This past weekend was my partner’s birthday and to celebrate I wanted to take our first weekend getaway to Palm Springs. As we have only been in LA for less than 2 months (and most of those months were packed with the apartment hunting, furnishing, buying a car, job starting, and end of year holidays shenanigans), my guy was a bit resistant to planning a trip for his special day. But after my insistence and incredible sale of a place I'd never been he gave in 😉.

As part of the deal I promised him a super chilled out and easy weekend, and that’s where I delivered. We left our house around 9am with a short 2 hour drive a head of us. Given that in LA it takes 2 hours to get from our apartment to downtown during rush hour, I knew this would be a piece of cake. The drive was more scenic than expected, much of it you are nestled within mountains and vast empty landscapes as you approach the desert. We both absolutely adored it and cruised along in the carpool lane the whole way.

Our very first sight was a wind farm just outside of Palm Springs. For an easy vantage point you can stop by the Amtrack station (PSP) to take in all the spinning turbines. Beware, it is very windy when they are all on! After a bit of train spotting, windmill watching, and photo taking we headed to our hotel.

STAY

I booked a night for us at V Palm Springs Hotel. It was a toss up between the famous Sagauro, Ace and V hotels when deciding, but in the end I took a chance on the V hoping it would be the quieter of the three on this particular weekend. And it was just quiet enough without feeling desolate. Our room was super efficient, clean, and comfortable, equipped with cozy bath robes and a swinging chair on the balcony overlooking the pool and out onto the mountains beyond. Honestly, I could have skipped all activities and spent the entire weekend right here.

Hands down the best part of the stay was lounging by the pool and relaxing in the hot tub. After checking in early we lounged here for hours, riding bar snacks and turning over every so often to get an even amount of sun!

EAT

There are quite a few restuarants I wanted to try out in Palm Springs, but there are but so many meals in one weekend! Fortunately I know I have many more weekends ahead here. These are a the few I will certainly return to...

Elmer’s Reastuarant; a classic diner well worth the wait. The German pancake may look wierd but it is not to be missed.
Evzin; a Mediterranean spot that feels more like a chic gallery than a restaurant. And save room for their only dessert, it was better than expected.
Lappart’s Ice Cream Shop; try the date and caramel ice cream and thank me later...

DO

Aside from lying pool side and eating, we were able to squeeze in a few other activities. On the way into town we checked out the wind farm. After checking out of the hotel on Sunday we made our way downtown to see the Palm Springs Art Museum. First stop the architecture and design center which was in between exhibits, but the docent was kind enough to give us a history of the building. We walked 15 minutes to the main museum which has two lovely sculpture gardens. And then we popped in and out of shops along the main drag until we decided to check out some mid century home in the residential area. On our next visit I'd like to do more of this beacuse the houses are just so inspiring. Never have I wanted to own property more than after seeing these super efficient and minimalist homes. Ginally, just as we were leave town we stopped off to check out the great Cabazon Dinosaurs. They are such a quirky attraction (the world's biggest dinosaurs!) but a must see for us nonetheless.

Before we knew it we were home just after sundown getting ready for the workweek ahead and with just enough time to unpack and Netflix and chill on the couch. All in all a perfect first getaway and lovely weekend!