Day 1 Palm Springs, Joshua Tree National Forest in the Mohave Desert, and Palm Desert

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First I must say, I am LOVING my new MAC computer. It's so fast and quiet. I'm typing in the dark with my backlit keyboard without disturbing my husband and daughter while they sleep because the keys on the keyboard are so quiet. The new apple magic mouse is AWESOME. It's also quiet since it doesn't have a scrolling wheel. You can zoom in and out on on anything and can scroll back and forth thru webpages by simply swiping your finger across the mouse. I'm so in love. I'm never going back to a windows based computer ever again. Okay enough of that... I just thought I would share my excitement over my new toy.

We finally made it and we're so exhausted. Our daughter suffers with bronchial asthma and coughed during the whole flight. We we're getting very worried about her and luckily we were sitting next to a medical student who really took a liking to Alyssa. She explained her symptoms and the cause and was very attentive to her as were the stewardess. We left our home at 1:30pm EST and we didn't arrive to our hotel until 4am PST or 7am EST. We landed at LAX at 10:30 pm PST and headed in the shuttle to the car rental facility when we realized that we left our daughter's car seat on the carousel in the airport. We we're so excited to be here and we thought we had everything when we saw our 3 bags to be one of the first to come of the conveyor belt. Usually our bags are the very last to come off the plane. We decided to continue on to the car rental facility to pick up our car and then we would head back to the airport to find the car seat. It was very chilly outside it felt like the low 60's. Both inside and outside the airport was very crowded. It reminded me of New York city with everyone beeping in a hurry. We didn't have any trouble picking up the car since I checked in online. We just walked up and picked out a car and drove out out to the attendant and we we're on our way. I love Alamo's online check in. So much better than standing in line forever waiting at the check out counter while they ask you a hundred questions while trying to sell you collision insurance. We headed back to the airport to pick up the car seat and we're on our way. We probably didn't leave the airport until until 12:50am.

We jumped on the 105 and headed toward Palms Springs. After living in LA, I'm not familiar with the 105 freeway, but I decided to take it anyway, since it was faster than taking the the 405 to the I-10 which is amore direct route. The traffic was pretty busy for midnight but we didn't care. It took us 2 hours to drive 136 miles taking the 105E to the 605N to the CA-60E to the 10 East. We stopped at a local convience store to use the rest room and grab a Red Bull before we continued on our way. Adrian was so tired so I jumped in the driver seat and headed up to the desert. I was so excited to see the windmills in Palms Springs. You could barely make them out in the night but I could see them since we had been there before.

We stayed at a Marriott outside of Palm Springs in a town called Palm Desert which took a little longer to get to. We didn't arrive at a our hotel until 3am and by the time we checked in, brought up our bags and changed our clothes it was 4am. That probably would have been alright except for the fact the we had a tour scheduled at 10am. You have to get out early if you want to see the area. Of course, I was late for my tour but our tour guide was very gracious and patiently waited for us as we we're the only ones on the Palm Spring city tour. This tour took us around the city describing the original settlers to the area, indian culture, architecture, celebrity homes, geology, hot springs, and more, all in a brand new air conditioned HUMMER H2 with orange leather seats. That truck was pretty sweet, it made me one to get one.

Our tour guide was very knowlegeable about the area, especially since he is a 3rd generation Palm Springs resident, but unfortunately I don't remember his name. Not suprising since I only got a 4 hours sleep. The guide was shocked to learn that we just landed and we we're already on a tour, but this is how the Morris family vacations. The city tour lasted 2 hours and then he dropped us off back at the office so we could grab some lunch. Oiur vacations are all about eating at different restaurants that we don't have back home. One of our favorites fast food joints is Del Taco and since we've been here before we knew where to find it. Adrian had 2 tacos with fries and I had a bacon burger, fries and a vanilla shake.

An hour later and we were back on another tour to the Joshua Tree National park in the Mohave desert. Our second guide Craig was very knowledgeable. He explained to us about the geology and the plants in the desert. He also told us about the San Andreas Fault and showed us how it split the mountains. He told us about my favorite windmills and how they generate electricity. There are hundreds of windmills in this area. They are so fascinating to look at. We even drove up close to one and got out the car to take a look at how big they actually are. This tour laster 4 hours as the drive to Joshua was 30 minutes long. We stopped in the town of Yucca to use the restroom at a local KFC before we entered the desert. He took us us in the back of the desert which is where the locals go away from all the tourists. We only saw one other car which happened to be a Prius. We never did see the occupants of the car so they must have been out hiking. We saw huge jugs of water left next to trees just incase you get into a bind and need water. We got out of the car and started walking into the desert. I had planned to stay in the car because I had been here before back in 2000, but as soon as my daughter saw my husband was missing, she wanted to join him. So we ended up going out with the guys.

We took lots of pictures and heard a couple of animals. I think he said they were quail. Adrian was on the lookout for mountain lions and snakes. We saw road runners and desert squirrels and a even rattlesnake. This wasn't our first encounter face to face with a rattle snake either, as we we're confronted by one on our last trip in the desert while ATVing in Primm Valley, NV. They're protected by law and you can't run them over, so we stopped and got out to take pictures. I left Alyssa in the car while Adrian, the guide and myself got out. The guide went right up to it. I wanted to hear it rattle so he picked up a branch and started poking at it. He said a bite from this type of rattlesnake would kill you in 30 minutes. The Hummer was equipped with OnStar so we had constant contact with park rangers. We eventually had to make him move across the road so we could pass. During one of our stops we had a snack which was provided by the tour company. We had out choice of energy foods from all 4 food groups like granola bars, nuts, dried fruit and of course chocolate. They also provided as much water and soft drinks as we wanted so we didn't get dehydrated, We stayed out in the desert for at least two hours before heading back to the office. This was an excellent tour and a great way to start out our vacation. Our tour was complete as 6pm. We drove around town sightseeing before heading out to dinner at our favorite restaurants which is one of the reasons why we came back to Palm Springs.

We love the area because it's very beautiful with the desert, the mountains, and the many windmills. We drove back to Palm Desert which is where our hotel is and ate in an area called El Paseo. The locals consider it to be a second Rodeo Drive since it had quite a number of high end stores. Our food was excellent. Tommy Bahama restaurants are few and between. They are designed with an island flair and all of the items on the menu are named after islands. I had the Tobago Tenderloin which was Maple brined grilled pork with dried cherry merlot chutney, whipped sweet potatoes and asparagus...um um good. It was excellent. I've gotten this before. I don't like to try new items on the menu. I know it's good so why try something new and I might not like it. Adrian didn't remember what he ordered the last time so he choose the Old San Juan Shrimp and Scallops which was sautéed in a curry coconut sauce with island almond rice. Consistently good food and excellent service with island ambiance. They even had steel band music playing in the back ground. What more could you want...desert of course. I had the Pina Coloda cake which is a moist vanilla layer cake with Myers Dark Rum and chopped pineapple, covered with white chocolate mousse and toasted coconut. What an excellent ending to a great first day on our vacation. We headed back to our hotel for some much needed rest before we take off for our next stop in the morning.

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