Palm Springs!

Spring Break!!!  Ya know...the time when every teacher is about to go crazy and then, just in the knick of time, we get a week off???  I love my job and I have awesome students, but let's face it, teaching is hard and stressful and it's definitely time for a little break.  I was having a hard time of coming up with something to do, so I decided to check my bucket list and do something off of there!  The only area where absolutely nothing had been checked off was Palm Springs.  So, I booked a room for a couple of days and hit up TripAdvisor to find some awesome things to do there.

The first day, I went to the Palm Springs Air Museum!  I have always been fascinated with aviation and military planes because my grandpa was in the Air Force and I grew up hearing and loving all of his amazing stories!  During WWII, he was a tail gunner in B-17s.  As it turns out, the air museum had a B-17 on display and you could actually board it and tour it; I'd seen B-17s before, but had never toured one!  It was the coolest thing ever!  As I tend to be a quite enthusiastic paparazzi, prepare for a picture explosion!!!  You're welcome!  ;)

 Control panel of the B-17

 Inside the middle portion of the B-17

Here's a shot of the whole thing!  The one my grandpa flew in was called "Old Reliable".

My grandpa would have sat just inside the tail of the plane and looked out of the glass to shoot.  So scary!

There were lots of other planes you could see and even others that you could go inside of!  Upstairs, they had flight simulators on computers that you could try out.  I took a stab at it and did ok for awhile, before plunging directly into "the drink" as my grandpa used to call it.  I miss him so much and it was a really neat experience to be inside a type of plane that I had heard so much about!

After leaving the air museum, I decided to grab a milkshake at a local place that got great reviews.  It's called Great Shakes and, as you might have guessed, they have great shakes there!  They had lots of different flavors to choose from and I had trouble choosing!  I finally decided on the s'mores shake, which was amazing and definitely tasted like a s'more...right down to the roasted marshmallows!  Yum!

After enjoying my shake, I took a little walk down the street to see the Forever Marilyn statue.  After waiting in a line of tourists (like myself), I was able to get this picture:

I know, I know.  I'm making you all kinds of jealous with this one!  Haha! The statue is HUGE, as you can see and, in all honesty, kinda gaudy! BUT it's a must-see if you're doing Palm Springs.  Plus, it's being moved somewhere else soon, so I had to see it while I got a chance.

Next, I checked into my hotel room.  I stayed in a place called The Monroe and was really happy with it.  First of all, the room was orange...my very favorite color!  LOVE IT!  The bed was super comfy and it was close enough to stuff to be very convenient, but not so close to stuff that it was a crowded disaster.  I loved my room, especially since I had it all to myself!

Orange walls, orange bed skirt, orange throw!  Love, love, love!

I hung out in my room for a little while and then headed over to the aerial tram.  This was another bucket list item and was worth a visit.  First, you get into the big, round thing that is full of people standing around and then it transports you up the mountain.  Nothing too complicated, but it gives you a pretty view of the mountain and of the valleys below.  The floor actually rotates so you get to see everything, regardless of where you're standing.

Not a great shot, but there wasn't much room in there.

Once you get to the top, you can go hiking on the trails or just walk around and enjoy the beauty of nature.  You can also get your dinner while you're up there.

 I didn't do any extensive hiking here, but I did take a leisurely stroll along one of the paths.

 This was my view from my table!  Dinner at 8,500 feet!  Gorgeous!

 Now, I know that posting pictures of your food is a faux pas, but I'm going to go ahead and go there.  The chicken I ordered for dinner was so-so; the sauce it came in was kinda weird and it just wasn't my thing, but this German chocolate cheesecake made it all better.  Oh. my. goodness.  Soooo good!!

Still snow on the ground!  Too bad I left my jacket in the car!!!

After roaming around a bit, I rode back down the mountain and went back to my room for the night.  I ended up watching/listening to some shows on the Disney Channel for awhile.  Ummmm...by the way, have you watched the Disney Channel, lately???  It is so angsty!  Whatever happened to Dumbo's Circus and Pooh Corner?  No wonder kids have so much drama these days!

The next morning, I woke up without an alarm.  My hotel's breakfast was provided at the restaurant across the street and was served from 6 am until noon!  SCORE!!!  I got to take advantage of the free hotel breakfast AND sleep in!  Afterwards, I drove to the Tahquitz Canyon Visitor Center and hit the trail for a hike to Tahquitz Falls.

  

In all honesty, I wasn't expecting more than a trickle from this waterfall since we've gotten, practically, no rain.  Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised!

It was more than a trickle and it was beautiful!

And now for the obligatory selfie:

 And it would be rude of me to not introduce you to my little friend!

That's right!  I encountered 3 rattlesnakes on the trail!

After the hike, I went back to my hotel room to relax a bit and then headed to Sherman's Deli and Bakery.  If you're ever in Palm Springs, go there.  Seriously, the best and most tender pastrami and Swiss sandwich ever.  I didn't try their dessert, but it was on display and looked amazing.  Go there!

Next, I went to the Walk of Stars, which is Palm Springs' version of Hollywood's Walk of Fame.  Definitely not as big as Hollywood's, but also much cleaner.  I'll take it!

The rest of this day was spent relaxing in my room and watching movies on my laptop.  Typically, my family vacations like lunatics.  We go, go, go until you can go no longer, but we get to see so many cool things!  When I go plan my own vacations, I make it a special point to plan plenty of cool stuff to see, but also to schedule in some downtime.  Let me just say, this was exactly what I needed!  The next morning, I woke up relaxed, energized, and ready to conquer the world.  I checked out of my hotel and then drove to the Living Desert, which is, basically, a zoo in Palm Desert.  I got to see some cool animals, including a giraffe, and then I got to FEED a GIRAFFE!  I've had annual passes to the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park several times and, somehow, never got to feed the giraffes, so I was super excited.  

Just look at how majestic this animal is!

Then, I got to visit the petting zoo!

I spent a little while longer there and then headed towards home.  On the way, it started getting super windy and then it started raining and the temperature dropped from around 80 degrees to about 60 degrees.  I, however, had one more stop in mind and was not about to let the weather deter me.

 The World's Biggest Dinosaurs!

Fortunately, there was an equally crazy family there to take a picture for me!

This was the last stop on my Spring Break adventure!  It was awesome and I was able to check off every single thing on my Palm Springs bucket list and then some! What an adventure! :)