So, to where? After making my brain works for a while, the answer is there. It's to Palm springs.
Shop until drop.... :P
Our first stop on first day of the trip is at Desert Hills/Cabazon Premium Outlets. It's a shopping paradise for shoppers as most of designer stores which aren't available in other Premium outlets are here: Gucci, Versace, Prada, Tory Burk, Jimmy Choo, UGG, etc.
Desert Hills premium outlets is superb in the sense that it has various top of the line aforementioned designer stores among all the premium outlets which I have come across so far.
Riviera Resort
However, a big disappointment comes into play after coming a long way to the room from the elevator only to find out that our room card key didn't work. Exhaust from the whole day shopping and starvation make us a huge disappointment on this.
As I didn't want to walk all the way back to the front desk, I made a call to their help line to complaint about the issue. It took a long time to arrange another room which is closer to the elevator for us. The annoyance of the long wait just made my impatience worse so I hang up the call. We decided just to head to the front desk to grab a new key. Just then I got a callback from help desk about the new room saying that they would deliver the new room key to us. It took quite a while to get those keys delivered to us. It indeed was a bumpy beginning with Riviera.
Another disappointment comes into play when our room didn't get the maid service on the second day. I came to realize that we didn't hang the "Maid Service" tag up on our door before we left. Unless you hang "Do not disturb" tag up on your door, your room will receive the maid service by default per my experience from almost all hotels we had come across so far. But it apparently worked different here.
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But from a positive perspective, we got a complimentary cocktail (but couldn't pick anything from the menu) for each of us for each stay of the night. And the swimming pool area is so huge and nice. During summer, floaties could be rented from the resort and it could have been a nice lazy river for girls to play. I really like those big beds by the pool which are just perfect to kill a nice day by laying oneself down on them, relax, gaze people, enjoy the atmosphere, take a nap or read a book or two, you name it.
Hiking... Hiking... And Hiking...
For our second day, we spent our day hiking at Indian Canyons. There got total 4 canyons inside the park: Palm Canyon, Andreas Canyon, Murray Canyon and Tahquitz Canyon. We hiked along Palm Canyon about 1.5 miles out of 15 miles and came back as girls couldn't walk any longer. We spotted lots of palm trees along the way. The dessert feel was definitely there as surrounding scenes were brown instead of green. But there got some natural spring and flowing water so it was a pleasant hiking. Rock formations at some places are amazing.
There was a small shop by the parking lot which sells books, postcards, hiking canes, refreshments and some snacks. Girls got ice cream break there. The prices were very reasonable. A lot of such places usually sell refreshments with incredibly high prices but this price just collect the regular price. We spotted flying cute little humming birds there then.
After that, we headed to the short trail which led us to West Fork Falls which was the other end of the parking lot. Again, we witness amazing rock formations along the way. At one point, huge rock block the entire trail and it appeared like it was the dead end of the trail. So we didn't spot any waterfall but girls got a blast hiking on those rocks.
As a last stop, we stopped at Andreas Canyon and hiked a little more than 0.5 mile I think. As girls couldn't walk any further we headed back. Girls played at a relatively big stream with lots of palm trees which seemed like a desert oasis to me.
Downtown Palm Springs
We had to pass through the downtown on the way back to hotel. As there got a couple of hours before the sun set so we decided to cruise around the downtown. The plan was to hang out there, find a good restaurant, fill our empty stomach from hiking, go back to the resort we were staying and call it a day.
We stopped at one of remarkable Palm Springs' landmarks which is 26 feet tall "Forever Marilyn Monroe" statue. It's located at the corner of Palm Canyon Drive and Tahquitz Canyon Way. There were full of visitors who enjoyed taking pictures under her. The statue was previously located in Chicago and was relocated to Palm Springs on August, 2012 and it'll be there until June 2013. I'm glad that I catch her before it will be moved to somewhere else :D
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Thai Food for Dinner :)
As for our dinner, we stopped at Thai Time restaurant at downtown for two days in a row. It's a nice little restaurant and I highly recommend it for its food. The wait could be nearly 45 minutes to an hour during peak hours. It was the case for our first day there. As for the second day, we dined early so we beat the crowd.
During the first day, we got Satay as appetizer and girls finished them in no time. May be they were starving due to the wait :P We got the eggplant with pork and house special fried rice and we both liked them a lot. The fried rice was really fragrant and tasty except it was a bit greasy.
During second visit, we got various appetizer platter, shrimp tom yum soup, pad thai, and my all time favorite Thai food, Penang chicken curry. The soup was just so so as it wasn't anywhere close to the authentic tom yum soup we got back in Thailand. Penang curry was good but it was just okay.
I had much better Penang curry somewhere else. My favorite place for it was at a Thai restaurant in Fremont. My rating for Pad Thai was really good though. The only complaint was that the food we ordered were much more than we could consume so I had to stuff myself up while I didn't want to waste them. Ahhhh!!!! My guilty pleasures!!! :P
Hiking... And... More Hiking...
Make sure to bring or prepare own lunch as there're so meal places in the park. So I grabbed some sandwiches and drinks from 711 which was right across our resort.
We entered the park via Oasis Visitor Center. I grabbed some maps during our bio break. Then we drove along Park Blvd.
My first curiosity was to witness those Joshua tree in person. Even before entering the park, I started to see them at Twenty Nine Palms which is the city by the park. It's a well populated city with many lodings, super markets, stores, gas stations. I didn't know that it will be that populated in that city.
It's very different from other national parks I've been such as Yosemite, Death Valley, Grand Canyon, etc. The nearby villages, towns or cities of those national parks are pretty deserted. And only a few gas stations will be available and the gas prices they got are soaring to the sky. It's apparently different for Twenty Nine Palms. If I knew it earlier, I don't think I'll buy sandwiches and drinks from 711 I guess :P
It's a pity that I didn't know the name of our first stop. Rock formations are amazing and he and girls got a blast hiking there. My fearless girls just climbed upon those rocks in no time and I was the only one who was busy screaming them to be careful and taking their pictures :D
One interesting thing was to witness San Andreas Fault which is at the southwest side of the ridge. It drops nearly a mile in elevation into the Coachella Valley. The infamous San Andreas Fault, stretching 700 miles from the Gulf of California to the Mendocino Coast north of San Francisco, runs through the valley and
can be seen below.
Other notable stops include Arch Rock, Cholla Cactus Garden and Ocotillo Patch. Cholla Cactus are really cute but my curosity to those cute ones became unpleasant and ended up with screaming while I accidentally stepped on one of its spiky balls (flowers of the cactus????).
Those extremely tiny yet super tough spikes poked my feet through my leather boot and it was hurting. And they wouldn't come off easily. While trying
to remove one of them by barely touching it, it transferred right onto my fingers and stuck there. Those spikes were killing me and it was unbearably painful. No matter how hard I shook my hand, it wouldn't come off. I heard a male's screaming from a distance. I was sure someone else was in a pain who was in the same situation as me.
Finally, he had to use the small rock to get them off both from my hand and my feet/boot. My finger got bleeding immediately after it came off. As soon as it came off, the pain went away. The weather was pretty chilly on that day so my blood clotted and stopped bleeding shortly. Thanks God! Be ware!! Keep a distance from those cactus if you ever see them.
Ocotillo trees look weird too. It has no leaves at all. I think it was due to the season and it gets leaves perhaps during other seasons?
Any tree, cactus or shrubs which grow in desert got spike one way or another. Joshua trees got full of spikes too. Depending on the size of the tree, its spikes could range from thin and tiny to thick, long and tough ones.
Overall, I think it's worth a trip to Joshua Tree National Park at least once. I really recommend it.
Resort Comparisons
We stayed at two different resorts: Riviera and Hyatt Regency Suites. Overall, we prefer Hyatt. Of course,it's a suite so it comes with a separate living room and bed rooms. And with two LCD Tvs. So, while girls were enjoying their favorite kids'shows on one TV, I could enjoy the quietness under dim light by laying down on the bed without interfering with any noise or light.However, the swimming pool and around settings in Riviera is much bigger and it is much more like a resort setting. We didn't get a chance to visit the gym in Hyatt but the gym at Riviera looks pretty nice as well.
We did have a nice Christmas Eve dinner by the fireplace by the pool at Hyatt though.
Snow Time Or White Christmas
It's Christmas Day! We were bringing girls for their snow play. Palm Springs's another popular attraction Aerial Tram was our destination.
Oh, man! It's incredible to see such a big crowd and a long line to get to the Tram station. There got shuttle bus running which brings people to the Tram station. We parked our car and had to wait in line for our turn on the shuttle bus. The wait was more than an hour.
As soon as we got to Tram station, I rushed to the ticket station after seeing such a crowd. That day was full of unexpectations. First of all, who knows there would be such a big crowd, especially when it's Christmas Day! I thought people will stay home for family time. Wrong, wrong, wrong!! I was apparently wrong.
Second of all, I blame myself for not buying ticket online. Note to self is to buy ticket online whenever it's possible for next time :)
And the third thing is no cell phone reception at all in the building. It was a bummer. After getting tickets, I couldn't make a call to him due to no reception. With that crowd, it took me quite a while and a couple of trips back and forth to spot him and girls.
There got a long line to ticketing counter as well even though the line was moving pretty fast. But guess what? I only got the tickets for 2:00pm tram. That gonna be more than 2 hours wait for us. The tram runs every ten minutes and it seems it could fit about 80 people in one tram. So can you imagine the headcount on that day? :D
They have a little cafe and gift shop with outdoor seating area. The building is two-storey. The downstairs one got super crowded and couldn't find a seat. There got a little hiking area for kids to play and a little waterfall too.
We went upstairs and I managed to find seats for us. During the wait, we was able to observe the tram and realize that it was going pretty high. This is the fourth unexpectation I would say. I thought the tram ride is just like most of the gondola ride, going straight which brings us from one place to another. I was already thrilled by seeing a couple of back and forth trams which were climbing very high. Thanks God! It carries about 80 people altogether so I wouldn't be alone and my heart wouldn't race that fast :P
Thrills or Excitements???
1:45pm!!! The wait was finally over. We was called to wait in the waiting area. Then to the boarding area. And finally onto the tram. There only got a couple of limited seats in the center of the tram which is next to the tram control panel. Girls secured the spots by the glass to enjoy the view. Off we went and up to the San Jacinto mountain at 8500+ ft elevation.
The tram was rotating so everyone in the cabin got a chance to enjoy 360 degree of the surrounding. It passed total 5 towers. At each tower, it did swing or switch the gear for a steeper climb. We all could feel kind of free fall feeling and most of us were screaming with thrills. The reaches to fourth and fifth towers were much more obvious about the swing. It was so amazing and thrilling at the same time to look back and see how far and high we've come within a matter of minutes.
At the same time, the tram was rotating so we were able to see how far ahead of us and how steep and high we would be going. Can you picture yourself hanging in the middle of 5000+ or 6000+ ft in the tram? All I wanted at that time was to get over with the ride as soon as possible. :P A series of pessimistic thoughts kept clicking on my mind such as what if mechancial breakdown of the tram as it was running continuously thought the day with about 10 to 15 minutes interval? Or what if those steel cables holding the tram got issue? Or earthquake happened right at the moment? Oh, NO!!!!
I know nothing could happen to us. If there got issues with the tram in the past, there could have been big headlines in the newspapers and people might have been hesitate to take it of course. I know we'll get there safely but you couldn't just help when you were in the situation. :D
He was holding my hands really tight as he knew I'm scared. Well, just like that we safely landed on the top finally!!! Huh!! What's a relief!!
And we got our family picture taken before boarding to the tram. We went there to view our picture. And there got a group of girls who were next to us in the tram and who kept screaming for every swing at the towel. They were asking the guy at the photo counter about the return trip to find out whether it would be
scarier one. The face of one of them looked very pale already from the trip up to the top. He said, there only got one or two of accidents where tram went off or stuff like that. He was cracking the jokes up but the girls' faces went paler. His coworker lady had to intervene and comforted them he was just joking. Of course, his jokes irritated me as well as who likes to hear such jokes? He went too much I think.
Anyway, we went out of the mountain top tram station into San Jacinto State park. They already made well paved stair cases down to the park of the mountain which were all covered with snow. I think it was about nearly 1 mile trail. I know the return trip gonna be challenging.
Snow Time....
Girls got a blast sledding there. Michelle was overjoyed and giggling all the way. I even did sledding with Sophie once. It was super fun. No wonder girls were in love with it. It wasn't their first time sledding but was my first time as I thought it was a kid thing :P
And Sophie was busy with snow ball fighting and throwing snow to us. Especially it was her main target since I was standing and watching them and was available all time :P
The return hike back to the tram station was tough though as expected. Everyone was tired from snow play and was starving as well. Plus, this is hiking up in contrast to the hiking down to get to the snow play area. Michelle apparently got no energy and asked Daddy had to hold her.
I was struggling just myself for the hike. Sophie was leading us and she was doing so great all by herself. I found a couple of big kids who still asked their parents to hold them. I found one Dad who was breathing heavily and taking breaks frequently for holding his about 10 years old son. But his son insisted so he piggyback him all the way back. I know it wasn't easy for him with Michelle as well. I myself was struggling and dragging myself so think about them who have to carry another one. This exactly depicts parents' love.
And we dined at Peaks restaturant. We got a table by the glass window and the view and outlook was stunning. The food was just okay but we finished almost all of our food as we all were starving.
We went to the outside open deck to enjoy the outlook panoramic view down to the valley. It was almost 5 o' clock so it was getting dark and the weather was also freezing at that elevation. I didn't have my gloves on and I felt my hands got numbed and freezing. Regardless, I felt awesome for the view and height we were standing.
There was a long time to board onto the return tram as well. But the wait was only about 30 minutes and it wasn't as bad as the one coming up here. We were surprised to learn that there got plenty of people coming up to the top at this hour.
We were stuck in the middle of the tram this time and wasnt' able to enjoy the view much. I was still scared with my own irrational thoughts and the jokes from the guy at the photo counter anyway so probably we were better off with middle spots I comforted myself :P After quite some screamings by all of us in the cabin, the excitement came to an end finally. Our tram safely landed back to the ground station.
It was a really incredible, thrilling and exciting ride and experience I would say. I'm not sure I want to take it again but I highly recommend everyone to experience at least once in the life. It's really worth it :)
We were lucky this time as the shuttle was ready right outside the station to fill up the last couple of available spots. We hopped in and got to the parking lot where our car was parked shortly.
Home Sweet Home
Girls fell into sound sleep not long after sitting in the car. And we finally got back to home-sweet-home. We did the family movie together. And Sophie ended up the night beautifully by playing Christmas carols on her piano.
Merry Christmas & We got a nice little getaway during Christmas break!
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