palm springs trip

 Ken and the little boys and I took a little Palm Springs trip before Thanksgiving.  What a great time to visit Palm Springs!  We usually visit in the summer when it is hot.  The desert was gorgeous in cooler temps, though.  Much less threatening.  I felt that I could notice the beauty so much more this time (although it's fun visiting in the heat too--I like both).

We got a Travel Zoo "deal" on a fancy resort.  I'd always thought we can't affort Palm Springs in the fall or winter at all because the prices are so much higher, but the Travel Zoo deal made it possible.  My dad happened to point it out to me and on an impulse I booked the trip.  I'm so glad we did!  It was so much fun.  In addition to swimming and water-sliding and lazy river-ing at the hotel, we went to a fun children's museum and also rode the Palm Springs aerial tramway up to Mount San Jacinto to the snow.  That aerial tramway is pure magic.  I highly recommend it.

Trip details:

The resort we stayed at is this one.  We're dying to go back next year--I hope they run the special again.
Palm Springs Aerial Tramway
Children's Museum in Rancho Mirage.  This museum was gorgeous and so wonderfully open, airy, and uncrowded.
Cabazon Dinosaurs--it's kind of cheesy but the boys loved it.  I'm glad we stopped.   

The trip did not go entirely smoothly--Rainer woke up after midnight the first night with bad vomiting and gastrointestinal issues.  We lost half a day to that, but miraculously he was able to be up and about by afternoon and enjoyed the museum.  Obviously we were furiously handwashing the rest of the trip. 

I'm so happy we had some true vacation time together.  Now the holidays are coming fast and furious.  I'm hoping to be super organized this year and keep things extremely simple.