The Rest of the Story...Palm Desert 2018

There was a list of 'Must do's' at the house.

A Dole Whip was one of them.

You always think 'really???'

Yup...This was DEFINITELY a must do!!

It was not ice cream.

It was blended pineapple juice.

It was so refreshing....it was ridiculous!!!

You have no idea!!

The Tram was on the list so we hit that up!!

You start at 2600 feet and go up to 6000 feet!!

Sand to Snow!!

Pictures can't do it justice...

but it gives you an idea!!

Here is a video of part of the trip down!

The inside rotates in a circle as you travel for 360 views twice!

There was a ton of people going up 

but

 really nice as only a few came down with us!

I am sure you can see right over to Yuma!!

Larissa took a hike at the top 

but

 it was pretty slippery and dangerous!!

Mom and dad headed home the next day!!

Sad to see them go but was great to see them again!

The Living Desert Zoo was on Larissa's list so we hit that up next.

Tannis took these amazing photos of the animals!

The hummingbirds were not afraid of people at all!!

The vulture wing span was HUGE!!

There were 3 sister Cheetahs.

We stopped at Shields Date farm.

Nothing like fresh dates!!

The date shakes tasted like Chocolate shakes!!

Delicious!

Pizza at Stuft Pizza was gourmet!!

We tried to go to the Villagefest downtown in Palm Springs 

but

Torrential rains cancelled it so we browsed the Art Museum instead

This made me think of my friend, Jymmi Kaye

She took a class in Houston on stitching these little mirrors in embroidery

Art is definitely in the eye of the beholder...

This was sliced bread nibbled to make a picture of a guy somersaulting

Hmmm.....

Textures are an art form in themselves...

Looks like a quilted wall

This Persian rug was so cool.

That too some work to incorporate the color 

to look like it was pouring on the floor

Drift wood horse....

Some massive soup bowls

And if you have any unused golf bags....

You can make a totem pole!!!

It is always an experience!!

I hit up one quilt store. 

Monica's Quilt and Bead Creations

Dangerous combination for me!

I like fabric and beads like my sisters love wine!!

I did manage to get out with just a couple of patterns.

This Laura Heine fish also screamed Jymmi Kaye...

I purchased the pattern to make these baskets...

I am always drawn to blues and  points!!

These yo-yo tea towels were adorable!

I could see myself wintering in a place like this...

It was hard to say good bye to warmth, 

flowers and green grass

But Winter has it's own beauty too!!

I spotted the WestJet Tarmack crew with a sign as we flew away...

You're our favourite guest...Yeah...You.

Westjet.

Got to love all they do to make it feel personal!!

Now to get back to regularly scheduled programming...

Christmas projects!

17 days to go...

Christa 

Hello Palm Springs

I know... 

I have been a travelling fool lately.

My sisters really wanted me to go on a sisters trip.

They chose Palm Springs. 

I resisted for the longest time but had guilt as I always say no.

So I went.

Arnold's cousins own a house in Sun City Palm Desert

 so 

we rented their fabulous accommodations!!

Thank you, Allen and Cheryl and Greg and Trish!!!!

It even had it's own little casita for Mom and Dad to stay in!!

It was a beautiful place to stay!

The sisters have never gone

 to see where our parents boon dock out

 in The Yuma Proving Grounds

So we took a drive through Quartsite to tour a little of Arizona.

I didn't get a lot of pictures as I drove

 and 

my sisters were irritated every time I asked them to take one.

I keep telling them.... a picture is better than a thousand words!!

Mom gave us directions to find them.

One of them was to turn at the two big guns.

We were thinks GUNS???

Then we came across this.....

Yup.... that is some big guns!!

The Proving Grounds is where they do a lot of training and trials.

After a few mixed messages we found them in the middle of the Desert...

Literally!!

Our friend, Joel also stays out there so it was good to see him also!!

The weather was awesome too!!

On the way back to Palm Springs,

 we went by Yuma and Salton Sea.

There were fields

 of 

Broccoli, cauliflower, beans, artichokes, killer lettuce 

and

 strawberries.

I would love to have done a farm tour.

Maybe next time....

Loved the jacked up New Holland tractors!!

They need the height to get over the plants.

The Desert Sand Dunes were incredible too!!

I can only imagine how dangerous this would be in a wind storm!

It was strange to see hay being grown in such a contrast of landscape.

It was sand everywhere!!

The next day mom and dad came up to Palm Desert to hang out with us.

It has been years since were had spent time with just us as the 'original' family

Don't get me wrong, I love all our entire family 

but

this was like being kids again.

We talked them into playing a game we found at the house.

Cards against Humanity.

It was a good thing there were no kids around as this was adults only!!

We saw dad in a whole new light!

He doesn't like games but I am not sure why not??

He won...he was so good at fooling us!!

He shocked us with his answers to the questions!

We had some crazy good laughs.

Stay tuned for the rest of the story...

Christa