Long Weekending in Palm Springs -- Part 1

A couple weekends ago (the first weekend of the month), we took a little weekend trip to Palm Springs to visit my Dad and step mom who came down from Northern California to meet up with us. I took Mason to speech that Thursday morning and then we left as soon as he was done. We were in Palm Springs from Thursday through Sunday and it was the perfect amount of time.

Every time we go to Palm Springs, we always pass these huge dinosaurs on the side of the freeway. I'm always intrigued by them, but we've never stopped. This trip we were taking our time heading in to the city, so I asked Seth to stop. I literally didn't know much about the dinosaurs expect for the fact that they were giant dinosaurs on the side of the freeway by the outlet mall and well... that's all they really are. And they were pretty unexciting. But, hey, we can say we've seen them, and we never have to stop again.

What's a road trip without lunch at In n Out? Even though we have them by our house, we almost always stop at one on a road trip since we can pretty much guarantee that lunch will be delicious. I totally pulled a "tourist move" and took a picture of the sign and a picture of my kid outside the restaurant. Hey, nobody but Seth and Mason knew I wasn't a tourist 😉

After lunch, we walked around the outlet mall (Cabazon) for a bit before we decided that we were going to melt (it was 107), so we headed back to the car and made our way in to Palm Springs.

By this time, it was around 12:30pm/1pm and we weren't meeting my parents until around 4pm to check in to our house rental. So, we drove around and visited a couple spots that I had wanted to stop by while we were in town.

mural located at the Hyatt Palm Springs

This Palm Springs sign we kind of stumbled upon by chance. I had seen Desiree Hartsock (from the Bachelorette) post a picture in front of this wall on Instagram a couple weeks ago and had wanted to stop by it but I had no clue where it was. Then we were driving down the main road and stumbled upon it.

ACE Hotel

Ever since I saw the first person take a picture in front of the ACE Hotel sign, I knew I wanted to see it in person. The hotel seems SUPER trendy and we definitely felt out of place, but before we left, Mason and I snapped a photo in front of the "M"ACE (Mase) Hotel sign. See what we did there? (Mace --> Mase --> Mason).

Everyone did an amazing job playing along with my "wall hunting" plan, so we decided to stop for some ice cream at our FAVORITE place, Great Shakes. Seriously, if you visit Palm Springs, you NEED to go here. I mean, they add a mini donut to the straw of your milkshake!

salted caramel milkshake // mint oreo fudge milkshake

After we fueled up on ice cream, we made one more stop -- the Saguaro Hotel. I had seen TONS of pictures of this gorgeous hotel all over Instagram and I was DYING to see it in person. The hotel did not disappoint and boy was it COLORFUL. This hotel was also super trendy and we felt out of place, but it was fun to walk around and check it out.

By this time, it was around 3:30/3:45pm. We found out that my parents were stuck in traffic and were running late so they called the realtor to meet us and give us the keys to the house. We had about an hour to hang out and unpack before they met us. My dad, step mom, and Seth went to the grocery store to get stuff for dinner and Mason, Leo (their dog), and I hung out at the house and splashed around in the pool.

We ate dinner, had some drinks, hung out, went to bed, and got ready for a weekend of fun!

Part 2 -- Friday, Saturday, and Sunday -- coming soon!