The Mid Year Vacation

Last November for our anniversary my wife and I had gone to Palm Springs. It was a good time, and I was feeling like going again. I had some vacation time in the middle of last month, so that's where we went!!!

We were big fans of Monster Shakes the last time we were there, so that was the first place we went after we got to our hotel!!! We'd stopped for dinner on the drive in, not at Whalburger's this time. This time we both got a shake instead of splitting one, and the boy had Dole Whip, as they have an amazing array of flavors on tap there. Wife got a cinnamon toast crunch shake, and I got a cookie monster shake.

Looks like the boy is eyeing my shake!!!

After a restful morning the next day, we had lunch, then again went to the Aerial Tram, which was a good move, this time of year it was over 100⁰ down in the city, and up in the San Jacinto Wilderness, it was in the 70's.

Did I mention??? I'd taken this week off for my wife's birthday!!! Once we got up to the top and the visitor's center, we hit the gift shop, and found a nice bag for her birthday.

We headed out the back, which leads to several trails. We headed just a little ways down, and it was apparent it was going to be too steep for my wife. We headed back, and asked if she'd be OK waiting while we headed out for a hike.

Just a little ways into the hike, spotted a hummingbird at a bush. Pulled up my camera, and he came straight up to eye level, and hovered there!!!

Nice little stream flowing through the area...

And this crazy red fungus!!!

There's a lot of Jeffery pines in the area. Thing about Jeffery pines, they smell like butterscotch!!!

We came to one of the areas that overlook the Palm Springs basin, and there was a tree leaning over precipitously.

Walked a ways down, and found out that one tree had toppled into another, which also toppled, and was into the third tree!!!

On the way back, we stopped at a hotel restraunt just a few down from where we were staying called The Reef. The food wasn't anything special, but the theming was great!!!

Speaking of great, the place we stayed was an amazing room!!! It had your own carport, a huge living room with a fireplace, a good sized fully equipped kitchen, a seperate bedroom, two bathrooms, and a little patio with a gas grill. There were a couple of pools and a hot tub, which we took a little swim and soak in in the evening.

On the way back, we stopped off at the Cabazon Dinosaurs.

They're featured in one of the Fallout games, so my son had to see them!!!

My wife wanted to go to The Cheesecake Factory for her birthday, so naturally that's what we did!!!