we flew into Palm Springs, we were staying in Palm Desert, which is one in the same almost. Palm Springs is actually older and is in the Coachella Valley while Palm Desert is more of the resort area. While doing some research, I learned that Palm Springs is in the Sonoran Desert, surrounded by several mountain ranges including The Bernardino Mountains, San Jacinto Mountains and the Santa Rosa Mountains. While the population of the area is only about 50,000, this number is exponentially bigger (try well over a million) when taking into account all of the visitors. The area boasts many amazing landscapes including not only the desert and the mountains but also tons of great hiking ad biking paths and lots of resort- type activities to get involved in. It’s close proximity to LA (172 km), San Diego (198 km) and Phoenix (431 km), make it a great central tourist area. While the thought of driving to LA was very tempting, I was very excited to spend some time relaxing in the sun and lounging around doing not much of anything.

December 23rd, 2017 Since Alex lives across the country (as does the majority of his family), we were all on separate flights and arriving at separate times. Alex flew in earlier on the 23rd than I did and grabbed our rental car which was very handy. I was flying from Toronto, over to Vancouver and then down to Palm Springs. I was very glad to be getting out of Southern Ontario as we were having one of the worst storms of the season (at least up until that point) and the weather was just terrible. I made it to the airport with plenty of time to relax before my long-ish travel day. The flight to Vancouver was fairly uneventful (which is how it should be). I didn’t have a ton of time to hang out and explore YVR unfortunately. The flight to Palm Springs was just under 3 hours from Vancouver and I was excited to get there! Even though I was flying in at night, I was still super excited to be escaping the cold weather. I was super impressed with neat airport at PSP! It was basically an open-air area with various little shops off the main corridors. There was the Bono Terminal (hot tip, Sonny was the mayor of Palm Springs when I was born from 1988-1992) along with some really cute outdoor sitting areas. I guess I have only really seen these open area airports in tropical countries and was pleasantly surprised. Alex picked me up (along with snacks because he is a good man) and we headed to the Hotel. We were staying at the Marriott Palm Desert Villas, which were beautiful! We had a suite adjacent to his parents and sister, which was pretty big with a lovely balcony overlooking the golf course. Since I had gotten in so late, I didn’t get the chance to meet his family yet. We unpacked (because I am anal and like to be neat and organized) before heading to bed.

December 24th, 2017 Waking up to sunshine is so much better than waking up to darkness or rain/snow/clouds! Alex and I had a few errands to run today but we started the morning off with coffees on the balcony. I could literally sit and read outside all day- it was just so peaceful! Since we had slept in a bit (oops!) Alex’s parents and sisters were at a cooking class so we missed them again. After having breakfast and enjoying some quiet time, we headed out into town to pick up a few last minute things for a gift basket I was making for Alex’s parents as a Christmas/thank-you –for-inviting-me-on-your-family-holiday gift. We visited a few stores to grab the supplies before stopping at Whole Foods and spending what seemed like the whole afternoon there (Alex lovessss it there). It was midafternoon by the time we made it back to the hotel and I was itching to stop by the pool. We finally managed to run into the rest of Alex’s family that was there. It was awesome to meet his lovely parents Brigitte and Daniel along with his younger sisters Gabrielle and Catherine. We sat around the main living area chatting and getting to know each other before heading for some sunshine by the pool. The resort had several pools but the one closest to us seemed to be the least busy one in the area. It had a hot tub along with a play area for kids, which was nice. After enjoying a bit of time by the pool, (without actually going into it because it was too cold for that) we wandered around to the main area of the resort and checked out the beautiful Christmas tree and display in the lobby. There was a super cute fire pit overlooking the mountains and the pool which was absolutely amazing. The mountains were something else in Palm Springs. I’ve seen many mountains, but none quite like these. They seemed to go on forever! It was also super bizarre to see so much desert area surrounding all the ranges. We spent the evening chatting and getting to know one other over a delicious dinner followed by wine and the infamous Halo Top Ice cream. I hadn’t watched many Christmas movies yet, so Alex was kind enough to oblige to watch one with me in between my Facetime dates with my family back home. Christmas is my favourite holiday and while I was super excited to be spending time with Alex and his family, it was hard to be away from my family. We had celebrated Christmas the weekend before with my family but it was still nice to Facetime with my extended family in the evening and then to be part of tradition of reading “The Night before Christmas” with the whole family.

December 25th, 2017 Merry Christmas!!! This was my second time waking up to sun and t-shirt weather on Christmas morning. I have to say, it is something I could get used to for sure! Alex and I had left one small gift for each of us to open on Christmas morning, which made it that much more special. Again, because I am a child, I face timed with my family while they opened their gifts. We headed out into the main living area and had breakfast with the rest of the family. The majority of the day was spent wandering around the resort and lying by the pool. I did manage to get a workout in before the gym got too crowded. Alex and I snacked on the best guac and pico, I had had on this side of the Mexican border (from Whole Foods of course) while enjoying the view from the Balcony. We had another great dinner with the family before watching one more Christmas movie before bed (home Alone of course!)

December 26th, 2017 This was going to be our earliest morning! Alex and I had really wanted to go to the Aerial Tramway and had read that it gets super busy mid morning. We managed to get there for 10ish in the morning (which is a feat for us) before the lines were too crazy. The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway is the worlds largest rotating tram car. It travels over two miles up the cliffs of the Chino Canyon into the Mt. San Jacinto State Park. The tram is relatively inexpensive at $26 a person and provides an amazing experience. The tram takes about 10 minutes to get from the bottom to the top and is run on a type of pulley system. As you go up the side of the cliffs, overlooking the Coachella Valley, the tram car rotates which is super neat. Everyone has great views of the area so no one is scrambling around to get the best photos The Mountain station is at 8,516 feet and is home to a beautiful observation deck, museum, restaurants and the gateway to over 50 miles of hiking trails. We did a short loop around the peaks and got amazing photos and views of the valley below. After our short hike, we grabbed coffees before making our way down the mountain. We were pleasantly surprised to see that we came at a great time, as the line to get in was about 10 times the size it was when we waited in line. We headed back to the Marriott for a bit of pool time before getting ready for dinner. Alex’s brother Ben and his wife Sarah had flown in so it was nice to meet them and hear about their Christmas activities and travel down from Edmonton. Once we were all ready, we made our way back into Palm Springs to a school friend of Daniels. He went to university with Jean Marc at McGill. Jean Marc and Don moved to Palm Spings within the past few years and had a beautiful home. It was very modern with an amazing backyard filled with a sitting area, pool, BBQ area and the prettiest citrus trees. We sat outside enjoying the views of the mountains before enjoying an amazing Mexican inspired lasagna that Don made. The meal and company were both amazing as was the buche de noel we had for dessert. After a few more Mexican inspired Margaritas, we made our way back to the Marriot with full tummies.

December 27th, 2017 Today was our last full day in Palm Springs! We had a fun filled day planned! Alex and I were heading over to the spa for a couples massage. The spa at the Mariott is just amazing! They have multiple lounge areas (female only, male and coed) with comfy seats, magazines and spa music. We enjoyed the lounge area while waiting for our massages. I had never had a couples massage before and wasn’t sure what to expect. To be honest, it was really just a regular massage with another person in the room. I was very pleased with my RMT and the massage. Once we were all relaxed, we enjoyed some time in the hottub and saunas before heading out to catch some rays by the pool. The weather was perfect and it was a great way to spend the morning and relax. After some photos of the other side of the resort and some lunch, we waited for our ride at the lobby of the hotel to go on our Hummer tour of the Joshua Tree National Park. I was super excited about this, as was everyone else! We met our great tour guide (who’s name is escaping me which is terrible and I apologize) who explained the plan of the day. We were going to head out to the 1000 Palm Springs on our way through the Smith area, over the San Andreas Fault until we arrived at the Joshua Tree national Park.

Our first stop- the 1000 Palms Oasis Preserve was just amazing! This area can be found in the Coachella Valley and is an 80-acre area filled with amazing palm trees. The area leads to several hiking routes and is well worth the visit. While at the Oasis, we learned about the trees along with the Cahuilla Indian history, which was quite interesting. I love palm trees so really enjoyed our time in the oasis. Once we got back in the car, we learned a bit of history about the area, the wildlife, the fault etc. We stopped at a coffee shop to grab drinks and switch cars into our huge Hummer! I had never been in a Hummer before and was super excited about our off-roading-esque trip into Joshua Tree. The Joshua Tree National park is where The Mojave and Colorado Desert come together in almost 800,000 acres that are protected land. The area is home to much different varieties of plants and animals and has been inhabited for over 5000 years. It wasn’t officially made into a monument until 1936 due to the hard work of Minerva Hoyt who was very fond of plants and was concerned about the removal of the amazing plants in the area. Now, Joshua Tree National Park is home to 813 plant species, 40 reptile species, 41 mammal species and 240 bird specials. Anyways back to our fun in the hummer! I sat in the very back of the hummer, which was super exciting but very breezy. Thankfully, our guide had tons of blankets for us to cuddle up with. By the time we made our way into the national park, we were chasing the sun! The sun was starting to set and our guide was masterfully driving as quickly as possibly through the park while stopping to show us some neat plants and explain to us the history of the park. We made it to practically the highest point of the park with only minutes to spare before sunset. The views (and harsh winds caused but our fast speed to make it there to make it on time) were worth it! The sunset was just amazing over the area especially with all of the fun Joshua trees in the background. (FYI if you don’t know what a Joshua tree is, Google it because they are super fun and quirky looking!) After a bit of time enjoying the views, we headed back into the Hummer and back down out of the park. The ride out was significantly cooler as the sun had set. I definitely was feeling the cold and was thankful for my 6’foot something significant other beside me. By the time we got back to the resort, we were all wind-burnt and super tired. We ordered in pizza before hitting the hay.

December 28th, 2017 Sadly, Alex and I were both leaving the desert today. He was heading off to South Africa and I was heading back to work☹. We enjoyed some final family time and the weather before heading over to the airport. Again, I enjoyed the open-air airport and even saw a few birds flying through. We enjoyed our coffees and said our “see you soons” before I headed onto my direct flight back to Toronto. I am so thankful and lucky that I was able to spend the holidays with someone who is super important to me and meet the others that are important in his life. While it wasn’t the traditional Christmas holiday, it was an awesome time and made me appreciate change a little more. A huge thank you to the Evoy’s who welcomed me with open arms! We had a great time in Palm Springs/Desert and would love to go back again.

**PS The photos are in NO specific order:)

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