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.