Happy Sunday friends!

Hope everyone is having a good weekend. This weekend Joey’s parents were staying in Palm Springs for a golf tournament and invited us down to spend Saturday with them. I ended up getting off work early on Friday (AH-mazing) and Joey had Saturday off from practice. So we immediately packed up the car and drove down to Palm Springs for a mini vacay.

Palm Springs is one of my favorite places to visit and we usually make it down there at least once a year. This trip, although a short 24 hours, was no exception. I always leave wanting to stay longer. Read below for more of my to-do’s for a great time in Palm Springs, CA!

STAY

We’ve stayed at a couple different hotels and honestly it’s all about finding a good rate and completely depends on what time of year you’re going. During the summer months it tends to be more expensive since that’s their “season” and most people tend to visit over the summer.

• Miramonte Indian Wells Resort & Spa: This weekend we had the chance to stay at this hotel and holy cow was it GORGEOUS! I would highly suggest it. They have games on the lawn like cornhole and ping-pong, a huge pool, spa, etc.
• The Parker: I’ve never actually been here, tried to go visit and walk around but the “grounds are closed to hotel guests only.” But I’ve heard it’s absolutely gorgeous, which of course you pay for with their $300 a night price.
• The Saguaro: This hotel is famous for it’s rainbow colored rooms/design. I’ve never actually been here either; mostly because when Joey and I decide to do basically any “getaway” it’s always last minute and hotels like The Saguaro are booked for weeks to months in advance.
• Hilton Palm Springs: We have stayed here before and it is absolutely breath taking! The views of the desert are gorgeous. Although it is more of a “standard” hotel rather than a resort specific to Palm Springs; like those listed above.

There are plenty more hotels/resorts you can check out as well. And you can use this link to search deals on hotels throughout the entire Palm Springs/Palm Desert area.

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EAT

• Kobe Japanese Steak House: We always have dinner here at least once during our stay. It’s a hibachi/teppan resturant and is our favorite. It is always SO good and so much fun. The chefs will toss shrimp to you to catch in your mouth; which Joey always catches (of course) and me well, I either miss completly or it ends up landing on my forehead (embarrassing).
• Wilma & Frieda’s Cafe: We’ve been here twice and it doesn’t disappoint. It opens at 8 am and if my favorite breakfast place in Palm Springs. But it gets packed right away so it’s best to get their early to get one of the patio tables right as they open! I recomment the churro waffle; it’s to die for.
• Norma’s: This is one of the more famous brunch spots in Palm Springs and convinetely enough is loated at the Parker Hotel ( it serves as one of the only resturants open to the public).
• Lastly, literally any resturant at any hotel/resort is bound to be amazing. Especially if you’re laying around the pool all day, what’s better than getting your food delivered pool side?

TO-DO

This is my favorite thing to talk about! There’s SO much to do in Palm Springs (some of which I haven’t even done yet because we tend to want to repeat some of the things we’ve done before) but below is my list of favorite things to do and things on my current list to do in the future!

• The Living Desert: This is my ABSOLUTE favorite place to visit! It is a zoo unlike any other. First of all; all their animals are rescues that have been rescued from other zoos, poachers/hunters, or have been injured in the wild. All the animals are rehabilitated and then carefully watched and their behaviors studied. That being said; all the animals are how they are naturally. None of them are “drugged” or  fed so much that they just lay around on display like they do in majority of “zoos.” All the animals are active and alert. They also do not believe in cages. They only put the animals that are aggressive behind one glass slab to separate it from where you can view the animal; but all others sides of the enclosure are open and simply roped off.   They also allow you to feed the giraffes for $5 and its SO worth it! My favorite animals to see are the cheetahs and leopard. Cats are my favorite animal (I’m sure you’re aware that my own cat is literally my favorite thing). And this visit we were able to see a momma and baby jaguar! They were adorable.
• Lay by the pool: Is there anything better than doing nothing all day but get a tan? Add some drinks to that and it’s the perfect combination!
• Visit the Elvis Honeymoon Suite: When Elvis got married, he had his honeymoon in Palm Springs. And being a big Elvis fan ( he’s my dad’s favorite artist so it’s all I grew up with) we had to stop by to see it in person. It’s full of Elvis memorablia now which I’m sure it wasn’t at the time of his honeymoon. But the house is still very cool to see!
• That Pink Door: Most of the neighborhoods in Palm Springs are pretty retro and unlike any other. And that goes for the colors of their doors. The most famous being the pink door. Although I’m not all excited about it; alot of people are and commonly go to the house to take the perfect picture infront of the door. (You can google it to see what I mean).
• Cabazon Dinosaurs: We haven’t been here yet! But you can see if off the freeway as you drive in/out of Palm Springs. There are two HUGE dinosaurs that you can take pictures with and apparenly walk up into the mouth of the T-Rex.
• The Aerial Tramway: I really want to do this next time! It’s a three mile ski-lift that takes you 8,000 feet up into the mountains. Once at the top there are restaurants, observation decks, and hiking trails.
• The Palm Springs Art Museum: This is on my list too! I love art museums and somehow always run out of time to visit this one.

Hope you enjoyed my recommendations and if you ever get to Palm Springs let me know your thoughts!

xoxo,

Amanda