Palm Springs, Joshua Tree, and Temecula (visting Danielle in California)

Danielle (my sister) was in southern California for January and February, so I decided to fly down and spend some quality sister-time with her. At least, that was the original reason, but by the time I was packing, it was clear that flying out of chilly Seattle and into seventy-degree weather wasn't a bad thing, either!

I arrived late Friday night, not realizing how small Long Beach airport is (hint: backage claim is outside.) That night, we slept at Kam's house and Saturday morning we drove out to Palm Springs. We were way too early to check-in at the Pepper Tree Inn, so we walked down Palm Canyon Drive a few blocks to the Blue Coyote Grill, grabbing lunch and delicious rasberry margaritas.

When we returned, it was still early for checkin, but the weather was great and the hotel property looked amazing. We changed into bikinis, soaked in the sun, and tested out the heated swimming pool and hot tub. Jealous yet?

On Sunday, we woke up early and drove out to Joshua Tree National Park.

The sky was sunny, but the morning was also cool and extremely windy, aborting our first hike attempt (up Ryan Mountain.) Instead, we drove through the park to Keys View lookout and then down Pinto Basin Road. We stopped to marvel at the ever-present and quirky Joshua trees as well as the interesting rock structures that have formed over millions of years.


Here's a close-up of a Joshua tree:

As one moves from northwest to southeast in the park, you actually cross over from the Mojave Desert to the Colorado Desert, and the incidence of Joshua trees dramatically decreases. Around this switch lies the Cholla Cactus Garden, where Bigelow (jumping) cholla cactus concentrate. We stopped to walk along the nature path and get close, but not too close, to these prickly plants.

After the Cholla garden, we continued along Pinto Basin Road towards the southern exit. At the Cottonwood Visitor Center, we detoured to the Cottonwood Springs area.

Luckily, both a decrease in wind and an increase in weather made for much better hiking, and we set out for Mastodon Peak. After climbing to the high-point, we continued on to Lost Palms Canyon, for a total of about 8 miles roundtrip!

Upon returning that evening, we were pretty tired, but managed to stumble into Hamburger Mary's, where (amusingly) neither of us actually had a hamburger. Still, the meal was enjoyable!

The next morning, we took one last walk through Palm Springs before we headed out. How I miss that weather!

To drive to Temecula, we used back roads, which ended up taking more time than expected. We were relieved when we arrived, and had fun stopping at a few wineries to try out the goods. I love wine, so obviously this was a real sacrifice for me.

Finally, we ended up at Ponte, where Danielle and Kam (newly engaged) had been thinking about having their wedding. We ate lunch on site (delicious) and toured the scenic grounds - I've included some of the photos I took below. Ultimately, after meeting with the events coordinator and reviewing dates, we put down a deposit! I'm very excited, I think it's the perfect place.

Disney World

M-I-C, K-E-Y, M-O-U-S-E.
I'll admit it: I was a little skeptical when Phil brought up the possibility of a long weekend in Florida, to be spent entirely at Disney World. Images of screaming children, long lines, and fried foods kept creeping into my head. But I went - his father had just had a birthday and, as he would be in Florida already for a conference, had decided to check out mouse headquarters. We would fly down and surprise him there to celebrate. And that sounded like fun.

Friday night we boarded a red-eye (a connecting flight at that!) and finally arrived in Orlando around 9:30am. Luckily, the Disney "magic" started immediately. We literally walked off the plane, out of security, and to the Disney counter. They took our baggage claim stickers, put us on a bus, and took us to the Animal Kingdom Lodge, where we had reservations. It was too early for check-in, but we were still given keys (which also serve as credit cards) and general information. We hopped on a bus to the Animal Kingdom, where we spent the nice few hours. On the bus return, we called to get our room number (negating the need to stand in line at checkin again) and upon arrival, our bags were patiently waiting for us, already in the room. I can't begin to describe how wonderful it was to not have to deal with baggage claim, especially after such a long flight.

The Animal Kingdom Lodge was gorgeous, with high ceilings, a huge and open great room, fire pits along one side, and beautiful decorations.

Spending Saturday at the Animal Kingdom park was perfect - Phil's parents were already there, and it's on the smaller size (great for when you're exhausted from flying all night.) We walked around, especially within Asia and Africa, checking out the Tree of Life, a tour with the Kilimanjaro Safaris, and Expedition Everest.

We also ate lunch, where I was pleased to find out that Disney serves food that's above the standard amusement park fare. Turkey wraps, carrot sticks, grapes, and tomato salad were all in that first meal - and the options we found there were indicative of the menus across Disney. Yum!

Of course, we also met up with Phil's parents and were able to surprise his father (who did not know we were going to be there.) It was wonderful.

For dinner that night, we ate at the Lodge while catching up with his parents, and then woke early on Sunday to visit Epcot. Arriving early at the park was the best way to avoid lines: between 9am and 10am, you could easily do 2-3 rides, whereas a few hours later, you'd be lucky to get one ride in. So that's what we did - the four of us walked in as the park opened and immediately raced for the popular rides in Future World.

That morning we were able to ride/see Test Track, Soarin', Mission Space, "Honey, I shrunk the audience", and even the Seas w/ Nemo and Friends! We also went on the Spaceship Earth ride, which showed just how far rides have come in the last few decades.

We spent the afternoon walking around the World Showcase, checking out the different country exhibits and rating them. We began with Norway's ride Maelstrom - where visitors board a Viking-style boat and travel along in a convulated story with trolls and fjords. Afterwards, there is a film about Norway. Perhaps if the film had been wonderful, the ride would have appeared folksy and quaint, but instead the film jerked around from one scene to the next in an "artistic" but not quite successful fashion.

China, our next stop, had an amazingly intricit building, which lead into a 360 degree movie room. Here a Circle-Vision film about the county was shown, and although the film might have been older, you would have never known it. We left wanting to visit China! This was probably one of the most successful exhibits, and later that evening we also caught Chinese acrobats performing outside.

We continued around the World Showcase Lagoon, checking out most countries as we went past, eating (and watching belly-dancing) in Morocco, and watching Canada's Circle Vision film as well. If you think Canada has a lot of birds, does not contain Quebec, and is sort of "off", then this is the movie for you! After we had been around the lagoon once, Phil's parents left for the Magic Kingdom, while Phil and I went back to see Mexico, drink wine in Italy, and stroll around Paris. We had a great time, and visiting Epcot was definately one of the highlights of my trip.

When you stay inside the Disney park, you qualify for extended magic hours; even though it was almost 9pm, we left Epcot and headed to the Magic Kingdom (against traffic - yay!) The two of us met Phil's parents there, grabbed a bite to eat, and hit up the rides we were interested in: Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, and - of course - Space Mountain and "it's a small world." We all had fond memories of riding Space Mountain years ago, although I must admit it's gotten a little less scary over time. ;o)

On Monday, we awoke early and headed to Disney / MGM studios for our last day. Although the rides in all the parks were good, especially because Disney really nails the immersive details, I liked the rides here the best. The Rock 'n' Roll roller coaster and the Tower of Terror were the most adreneline pumping (which I love), and we also had fun on the "One Man's Dream" tour, the voyage of the little mermaid, Star Tours, and Phil's favorite, Muppet Vision 3D. The only disappointments were the Narnia journey (thrown together and more of a trailer than anything else) and the Great Movie Ride, the latter only an issue because our guide had a slightly screetchy voice.

As we were leaving, a parade of characters began floating by, motivating us to stop and watch. That night, we ate dinner at the Lodge again, which was a wonderful way to end the trip. Such fun!