Palm Springs: day 4

On Tues we had breakfast at home, then drove to Desert Memorial Park, the cemetery where many celebrities are buried.  It was an earnest request of Carl that we go there since he is fascinated with the Gabor sisters. Ava and Zsa Zsa aren't buried there but Magda and their mother Jolie are, as well as Frank Sinatra and Sonny Bono.

Next we pulled up a website that listed the addresses of several celebrities who once had homes in the Old Las Palmas neighborhood in Palm Springs and created our own driving tour. I absolutely love the mid-century modern homes so I snapped some photos while driving.  Sorry I wasn't able to edit out all of the car parts, but the homes are worth seeing.

Marilyn Monroe's home

Clark Gable's home.  Yes, its pink.

One of Elvis' Palm Springs homes.  Rather tame in my opinion compared to Elvis' homes elsewhere

An example of a Swiss Miss style home

I love the patterned concrete block fence on this home

I love the pattern of the gate/door on this home

Again I love the patterned concrete block fencing!

Although my photo is poor, and doesn't really show it, this is a butterfly roof home

Next we stumbled upon a Shakey's Pizza!  All 3 of us grew up with a Shakey's near us, but we all thought the chain was long gone until we saw this one in Palm Springs. While I didn't feel any need to go inside, Spouse talked me and Carl into going in and having lunch.

It was certainly a blast from our past.

Then we went home, spent some time in the pool and spa, then went to happy hour at Streetbar. Happy hour is really when most people are at bars here, which is the opposite of what we're used to.  Go to a bar or club here around 11pm and there will only be a handful of folks remaining.  After happy hour we walked over to Las Casuelas Mexican restaurant for dinner.  On our previous visit to Palm Springs Spouse & I ate at 2 Mexican restaurants, neither of which we found to be particularly great.  So when we were getting our rental car I asked the Latina woman assisting us for her recommendation and she said to go to Las Casuelas.  We sat in the large open air courtyard, there was a band and funny white people dancing, and the food was absolutely amazing!  We really enjoyed it and appreciated the spot-on recommendation.  After dinner we walked back over to Streetbar for karaoke. There was a very cute bartender I couldn't resist capturing for you:

Karaoke was well-attended and there were quite a few singers.  Carl and I both sung too.  It was a lot of fun and we met some other vacationers to hang out with the rest of the night there.

Carl captivating the crowd!

We left about 12:30 and stayed up until after 1am, which is really unusual for us!

Palm Springs: day 1

We had an awesome time in Palm Springs!  We did so much and I took so many photos I want to share that I've decided to split everything up into several daily posts.

Sat morning our brother-in-law dropped Carl, Spouse & me at their airport and we headed directly to the TSA security check-in.  It was there that we discovered Spouse's ticket/boarding pass had my last name on it!  Since his ID didn't match is boarding pass, we weren't allowed to proceed.  We went to the airline's ticket counter and explained the situation to the agent.  Somehow during the online booking process Spouse's last name got changed to my last name and although he showed ID to verify his last name, their ticketing system does not allow name changes.  They had to cancel both of our tickets and re-book them again with his correct name.  This meant we lost our seat assignments for both the first flight and the connecting flight, although they were able to re-assign our seats to us for the first flight. This whole process took up an inordinate amount of time so the ticket agent phoned the gate agent to advise them to hold the plane door open for us.  We rushed back to the gate and were literally the last 2 people to board the plane before they sealed the door.  I'd texted Carl several times to let him know we WERE getting on the plane.  Once we arrived at the next airport we immediately got different seat assignments for the connecting flight.  Fortunately it wasn't full so we had an empty seat between us.

Once we arrived at the tiny Palm Springs airport we checked in for our rental car and got a great restaurant recommendation as well.  Then we unpacked our stuff at our charming AirBnB house (more about it later) and headed downtown, just 3 miles from the house.  It was about 3pm local time, but felt like 6pm to us and we were ready for some food since neither of our flights included food.  We decided to go to Trio since we'd enjoyed it so much on our last visit.  

Carl, Spouse, me

We opted for cocktails and small plates since it wasn't really dinnertime yet.  I got blue cheese filled figs wrapped in bacon which were absolutely delicious!!  Next we walked down the street just a little way to Shag, an art store Spouse & I had enjoyed on our last visit.  Carl fell in love with it like had. Spouse & I posed for this photo

Oct 2018

because we'd posed in the same spot on our last visit

Feb 2018

Next we went to the Super Walmart for groceries, toiletries, and a bathing suit.  Yep, despite my expert packing abilities and not being rushed at all, I managed to forget to bring a bathing suit.  After unpacking our stuff we smartened up and headed to Chill Bar for happy hour.

Then walked over to Blaze Pizza for dinner.  A woman I'd talked to on the plane (we later decided she looked like a Kathy so we called her Kathy the entire week) recommend Blaze pizza and we were not disappointed.  Mine was possibly the best pizza I've ever eaten.  The concept is that you can pick from their multitude of toppings to create your own custom pizza.  We liked them a lot!  Then we walked around a little before heading back to the house.  We sat outside in the backyard for a while with the pool and spa lights on and talked and listened to music.  Despite it being 1am our time, we stayed up until 10pm local time to try and get on track.

Weekend recap

On Sat I worked (as usual) but also drove the company bus to shuttle folks to the Sea Glass festival, which is rather unusual.  Our bus holds 14 passengers and when asked we try to give back to the community by providing transportation to local festivals from the off-site parking areas.  Folks were very appreciative and it was kind of fun.

That night I performed as Neil Diamond in the Legends show.  My friend Chris from DC was there, as were some clients to whom I sold a condo a while back.  It was a fun show and the audience seemed to really enjoy it.

Sun morning Steven, Spouse & I met up with my friend Chris for breakfast.  Spouse & I putzed around the afternoon, and then Chris invited us to join him and some of his friends for happy hour followed by dinner.  Spouse didn't want to go so I went without him.  We had a lot of fun!

Chris and I went to the same high school and had many common friends, although I don't believe we were actually friends while in school.  I met him 20 years later, randomly at a bar, and in conversation discovered our common history.  Since then he's become a good friend with whom I always have a good time.

Vacation: Mon

Mon morning 1 of the Newlyweds went for a hike while the other relaxed at home.  Spouse & I went downtown and had breakfast at Ruby's Diner, which is a chain, but fun and retro.

It was very windy and cooler that day so Spouse & I actually wore light jackets as we walked around downtown in the sunshine.

We returned to the house, picked up the Newlyweds and headed back downtown for a vintage car show.

Afterward we ducked into some vintage shops and saw lots and lots of gorgeous stuff.

Colorful vintage glass

LOVE this china with the Sputnik motif!

So fun!

Next we went inside Shag, a modern art gallery/store.  I fell in love with the art in there and couldn't resist taking photos.  If I had more wall space and a bigger wallet I would buy all of these!  (Click on the images to enlarge them.)

Then we returned to the house for massages.  A friend of the Newlyweds from Portland relocated to Palm Springs and came over to give us massages.  I love to get a massage on vacation; its the ultimate treat.

That evening we had happy hour at Streetbar which was relaxed and fun and then dinner at Lulu.  

The vibe and atmosphere at Lulu were quintessential Palm Springs and the food was excellent.  We had a really great time at Lulu and I'd highly recommend going when you're in town.