Palm Springs, CA

Updated: Sep 15, 2023

Our itinerary

Day 1:

Saturday morning we left around 10:45 am - first mistake lol we should have left way sooner to avoid driving during the hottest part of the day! From our area to Palm Springs is about a 2 hour drive inland which we quickly came to learn is much hotter than being right by the water. We decided to take Scotty p (my car) on this trip & of course he’s a bit older. About halfway through the drive his ac stopped working so we were rolling with all the windows down on the 10 with a massive wildfire to our left...what a time. Thank goodness Scotty p came back to life about 30 minutes prior to our arrival & we had ac again, legit don’t think we could have made it otherwise!!

Once we found the shadiest spot we could, we parked Scotty P and headed to the lobby to check in. After getting our room key we darted for our hotel room to blast all the ac we could. We’ve been deprived of this since moving to California and has been quite the adjustment for these two Texas kids! After sitting in front of the ac for a couple minutes we decided to change & head to the pool, which is located in the center of the hotel. We highly recommend packing flip-flops to wear from your lounge chairs to the pool because the pavement is as hot as fire! There is a pool bar, Elixir, located at the back of the property that served super refreshing cocktails + tasty apps. Alec ordered the CuCumber Crush and I got the Watermelon Splash, which were both super unique. After we spent some time in the pool, which really felt like a giant warm bath tub, we headed back to our room to freshen up before dinner. We hopped in a quick 7 minute Uber over to Brickworks pizza for dinner. Unfortunately at the time we went to Palm Springs, outdoor dining was still required for restaurants to be open, so I basically wasted all my time getting ready for dinner because the heat was unreal. For dinner we split the Zombie Pizza with tons of ranch plus I had a glass of Proseco while Alec had an old fashioned. Our waitress, Desire, was the absolute best, super friendly and helpful when ordering food and making genuine suggestions. Once we made it back to the hotel after dinner, we decided to change back into our swimmies and hit the pool again. It wasn't nearly as crowded so we could actually swim around plus it wasn’t blazing hot, highly recommend and the perfect way to end the night.

Day 2:

The next morning we got up pretty early to head to our t-time at Taquitz Creek. After the research we had done, everyone said to golf as early in the morning as you could due to the direct sun & desert dryness. It was such a gorgeous course with lots of shade for a helpless caddy and some of the best views of the mountains. Since only Alec was playing, and we were trying to beat the heat, we did move through the course fairly quickly but Alec played like a champ. After he finished the 18 holes we had a decision to make, go back to our hotel for much needed showers, or just go to brunch and keep sweating it out. We chose the latter and headed for West Coast Brunch which was located across the street from the famous Hotel California. We should have realized once we walked and there were no workers in sight that it was a sign to go somewhere else, but of course that’s not what happened at all. Once we finally got seated outside we ordered a pitcher of mimosas to cool off + Alec got banana Nutella waffles & I got chicken + waffles. Sadly we had to dip out before the food ever came because of the slow service and limited staff. I would hate to completely write the West Coast Brunch off and want to give them the benefit of the doubt with COVID and all the restrictions in California, but man was it unfortunate. At this point we were both super hangry and fearful for our drive home with Scotty P. not in full commission and were trying to avoid driving during the hottest part of the day again.. We quickly headed back to our hotel to grab our bags, stopped by Carl’s Jr. to grab some burgers (another terrible mistake), and hit the highway with no ac. Needless to say it was a pretty windy and noisy ride home with windows all the way down praying we would make it back to that beautiful beach breeze. After not speaking for over 2 hours and dumping water on our heads throughout the ride back to keep cool & hydrated, we finally made it back to our little apartment. Literally as we pulled Scotty P. had had enough, the engine started smoking, the power steering went out, and about every warning light popped up on the dash.

After it’s all said and down, we have mixed feelings on Palm Springs. Def a beautiful desert town with tons to do & see but a great lesson learned for two kids in the mid twenties to not drive our ten year old Honda CRV through the desert in the heat of summer.

Rest in peace sweet Scotty P.

June 2010-October 2020