Palm Desert, California - Day 3

Today was another day in which we split up to enjoy what interested us most. Jim opted to stay back at the hotel to spend some more time at the driving range. Katie had made plans to meet a grad school friend for brunch who resides in Palm Desert. So Brooke and I set off to do some shopping. We started at the Westfield Mall and then headed to the El Paseo Shopping District where Katie met back up with us for more shopping and lunch.

During the evening, since it was New Years Eve, we got dressed up and enjoyed the festivities in the lobby of our hotel. It was a fun way to ring in 2020!

The JW Marriott at night

Palm Desert, California - Day 2

Originally, we thought we might take the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway to the top of Mt. San Jacinto to enjoy the view of Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley, but we didn’t realize that tickets sell out in advance and there were none available for today. It was probably just as well, as the weather was a bit overcast and drizzly at times and probably was freezing at the top of the mountain.

Instead, we decided to split up for part of the day. Jim and Brooke went to the driving range at the hotel, while Katie and I headed to Salvation Mountain located about 75 miles to the southeast of Palm Desert. I had never heard of Salvation Mountain, but Katie was eager to see it as Kesha filmed a music video there and it has become an Instagram mecca.

Salvation Mountain is a man made mountain/art installation that was created over the course of 28 years by Leonard Knight. It is said to be covered in half a million gallons of latex paint. Knight’s mission in creating Salvation Mountain was to share the message - “God is love, accept Jesus into your heart, repent your sins, and be saved.”  Katie and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing this quirky masterpiece.

Later in the afternoon, we rejoined Jim and Brooke back at the hotel and got ready to go to dinner with a fraternity brother of Jim's and his family who live in Palm Desert. We met them at a teppanyaki restaurant and enjoyed getting to know them better.

Palm Desert, California - Day 1

Although Jim has lived in California his whole life and I have lived here for the past 35 years, neither one of use had ever been to the Palm Springs area.  Katie and Brooke were up for the adventure, so we decided it would be the perfect spot to explore for a few days at the end of 2019. We arrived at our hotel, the JW Marriott Palm Desert, late on the evening of December 28th. The next morning, we had breakfast at the hotel, before venturing out to Joshua Tree National Park which is located about 40 miles from Palm Desert. The Forty-Nine Palms Oasis trail was our destination for a hike. It is a 3 mile round trip hike that leads to a collection of palm trees that grow around a rare desert spring. It was a nice hike with a little bit of elevation and interesting desert landscape - lots of barrel cactus and boulders (but no Joshua Trees - we found those later in the day).

A Barrel Cactus

The Oasis

Katie posing next to a Joshua Tree

Next we drove about 15 miles to Pioneertown which was a town built in the 1940’s as a themed live-in Old West movie set. It was designed to provide a place for production companies to enjoy while also using their homes and businesses in movies. Hundreds of westerns were filmed here and it is still used as a movie location today. We wandered through the shops on Mane Street (not Main Street) and were hoping to have a late lunch at Pappy’s and Harriet's, a very popular BBQ spot in Pioneertown. Unfortunately we weren’t the only ones with that idea - the wait was going to be more than 1 1/2 hours long, so we opted for fast food on the drive back to Palm Desert.

Pioneertown

Back at the Marriott, we spent a quiet evening watching movies.