Bookmark it for future visits.
February 17, 2015
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Palm Desert
I had not been to Palm Desert. Palm Springs, yes, but not Palm Desert. We spent about two hours roaming up and down the fancy shop lined street, El Paseo. More interesting than the shops are the desert landscaping and art.
We had a good dinner at Kaiser Grille. We probably won't eat here again as there are so many other good restaurants we would like to try, but it was good!
February 7-8, 2015
We had a good dinner at Kaiser Grille. We probably won't eat here again as there are so many other good restaurants we would like to try, but it was good!
February 7-8, 2015
Monday, February 09, 2015
30-Hour Getaway to Joshua Tree and Palm Desert
Chris and I had a quick, good trip to Joshua Tree National Park and Palm Desert this weekend. We left home
Saturday about 7am, stopped for coffee in La Habra (Starbucks - $6) and then for breakfast in Moreno Valley (Panera - $10).
We arrived at the Joshua
Tree Visitors Center about 9am. We paid the park entrance fee and obtained maps and hiking advice (29
Palms - $15). We then hiked the 3-mile 29 Palms
Oasis trail. We liked! It was tougher than it sounds with 300’ up and 300’ down to bring us to the oasis. A small pond and lots of palm trees. It was a very pretty and surprising to find in this otherwise very dry, barren desert. It is an out and back and turned out to be more of a work out than I expected.
We ate our picnic lunch at Big Rocks and Chris took a very short nap while I took photos. We drove to the north exit and left the park about 2:30pm.
It is about a 45 minute drive to Palm Desert where we checked into our hotel, Homewood Suites ($149). We found it to be as we expected - nice, quiet, roomy. Just fine! We dropped our bags off and headed to "downtown" Palm Desert. We walked up and down El Paseo and window shopped the fancy shops and then returned to our hotel for cleanup before going to Kaiser Grille for a good, good dinner. Chris had prime rib and I had pizza ($80). We were thankful we had made a reservation, as it was packed. We ended the night with a walk around downtown Palm Springs and a stop for ice cream at Ben and Jerry’s ($6).
It is about a 45 minute drive to Palm Desert where we checked into our hotel, Homewood Suites ($149). We found it to be as we expected - nice, quiet, roomy. Just fine! We dropped our bags off and headed to "downtown" Palm Desert. We walked up and down El Paseo and window shopped the fancy shops and then returned to our hotel for cleanup before going to Kaiser Grille for a good, good dinner. Chris had prime rib and I had pizza ($80). We were thankful we had made a reservation, as it was packed. We ended the night with a walk around downtown Palm Springs and a stop for ice cream at Ben and Jerry’s ($6).
Sunday morning we ate the complimentary breakfast at our hotel and were checked out by 7:30am. We then hiked the Bump and Grind Trail. Chris liked it more than I did. It's a 4-mile out and back with 1000’ elevation gain. I found it to be too hot and crowded and lacking in much beauty.
After the hike we stopped for coffee in Palm Springs at Koffi ( $6). We then headed for home by way of the Palms to Pines Scenic Drive which took us from Palm Desert to Banning. It is a pretty, winding 67 miles drive.
We would have stopped and explored more but we did not have a Wilderness Pass. Once in Banning, we were hungry (!). We were unsuccessful in finding a unique lunch stop and ended up at IHOP. It was actually a good choice ($20). We arrived home about 2pm and had time to get a few chores done, pick up a few things at the market and watch a few episodes of "True Detective".
February 7-8, 2015
Thursday, February 05, 2015
Around Here
...new gutters, just in time for January rains...
...UCLA 4th floor view...
...Mom and I lunch at Ruby's after haircuts...
...lattes...
...we we do on a crazy day...
...and...
January 2015
Tuesday, February 03, 2015
Work
Jan has this diagram in her planner. She found it some time back on Facebook (unknown source). I like!
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Monday, February 02, 2015
Palos Verdes Penninsula Hike
In order to be home in time to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday, we got an early morning start on our trip to PV. We pulled out of the driveway at 7 and were to the trailhead by 8. We parked at Del Cerro Park and roamed the Portuguese Bend Reserve for a couple of hours. By "roamed" I mean we first took in the panoramic views of the reserve and the Pacific and then headed down and then steeply back up. Before brunching at The Yellow Vase at Golden Cove, we pulled into the Interpretive Center off PV Drive South and walked north for about a half an hour. The views were spectacular and we were home by 1!
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Sunday, February 01, 2015
Create 2015 - January
Creative endeavors this month...
(holiday thank you cards, dinner, coffee table centerpiece, baked pears, weekly menu plan, roasted vegetables, weaving, paninis, New Year's morning table setting, sautéed spinach with almonds and raisins, baked squash casserole)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)