Jesse and I had a snapshot of what downtown Palm Springs looked like as we went on a date late Wednesday night. But after a full day at Joshua Tree National Park, I was ready to check it out during the day. I am so totally interested in the “desert modernism” architecture, and the funky overall vibe of the city. We first went to their visitors center, which was this old gas station with a huge triangle overhang. There we picked up a driving tour of historic houses and buildings. We drove around for an hour or so, seeing some pretty neat homes, but I could tell the boys had enough (they were so not interested in Elvis’s honeymoon home) but I hadn’t gotten my fill yet.
We had a fun lunch at Lulu’s, a funky restaurant with the Palm Springs vibe. The city seemed very dog friendly, as we were able to bring along Gunner to eat with us. He had as much fun dog watching as we had people watching. We had met my mom’s boyfriend for lunch, he spends his winters there to get out of the MN cold. Smart man!
After lunch, the boys went to the Palm Springs Air Museum and I continued on my house tour drive. My favorite stop was checking out the Parker hotel. It has a fun past, but has renovated 10 years ago by Jonathan Adler, a designer I really like. Everything was rad, from the ornamental front wall to the expertly designed inside. In another life I will live here, I just know it:)
Neighborhoods upon neighborhoods had the mod look, it was like I was stuck in the 60’s with the Rat Pack look everywhere! I even found one of the nicest dog parks for Gunner to get a run in at.
As I was driving to pick up the boys at the Air Museum, I saw and heard a really fast airplane speed overhead by the airport. Now I haven’t picked up all the flight speak that the boys have, but even I knew that the plane wasn’t going to land and was just showing off.
The boys had texted me saying that they needed more time. The plane that I had just seen overhead was a F-18 from Canada and was going to land at the museum. This would be a highlight for them all, as they got to see the plane up close and talk with the pilot. Another highlight was that the boys got to get in B-17 bomber. They all just can’t get enough of airplanes, Jesse is a bit homesick for his!
Later in the evening, we went night swimming under the full moon in the hot springs pool back by the RV park. The national parks and museums are a great experience, but at the end of the day, the kids sometimes just want to play in the pool! (MT)
Road Schooling with the Tischers 