Shortly after Thanksgiving, when we learned
that a couple bands we enjoyed during our days in San Francisco
would be playing on New Year’ Eve at a club we also favored, we
knew immediately what we were doing this New Year’s Eve – time
to head to San Francisco! As many of our friends and family
know, we gave up traditional gift giving long ago. But with a
black-tie optional event scheduled on NYE in San Francisco and
no other plans between Christmas and New Year’s (combined with
four paid holidays from work for Scott) we decided it was a
perfect time to treat ourselves to the California road trip we
had been longing for in lieu of all those gifts not given.
Christmas Eve was a quiet affair at home,
occupied largely with the final preparations necessary for
spending over a week on the road as well as preparing a
celebratory holiday meal for two. Trip preparations complete,
we dimmed the lights, tuned into a Pandora Christmas station and
savored a wonderful meal of oeufs en meurette, a dish we
discovered while in Burgundy last fall, paired with a perfectly
prepared grilled rack of lamb.
Very early on Christmas morning, we jumped
in the van and headed straight for Palm Springs, the first stop
on our itinerary. Since it has worked well for us in the past,
we decided on a sort of “planned spontaneity” (ala Rick Steve’s,
the European travel guru) strategy for our trip, booking hotels
for each night but nothing more, leaving our days open for
general exploration. During the month of December, while
everyone else was busily racing around the malls shopping for
gifts, we were diligently researching destinations and booking
hotels. We’ve done it both ways, at times traveling with no
hotel reservations at all, and have found that we generally
prefer the ease and relaxed nature of the trip itself that
booking at least some hotels in advance offers. Our
itinerary started us off with two nights in a wonderfully balmy
Palm Springs at the even more wonderfully inexpensive Palm Court
Inn. What the Palm Court lacked in amenities it more than made
up for in location - walking distance to downtown - and price.
We then headed for the coast and followed it north, spending two
nights in Laguna Beach at our one splurge hotel, The Pacific
Edge, followed by a night in Morro Bay on the central coast and
concluding with two nights in San Francisco at our old favorite,
The Mosser Hotel. (We spent a final night at the Motel 6 in
Kingman, AZ simply to break up the very long drive back to
Albuquerque, but that wasn’t much to write home about.
Trust me.)
Arriving in Palm Springs around dusk on
Christmas Day, we set off for a stroll downtown, after checking
into the Palm Court. During our walk, we were struck, not
to mention pleasantly surprised, by how bustling it was out.
Many people were out on the sidewalks and the bars and
restaurants became increasingly crowded with convivial patrons
as cocktail hour turned into dinner hour. After a long day
on the road, we chose the super casual JJ's Mexican restaurant
where we had tasty burritos with a curiously Asian flavor, while
at the next booth over, the owner and his family were enjoying
the holiday in between taking care of their few customers.
Though we'd visited Palm Springs several
times before, our past trips typically revolved around lounging
in the sun by the hotel swimming pool. While highly enjoyable,
it was not very adventurous and we were feeling ready to branch
out a bit on this trip. Although the temps were pleasant,
it was certainly not pool weather, but perfect for exploring.
After a complimentary pastry-coffee-and-juice breakfast at the
hotel's diner next door, we set off for Indian Canyons, a
natural area full of hiking trails owned and operated by the
local Agua Caliente Indians and conveniently located right
outside downtown Palm Springs. Home to one of the largest
fan palm oases in the world, Indian Canyons was a paradise of
rushing streams and waterfalls surrounded by towering palm trees
and picturesque boulders, smack in the middle of the desert.
We hiked a couple of the main trails, feeling like kids in a
candy store as we marveled at the never-ending natural beauty,
getting a good enough feel for the place to know we would
definitely return to this incredible hidden gem some day.
Wondering how we had never been here before,
we ate a quick lunch of concession stand hot dogs
(considering the steep entry fee, the food was surprisingly
affordable) and headed back to the hotel to change into our
tennis clothes for the next activity on our Palm Springs agenda.
After a summer full of tennis in
Albuquerque followed by a chilly November and December, we were
itching for some time on the courts. Palm Springs is, of
course, known for its multitude of tennis as well as golf
opportunities, so we couldn't resist toting our tennis gear
along and hitting a few balls. As you'd expect, Palm
Springs is full of nice public courts and we chose one not far
from our hotel, where we passed an hour of satisfying sea-level
power hitting. Ahhh, good stuff!
Beautiful fan palms at Palm Canyons
Scott
admires the rushing waters at Palm Canyons
The rushing waters of Palm Canyons
Dragonfly, resting on the native foliage at Palm Canyons
Scott
ponders the palms from his boulder chair
Palm trees!
Waterfall amidst the boulders at Palm Canyons
Scott goes off-trail at Palm Canyons
Scott goes off-trail at Palm Canyons
Palm Canyons vista
There were several water crossings to contend with on the Palm
Canyons trails
The budget-friendly Palm Court Inn where we stayed for 2 nights
Playing warm-weather tennis in December was a highlight of our
trip