Palm Springs 2023

Alison and I took a road trip to Palm Springs over the Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend. We left after work on Friday and drove to Henderson where we stayed overnight. We continued onto Palm Desert on Saturday morning. We like to break up our drive on the way out. 

The drive was largely uneventful. The weather was clear and we were happy with the time it took. Alison and I talked for most of the drive. These 9ish hours in the car were a good opportunity to talk, connect, and catch up. Our conversations ran the gamut, but most of our time was spent discussing our new home. We talked about new developments in the build process and covered some of the remaining open items. We are currently in the process of finalizing any changes we want to the electrical and we made some important decisions during our drive. We also talked at length about our plans for furnishing and decorating our home. It is good to talk through our plans and ensure we are aligned. Our discussions made the drive very pleasant. 

We returned to Palm Desert this year to once again stay at the La Quinta Resort & Club. We loved this hotel so much last year that we booked our reservation this year while we were checking out. This year stayed in a different casita. We were in one of the original casitas that were built in 1926. It has been updated but has some really cool original details. This room had a wood-burning fireplace, which meant I got to put my Boy Scout training to use building fires. Above the fireplace was an old map of Mexico painted onto the wall. The room was both comfortable and unique. 

We spent Saturday at the La Quinta Resort & Club. They have an exceptional spa so we spent some time there. We hung out in the beautiful courtyard, spent some time in the steam rooms, and then we both had hot stone massage treatments. They were such good massages. Saturday kind of turned into a spa day and we were not sad about it. 

After the spa, we continued to relax and we went to a hot tub near our room. This hotel has ~40-something pools and hot tubs. The one closest to our room was not in use so we hung out there until we couldn't take the heat any longer. While we were lounging we watched a few hummingbirds feeding from the flowers on the fence next to the hot tub.

Anna's Hummingbird

On Saturday night we went to dinner at Morgan's in the Desert. This is the signature dining venue on site and it is excellent. We went last year and had a phenomenal experience and knew we had to come back. This year was even better. The service, the food, and everything about this restaurant create a top-notch experience. 

On Sunday we went into Palm Springs proper. It was a ~30-minute drive from our hotel. Our first stop of the day was brunch. We went to a local restaurant, Farm. It was quite good. My favorite thing about this dining experience was the location. They have a large outdoor dining area that is integrated into a garden. It was a beautiful spot to enjoy a delicious meal. We would definitely eat there again.

After brunch, we didn’t have any plans for the day so we wandered around Palm Springs. I really like the vibe of Palm Springs. It has an old-Hollywood feel. There are also lots of art installations, mostly around the Palm Springs art museum. We walked around enjoying the art exhibitions. One of the more interesting exhibits was “Babies” by artist and provocateur David Cerry. The gargantuan infant sculptures were created in 1994 and have appeared all over the world. They have a distinctive look because each of their faces have been replaced with a barcode. They have been in Palm Springs since 2018. Originally they were going to be removed in 2020, but the pandemic has delayed that indefinitely. Placing barcodes, symbols of production and consumption, on the faces of infant bodies, a symbol of innocence and vulnerability, to make a statement about dehumanization and provoke thought. It was a very striking exhibit.

Behind the Palm Springs Art Museum is the Museum Trail. This is a 1.6M out-and-back trail. The trail leads to an overlook with nice views of Palm Springs below. We weren’t really planning to hike today so we didn’t have the ideal clothing or equipment, but we decided to hike it anyway. It was a challenging hike. There is nearly a thousand feet of elevation gain in less than a mile. The view from the top was pretty spectacular and it felt good to be active. At the top, there was a pull-up bar so naturally, I did a couple of pull-ups. We also met a very friendly roadrunner up top. 

Greater Roadrunner

After our hike, Alison wanted to check out West Elm. She has been really loving some of the furniture and home goods from Pottery Barn and West Elm so she likes to take every opportunity she can to check out those stores. It helps as we make plans for our new home. We grabbed lunch at a local Greek restaurant before heading back to Palm Desert. Back at the hotel, we headed to the hot tub to relax and then took an afternoon nap. In the evening we had dinner at the Adobe Grill, which is the Mexican restaurant at the hotel.

We had been watching the weather all weekend and saw there was a winter storm warning in Utah on Monday. It looked like it was likely to get worse later in the day so we decided to get an early start on Monday. We were on the road at 5:15am. The weather wasn’t as bad as we expected. The first hour was the worst. The rain as we drove out toward LA to get on I15 was intense. The heavy rain in California right now is no joke. We hydroplaned on the freeway and we were lucky I was able to regain control and not hit anything. That was a scary moment. Once we got to Victorville the roads were fairly clear. We hit some light snow/rain near Cedar City and there was an accident that created around 20 minutes of traffic just outside Cedar City. Otherwise, the road conditions were clear and traffic was moving. We made it home in the early afternoon with enough time to stop by our house and do some shopping at Costco. 

This was a great weekend getaway.