I had bid off for about five days around Nicole’s birthday so that we might have a fun getaway. There were half a dozen different scenarios I had concocted including Hawaii, Moorea, and Lake Louise. Needless to say, these were very different options. Hawaii and Moorea were too expensive and Canada ended up changing the border opening dates for the 39th time. So as we often do when we don’t know what else to do, we went to Palm Springs. I don’t mean to imply that Palm Springs is our last resort. We both find it strangely calming and as we would be visiting it at the end of July, we wouldn’t have to worry about snowbirds and such. The 106º temperatures took care of that for us.
We embarked on our 2.5 hour journey around noon. We made a brief pit stop about 30 minutes outside of Palm Springs at Cabazon to see the dinosaurs you see before you. They have been featured in numerous movies, though the majority seem to be from the 80s such as Pee Wee’s Big Adventure or The Wizard. There are two large dinosaurs present – a T-Rex and an apatosaurus of sorts. There was another area behind the fence that was like a garden of dinosaurs, but there were large families and small children and it sounded really scary. We got back in the car and continued on our journey.
We arrived at the Sparrows Lodge, a small twenty-room property that used to be an escape for the Hollywood elite. Like most buildings in Palm Springs, it has been continuously updated to look like it hasn’t been updated since 1954.
We made a trip downtown to do a small amount of shopping and got a burger and beer at one of the few places that was open. You see, there are few places that will be open again until late in August because nobody wants to chill in Palm Springs when it’s extremely hot. We relaxed back at our place next to the pool until the sun went down.
After sunset, we roasted some s’mores, which were complimentary. To be fair, in this kind of heat, we wanted beverages, so our “free s’mores” ended up being about $20 after purchase of a large water and a beer. It was nonetheless a unique experience. Tomorrow we celebrate Nicole’s birthday.
passports & pepto bismol 