The previous day yielded a very lethargic Bricole. Defying the laws of human capabilities, one of the children was still up at the wee hours of the morning to go for a wee swim in the wee pool. Whilst the others explored the Palm Springs Air Museum, Bricole remained lounging outside at the house recovering. It is unclear whether we have just gotten used to nearly triple digit temperatures, but it didn’t seem that oppressively hot outside.
The following day, the wee ones seemed to sleep in, perhaps somewhat adjusted to pacific time on the last day before their departure. Thusly, Bricole also got a relatively decent night of rest. Because both Bran and Salt would be departing early the next morning, Bricole decided they would drive home the previous evening rather than suffer another sleepless night.
For our last day together in Palm Springs, we ventured out to an area called the Coachella Valley Preserve. Within this area is a section of the San Andreas fault. While not really a gaping crack in the ground as one might hope, the area gave way to a palm oasis, as water bubbles up from below creating a somewhat unusual pop of green within this otherwise barren landscape. Our attempt to get closer was foiled by a parking lot and trail that is seemingly only open on weekends.
Following this, we finished up the remainder of our somewhat uninspired frozen hamburgers and set off for the Titanic escape room while Salt tidied up the house. I had never done any kind of escape room before and my biggest fear was appearing dumb. Without revealing too much, there were two separate rooms that were unlocked through a series of puzzles, padlocks, codes, etc. The first room was a chaotic free-for-all of every single one of us solving puzzles independently. Somehow this strategy worked as we were into the next room after less than fifteen minutes.
Things slowed down at that point, which in our defense, was due to some poorly worded clues, and badly executed puzzles. We had to ask for a few clues, but escaped the doomed vessel with a few minutes to spare. After picking up Salt, we went to downtown Palm Springs for our final meal together. Powerful misters blasted us from above, providing a perhaps excessive amount of relief from the heat. The appealing banana split for two that was on the menu was unfortunately unavailable. Unacceptable. 2/10. Would not return until bananas are acquired.
And thus concluded our sojourn to the desert oasis of Palm Springs. Hopefully all celebrity couples and their nepo babies found some enjoyment in this getaway. For Bricole, specifically, it appeared we escaped the fog to find sun, which improved our overall disposition. I don’t function well without sun and it didn’t appear until nearly 2pm the day after we got back when the coastal fog finally burned off. This little escape will have to sustain us until early November, during Election Day when we will escape once more.
passports & pepto bismol 