Palm Springs Day 7 - Travel Day

So we got up bright and early, and we were ready in record time. We said good by to our hotel room, and hit the road. I was amazed that the sun was already shining. We ran into Michael and Lana at the valet so they followed us. Here are some pictures from the drive:

For those of you that haven't seen it, this probably means nothing to you, but these are the dinosaurs from Pee Wee Herman's Big Adventure. We thought it was cool!!!

This is a sign for one of the largest car dealer's in North America, and it just happens to be a Toyota Dealership.

If you look very, very closely, you can see some letters on top of the hill that say HOLLYWOOD.

We stopped for gas just around the corner from the rental car place and I saw this billboard for one of John and my favorite shows, so I had to take a picture of it.

We dropped off the car, and hopped on the waiting shuttle to the airport. We just had to drop off our bags because we already checked-in online (which I always recommend if you can do it, we would have not made it onto an oversold flight in Paris once, but we were saved because we checked in online before we got to the airport). Which was kind of a hassle, because my bag was overweight by five pounds and John's bag was underweight by five pounds. I thought because we were together they would just call it even, but they wouldn't. So it took us a while but we managed to transfer 5 pounds from my bag to John's. Then we headed to a long line through security, and after finally making it through we got a bite to eat and then got on the plane. The flight back was uneventful, we both watched Tropic Thunder, and then before we knew it we were home sweet home!! Another fun & successful trip completed!! Next trip Maui for Christmas!!

Can you believe how long it took me to finish this last post!?!?!

Palm Springs Day 6

Well we spent most of today cruising around and shopping. We slept in and then had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel. Then we headed to El Paseo, Palm Desert for some shopping. We had heard about the Saks Fifth Avenue and we went to check it out. It's about 20 minutes from the hotel. Here are some photos from the drive:

I love palm trees!!

This made us laugh, because we both thought of Magruber from SNL.

This was the Japanese restaurant we ate at on Monday.

Not the best picture but, Welcome to the Hotel California......

John and I liked this, the Crazy Chicken restaurant. Although we would never think of eating there!

We decided to go and check out the Gardens at Palm Desert, which has a Saks Fifth Avenue and some other high end shops like Cole Haan, Coach, and things like that. We just felt like bumming around. I made the mistake of trying on this beautiful jacket at Cole Haan, but I want to lose some weight before I invest in any big ticket items like that. But I really did love it.

Here are some pictures from around the mall and Palm Desert:

This was the fountain in the centre of the "mall", it's more like a strip mall.

More Maseratis, I don't know why we keep seeing them, but we saw them in Vegas too remember?

We also went to another Target!! John wanted to buy some more golf gloves and I bought some books because they are already cheaper in the States, but then they were 30% off too.

After shopping, we headed back to the hotel. We chilled for a bit, hit the hot tub one last time and then headed over to Sherman's for our last dinner. John and I will definitely miss that place!! We had the same thing again, chicken noodle soup, grilled cheese, and fried egg sandwich, only this time I took a piece of carrot cake with me. So after we finished packing and everything I enjoyed the best carrot cake I have ever tasted!!

And now that we have everything eaten and packed up, we are going to bed. We plan to get up at 6:00am, get ready, and hopefully be in the car driving to LA by 6:30-6:45am. We aren't sure how bad the traffic will be and we want to allow lots of time to get to the airport.

Palm Springs Day 5

Today wasn't too too exciting. John went golfing with Jon & Michael, so I mostly just lounged around. I did a little bit of blogging in the morning, and then I sat by the pool with Lana & Shannon. Which was really nice. It was nice to just sit in the sun (or umbrella shade) in my case and just chill. The weather was beautiful with a slight breeze, so it was never too hot.

When John got back from golf, he had a hot tub and then we headed back over to Sherman's Deli for dinner. We could not stop thinking about the chicken noodle soup. John had the fried egg sandwich which he loved, and I had the grilled cheese again. We both had the chicken noodle soup and it was spectacular!!

After dinner we hit the main drag, Palm Canyon Drive, for Villagefest. Villagefest is like a huge street fair. They close off like 4 blocks to traffic and there are street performers, vendors, artists, different foods, fruit, baking...kind of like a farmer's market. They do it every Thursday night from 6:00pm until 10:00pm. And all the stores on the street stay open late too.

We were a little early, so we went into this store called Bath Junkie. It was kind of neat. There are all types of lotions and bath salts that you get to scent yourself. We both picked a scent for the Detox Rocks, which are moisturizing bath salts, and I also made a lotion. It was pretty cool. My lotion is scented with Green Tea and Heather, how cool is that?

We really enjoyed walking around Villagefest checking out all the local fair. Lots of different sites and smells, and great people watching. I can't believe we only have one more day left. Well tomorrow and then a travel day. I really like it here!

Palm Springs Day 4

SPA DAY!!!! John and I signed up for a couples Restore package, which was his idea! Can you believe it?!?!?!! It included a facial, pedicure, massage and scrub. For me this sounds great, but I was really shocked that John wanted to do the facial, pedicure and scrub too. The spa here is really nice and quite new. It's called Elements. It has a great shower with overhead rain shower and body jets, also a great Eucalyptus steam room.

The facial was good, I enjoyed it, John was a little mixed. It wasn't the best facial I had ever had, but it was good. Next up was the pedicure, again, it was okay, but not the best one I had ever had. I was feeling badly, because I really wanted John to have the best of everything so that he would like it, but maybe we will try again somewhere else.

The massage was great though. We were in the same treatment room, on massage tables beside each other. It was oddly comforting. The girl really worked on my neck and it felt soooooo good. I think I was drooling, and I could hear John snoring.

The scrub pretty much sucked. I would never do it here again, they barely massage you while they are doing it, and then they just wipe it off with cold towels. Any other scrub I have had, they massage you and then you go to a shower and rinse off, and then get massaged again with lotion. If I didn't know better, I would have thought everyone but the masseuse was brand new!!

But overall it was a good experience, I would give it 7 out of 10.

After our spa day, we went for a late lunch across the street at Sherman's Delicatessen & Bakery.

This was the best chicken noodle soup. John loves chicken noodle soup and orders it quite a bit when we are out, and this one takes the cake. Real chicken, tasty broth and homemade noodles. I had to eat some of it too! John also ordered the corned beef sandwich. He always orders it lean, because he hates fat, and this one was perfect. It didn't quite satisfy his smoked meat craving, but he still enjoyed it!

I had the grilled cheese with cheddar on sourdough bread with cottage fries. It was really good. Maybe even the best grilled cheese I have ever had. It had a ton of gooey cheese, and it was cooked just right! I would definitely have it again!!

Unfortunately we spoiled our dinner (I was not hungry at all even 3 hours later). We had another group dinner at the Chophouse and this time they had our reservation!! It was a little weird because it was really quiet. There was our group, and then maybe another 2 or 3 couples. The service was spectacular and so was the food. Everyone was happy with what they ordered. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures again. John had a steak, which I cannot believe he had room for, and I had the french onion soup and then calamari. I also had a cup of tea and it was fabulous. They brought out this tea box to let me choose. I chose a Pineapple, mango, strawberry green tea, and it was sooooo good. I would go back there again just for the tea. Brian was sitting beside me and he had the Lobster bisque which he said was awesome.

It was a really great dinner, and we all had a blast. On the walk home, John and I stopped at Ben & Jerry's and I got half a cup of Cherry Garcia, and half a cup of Chunky Monkey. Let's just say I was in heaven for the rest of the night.

Palm Springs Day 3

Today was kind of a bummer, do nothing day. John and I woke up and had huge problems with the shower. It was warm when I first got in and then went ice cold. John chose not to have a shower and see if we could get it fixed. So we headed to the restaurant for breakfast, and let the front desk know of our problem. The girl at the desk said she would have someone go and look at it. So we ate our yummy breakfast and then John met with the owners for a meeting by the pool. I changed into my bathing suit and sat in the boiling hot sun with the wives. Which was actually nice and relaxing, and we had a really good visit.

Here are some more photos from a around the Hilton:

When the meeting was over, we checked at the front desk again, but no one had looked at our shower yet, so she promised to send someone right away. By this time we were hungry again, and John was still unshowered so we decided to just eat at the hotel again. I had a BLT, which had a ton of bacon on it, and he had the burger. Both okay, but nothing to right home about. Definitely not as good as the breakfast.When we got back to the room it didn't appear that anyone had been there, so I phoned the front desk. She said that she wasn't sure what happened but she would send someone right away (again!). So we waited in our room and finally a repairman came, and tried to fix it, but he couldn't. So we had to change rooms. At first they were gonna put us in a small room at the back of the hotel, but they came through and actually upgraded us to a little bit bigger poolside room. So after all the time, effort and patience, it worked out.

Even the towels are nicer in this room, they are way more plush!!

It was now about 4pm, so we decided to go to my favorite American department store: TARGET!!! Or as John affectionately calls it Tarjay!

Both of us were a little tired so we finished our shopping, stopped off at Coldstone Creamery for some ice cream, and headed back to the plush bed in our room. John sucked the life out of me watching C-Span for about 3 hours. I understand it was important, because it was about Chrysler, Ford and GM trying to get money from the government and/or deciding to go Chapter 11. But it was sooooooo boring!!

Deee-liiiic-ious!!!!

But after watching that, we went to another of my favorite places: California Pizza Kitchen. Yum Yum Yum!!! I love that place. The 5 Cheese, Fresh Tomato pizza is to die for, my mouth is watering just thinking about it!! I love it, it just melts in your mouth!! John had the spaghetti bolognese with chicken which he really likes too.

All and all a good end to a patience trying day!

Palms Springs Day 2

We got up early and hit the gym. I know can you believe it!?!? John and up and on the treadmill by 8:30am, while we are on holidays?!?! WOW!! The fitness room was nothing really special, but it worked for us and we had it all to ourselves.Maybe not the best picture, but you get the idea. Then we showered, which had great pressure, but the water temperature fluctuated. Not really bad, but I always think of this really bad experience we had in Africa at the hotel at Lake Manyara. You could hear John screaming throughout the hotel, he exaggerated a little, but it got hot enough to burn really unexpectedly. Yikes!!

One of the reasons we chose to stay at Hiltons, is that they usually have a Bed & Breakfast package, which we have had really good luck with in the past. The breakfast is usually awesome. This trip is the Heninger Owner's Retreat, so we booked everyone the Bed & Breakfast, and this morning it was fabulous! We ate out by the pool, and ate our scrumptious breakfast. I didn't take a picture of our bacon and eggs, but it was really good. My potatoes were especially fantastic. They were thinly sliced and crispy, so yummy!!

We decided to go up the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. It is the largest tram in the world! It goes up Mount San Jacinto and..... it rotates. Well the floor rotates, and all the people hanging on to the sides were surprised to see their feet moving but not their arms. It was really cool. A little freaky, especially when you go by the cable towers and the whole tram kind of sways. But it's a quick ride and the views are amazing. Definitely worth doing.

Can you tell my eyes are closed behind my shades? My eyes are always closed in pictures.

This is the best self-portrait of us I have ever taken. It only took one shot!

It was funny because after we got to the bottom, John and I were the first ones off the tram. We wanted to head outside at the back of the building. We didn't realize that everyone was following us, and when we got the spot we wanted to be at, we turned around and there was a big group of people behind us going, where are we? John thought this was quite funny!

This sign was posted right where we were standing and taking pictures. Yikes!!

What's with the blue mountain goat?? I'm not sure, but I wanted to have my picture with it.

After the tram we went for lunch at Cheesecake Factory. We have eaten at that chain before in Vegas. This one was cool because it was surrounded by water.

On the way there, we walked by this "Medical Spa" and John spotted this poster, which he thought was funny. Why would you want to inject bovine fat into your face??

I had the crab filled wontons and a salad, John had the potstickers and the spicy cashew chicken. I thought I took photos of the chicken and the salad, but I can't find them so I guess I didn't. The potstickers were delicious, and the wontons were okay. They were good but nothing special.

The house salad I ordered was supposed to be a small side salad, and it was huge!! It was really good though, it had corn and chicken, and little bits of apple in it. Very tasty!! John said his chicken was okay, but not as good as he remembered it. We were gonna do a little shopping after lunch, but something didn't agree with John and he needed to be close to a bathroom. Unfortunately, I think it was probably the cashew chicken. He felt pretty yucky for the rest of the afternoon, but once he got it all out of his system, he felt better. Which was lucky, because we had dinner reservations with the owners at 7:00pm.

We went to a Japanese steakhouse called Ichiban. It's a lot like Japanese Village at home, it serves food Teppanyaki, which means the chef cooks it right in front of you. Unfortunately, they lost our reservation. I was unhappy about this, because I was the one who made it, but luckily they weren't very busy and could fit the ten of us in. The service was not very good, it took them a long time to bring drinks and for the chef to get to us. But once he did, the food was really good. We all had some sushi, and then rice, salad, beef, chicken and shrimp. Everyone was really pleased with how the food turned out. And it was pretty cheap. There was ten of us, we had two bottles of wine, and the cheque was about $45o. Which is only $45/person with drinks. Defenitly one of our lighter bills as a group.
We ended up being at the restaurant till about 10:00pm, and then we headed back to the hotel. The is a Casino right beside our hotel. Apparently Palm Springs is on Native land, so there are casinos. We played a little blackjack, I played a little video poker, we lost, checked out the poker tournaments, and headed back the Hilton for bed.