Palm Springs

Two weeks ago I had to go to an annual conference for work in Palm Springs, California. I've been to this conference several times, and the content is always good, and it's usually in a cool place.  Since I was already there for work and already had a hotel room, The Husband came out for a few days. We left The Boy at home with grandparents. It was amazing.

Here are the highlights.

AirTram:
The Palm Springs Air Tram starts at 2,500 feet above sea level, and ten minutes later ends at 8,500 feet. You board a tram car and head straight up the side of a mountain, the whole while the floor rotating to give you a 360 degree view. There was snow at the top, and if the views weren't enough to make you dizzy, there is a full bar too.

 

One night we were eating dinner outside at a Mexican restaurant (Aqua Rio), views of mountains and palm trees in the distance. Gay couple after gay couple passed by on the street. When we left I stopped a couple and asked them what in the world we were missing. Where was everyone going? "Oh, Wang's!" they told me, "It's the place to be." Naturally, I assumed it was a gay bar. Turns out it was the best Chinese restaurant in the valley. We went to Wang's In The Desert the next night and it lived up to all the hype. It was de-lish.

A rare photo appearance by The Husband

We had Sunday brunch at Las Casuelas Nuevas. Champagne. Mexican food buffet. Patio. Mariachi band. Waffles shaped like boats to hold all your toppings. My mind exploded from the amount of awesome.

New friends I met at the waffle station. "Honey, what's the name of those crunchy things we get at Costco?" "Churros." "Oh yeah, they have those here."

                              

Thursday night we went to VilliageFest, a weekly festival with a half mile of vendors and hipster musicians with ironically cool socks. It was like here's some beautiful mountains, and some palm trees, and want to buy some artesianal lotions or some California dates? Side note: dates are not actually delicious.

I thought it was going to be a total tourist trap, but there was a lot of really cool stuff and a lot people watching. We were waiting on a table at the trendy Lulu when I heard a familiar tune coming from the street. "Annie!" I said to the Husband, in explanation as I was drawn out of the restaurant to catch a local children's production of Annie on the street. The Husband, who has known me for 20 years, was unfazed by my Pavlovian response to hearing kids whose parents paid for them to learn how to act like orphans.  He's a keeper.

This lady was making lanterns out of tin cans and a torch.

We rented a douchey car and drove all over the desert.  We drove to the neighboring town of Joshua Tree and checked it out. We tried to go to the Joshua Tree National Park but you know the government was shut down and all the trails and trees were unemployed and we couldn't get in.

That's a genuine Joshua tree in Joshua Tree, California.

We drove more than an hour way out into the desert to visit the Integratron, a dome that was built on a geomagnetic vortex in the Mojave Desert for the purpose of time travel and communication with extraterrestrials. Duh. Unfortunately the Integratron will not even let you in the gate without an appointment. Not so much as a gift shop! On the plus side, we did see a pony-tailed Native American sitting outside his trailer in a lawn chair and a tuxedo t-shirt, so it was worth the drive.

Shameless desert selfie

Integratron

We called home a few times to check on The Boy. Every time he was too busy to talk, and we were cramping his style on his grandparent binge. They sent us pictures of him swimming, posing with characters at the store, eating junk, riding statues, playing with new toys, and wearing a new spider hat:

Best weekend of his life. Back to us. There are tons of windmills in Southern California. I was fascinated and took about 400 pictures of them. I deleted about 390. They are HUGE. I had no idea, and you really don't realize until you're right up on them how massive they are.  When you're driving along, it's just desert, desert, mountain, desert, WINDMILL, desert.

We window shopped at El Paseo, the Rodeo Drive of Palm Springs. We went to all the upscale stores and acted like we weren't afraid to touch things. 

Then we went to the outlets, where things were still expensive. 

Hey, I found a Prada dress! Oops it's still $570.

Our hotel was on a golf course in the middle of the desert. (Sand trap, anyone?) 

We are not golfers but it was beautiful. 

 On my first flight home I sat beside an aging (aren't we all?) posh Palm Springs Macy's personal shopper who was flying to Chicago for a Macy's personal shopper convention. We talked Candy Crush strategies. The worst part of the entire trip was the shuttle from the airport. I sat beside a European couple who spoke in thick Slovic accents. Of course that in itself wasn't bad, but five minutes into the shuttle hour long ride, they each covered their faces with their jackets. Only the man's eyes were revealed. I snuck my phone out to take a picture. What was this guy doing?? I positioned the phone to take a selfie.....

He then covered his entire head in his jacket, his wife covered her head, and then covered her eyes with her hands. Immediately after I took the picture the man unwrapped himself and said to me "I'm not a terrorist. I'm just dressed like one. I'm recovering from a cold." and promptly wrapped back up. BUSTED. I was mortified. I kept my phone out and acted like I was busy on it, but he knew. Oh, he knew. 

Fancy Palm Springs vacation and I started thinking I was the paparazzi.