Palm Springs Birthday

The day is starting off well!

Happy official birthday, Eric!

We started at our favorite diner, Elmers.

Then we headed to the pool for lounging.

In retrospect, maybe I shouldn't have eaten that entire German pancake...

The pool was the perfect temperature.

Before heading home we walked around downtown.

We have never even noticed Ruddy's General Store before, so we decided to spend the $1 entree fee and check it out.

Ruddy's is not a store but a museum.  

James Ruddy donated his collected of general store items to the city of Palm Springs in the 80s.

Almost every box and bottle has never been opened.

The man was quite the collector.  It took him over 35 years to acquire over 6,000 items.

Elvis and the Frank Sinatra have stars in downtown, and happened to patrons at our hotel, Caliente Tropics.

We couldn't leave without getting another ice scream at Kreem!

Eric had a scoop of blood clot (raspberry and strawberry) and Witch's Brew (vanilla ice cream with everything in it).

It was just a good as yesterday!

I managed to obtain the last scoop of apple cinnamon pie...

Now we know how it feels...

All of Eric's birthdays since we have been together have involved taking a trip somewhere.  

This is the closest to home we have ever been, but a MINI vacation is better than NO vacation!

On our way home we met up with Eric's family for delicious Chinese food.  

Birthday weekends are way better than birthdays.

Pioneertown, Joshua Tree and Palm Springs

For Eric's birthday weekend we headed to the desert, starting in Pioneertown.

Pioneertown is just a few miles west of Joshua Tree.  It has been there since 1946, when a bunch of Hollywood investors like Roy Rogers built a movie set that was "worth visiting".  

Over 50 movies and shows were filmed here in the 40s and 50s.

The shops in Pioneertown are really neat; they have a saddlery, pottery, art... all made in house.

They also have a super yummy restaurant, Pappy and Harriets, which is reservation-only many evenings, especially when they have live music.  

The next stop is Joshua Tree National Park.

There is something so unique about Joshua Trees, maybe because they only grow in the Mohave Desert... that is pretty specific.

Joshua Tree National Park is gorgeous. 

In Palm Springs we found a new favorite business, Kreem.  

All of their ice cream is made fresh, and their flavors are always changing. 

It is amazing.

I scream for Kreem.

Traveling around Halloween is always fun.

For Eric's pre-birthday dinner we went to Flemmings, and Eric was instructed (by yours truly) to order the tomahawk steak.  He has been talking about tomahawk steaks for over a year now, maybe two.  What better time to indulge than a birthday?

He says he cannot remember eating a better steak than this one.

♫Happy birthday to you!♫

❤️

We love Palm Springs.  

It is an insta-vacation.  

Coronado and Balboa Park

My cousins, Anne and Annie (my 6th grade pen-pal), came all the way from Florida for my baby shower (and, lets be honest, a mini CA vacation).  Anne had never been to San Diego so we chose to explore Coronado and Balboa Park.

Coronado was incorporated in 1890, just two years after the Hotel Del Coronado was built and the city became a popular tourist destination.

Just a few days ago we just watched a Ken Kramer's San Diego episode on Balboa Park.  It is unbelievable that the entire park was built as a temporary attraction, for the California-Panama Exposition.  The idea was that after the Panama Canal was built over 100 years ago, people would stop in San Diego after coming through the canal, and see similar Spanish-style architecture that was seen in Panama.  It was a big success.  The exposition attracted 3.7  million people, including presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft.

Afterwards, we stopped into Extraordinary Desserts near Little Italy.

After coming home, Anne wanted to go to the beach for sunset, these Floridians are accustomed to a sunrise over the ocean...

Annie was very interested in visiting breweries so we went to one of our favorites, Belching Beaver in Oceanside.  Annie, who swore she didn't like IPAs, actually enjoyed them.  Well done, Belching Beaver!  

The last stop before heading back home was In & Out, another first.  

It wasn't easy to narrow down what to do in one day, but life is kind of like choosing a major in school, you just pick something and do it.