Saturday:
This was our travel day – airfare was a little better than on Friday. We checked into the 7 Springs Inn & Suites, which we liked (the hotel, not the checking in I mean). Room was clean and a good size. We liked having the full kitchen since we were staying for a week. The bathroom had no hot water but they were quick to jump on the problem and get it fixed.
Sunday;
Hiked the North Lykken Trail – and it killed me. We only went 2.66 mi and it was not at all like the elevations we’ve done in New Hampshire, but wow! Maybe it was the heat (100 degrees)? Or am I just that out of shape?
(Note: I’m going to stick with the former reason, not the latter).
Later we drove up to San Bernardino National Forest and Idyllwild – a cute little town on a mountain. Mostly small shops – local artists and products.
That night we picked up pizza and chicken parm from Spaghetteria and both thought it was “meh”. The pizza was a bit too soft, nothing about it stood out.
What we came to discover was that it was tough to find a good restaurant in Palm Springs. Surely they exist! But each time we tried somewhere else we were disappointed. 🙁
Monday:
We took a day trip to San Diego (about 2 hours away). We went to “The Taco Stand” on B Street — wow! We highly recommend that place, it was delicious! It’s not actually a stand, and I think there was maybe a dozen tables or so?
After lunch we went to Balboa Park – it’s amazing how much stuff is there! We mostly just walked around looking at everything, like the Cactus walk with a crazy variety of plants.
Finally, we went to Coronado beach to watch the sunset on the beach. It was really pretty and a nice beach, but of course at the last minute it completely clouded over! Grrrrr
Tuesday:
Sort of a “down” day – we mostly just poked around town and explored a bit by car.
On the way back to the hotel late in the afternoon we stumbled upon a dirt road just outside of town. We decided to explore it and found it to be pretty fun – a good bit of sand, soft dirt, rocks – more like an access trail than a road.
We found a guy in a compact car (not four wheel drive) stuck in an especially soft sandy area. His front tires had sunk so far that the front bumper and frame were resting on the ground. We tried helping but he insisted on waiting for a tow vehicle.
Wednesday:
We visited Joshua Tree National Park, one of our definite goals for this vacation!
Thursday:
It had cooled a bit from the beginning of the week so we went for a nice jog. It’s a good way to see the area, ogling some of the nice houses and more private neighborhoods.
Later we went for a moderate (2 mile) hike in Tahquitz canyon. There is a fee to enter the canyon but we didn’t mind paying it at all, seems to support indigenous people. It has some unique history (stories from the native people) that was fun to learn about, and there was a super knowledgeable and friendly guide walking around for those with questions.
The waterfall was awesome – a very peaceful and cool place (in both temperature and impressive senses of the word) to enjoy a break.
That night we visited the Emperor Buffet for dinner and it wasn’t outstanding (in our opinion) but decent. We’re still surprised how the ratings in Palm Springs differ from our experiences in the restaurants! The Emperor Buffet was rated 4.something-or-other and I might have called it a 4. Maybe.
Friday:
Today we hiked in Palm Canyon, just south or Palm Springs. It has a ton of trails and mileage, we opted for something fairly moderate, a little over 4 miles total.
The trail we were on was really interesting – the first trail I’ve ever hiked that was long stretches of sand. The vegetation was also very cool.
For dinner we went to Rubio’s Fresh Mexican Grill, which reminded us of a cross between Subway and Five Guys (which happens to be next door). We both enjoyed our burritos and would definitely go back.