Palm Springs, California - Land of Gourmet Breakfasts & Fancy Cars!

Hi all, Dianne here.  The two attractive young people peeking from under Marilyn Monroe's skirt are our daughter Robyn and her boyfriend, Atul.  They drove over from Los Angeles to meet us for the weekend in Palm Springs.  What a great time we had!

We started out with our first of many gourmet breakfasts at "Farm," a small restaurant Robyn found using Yelp, tucked away in a secret garden.  
No photos of this food, for we had just met Atul and I didn't want him to discover our weirdness just yet....

It was forecast to reach 104 that first day, so we decided a tram ride up Mt. San Jacinto would be just the ticket.  Good choice!   It was 40 degrees cooler at Mt. San Jacinto State Park at the top of the mountain.  

There were impressive views at the top...

   Here's a zoomed-in shot showing Palm Springs at the foot of the mountain.  More shots...

A Windswept Tree...

The "mom" in me kept creeping out, so I took a few shots on the sly of my baby girl and her guy...

And some not on the sly... (no apologies here, 'cause this blog is used as our virtual scrapbook).

We all got to meet Smoky the Bear...

And a smaller critter, too...

We stopped for a drink and a little shopping in the state park gift store before our return trip down the mountain.

Originally we thought we'd have a happy hour at our camp site, but even though Roger made provisions for the hot sun...

...we were in very cramped quarters at the Happy Traveler RV Park and it was just too darned hot!  No problem, though; we loaded up and took happy hour to Robyn and Atul's hotel, the Riviera Palm Springs Resort and Spa.  We sat on the patio by the pool and had snacks, wine and beer before dinner.   Lots of laughter; we really got to know Atul better.  What an intelligent, funny, awesome, thoughtful young man.  To say we were impressed with him would be an understatement.

To give you an idea of what the hotel is like, get a load of the pool table...

A little bling, anyone?

I've never seen a bed on a pool deck before...  

Here's a shot of the pool...

...and some humorous signs we spotted as we took a walking tour of the grounds:

Perhaps related to the above sign, someone had surreptitiously removed a certain letter from all of the directional signs in the vicinity...

Anyway, after a couple of drinks it gave us a chuckle.

On Sunday morning we met for Sunday brunch at another trendy, gourmet restaurant, "Jake's."  Wow, what great food!  I had crab cakes benedict (the crab cakes are underneath the perfectly-cooked sunny-side-up eggs)...

Do you think I liked it??

And Roger had chilaquiles, a delicious Mexican choice...

They tasted even better than they looked!   We walked around Palm Springs after brunch, and thankfully the city has installed misters up and down the streets to help keep shoppers cool in the searing hot sun.  It was 104 degrees while we shopped on Sunday!  Here's a photo of Robyn walking in front of me toward some cooling mist...

And some random people, giving a better shot of the misters.  I've never seen these before on a city street, but if ever they were needed, it is in Palm Springs.

All too soon it was time for Robyn and Atul to head back to LA for rehearsals.  It was wonderful getting to meet Atul and seeing our city girl!

Monday morning Roger and I stopped at yet another spot for yet another gourmet breakfast, Cheeky's.  We actually had tried the prior two days in a row to eat there, but the crowds waiting outside were just too long both days.  On Monday morning the crowds were gone.  We still had to wait outside for a while, but not long.  Here's Roger's choice, eggs benedict...

And mine, scrambled eggs with organic goat cheese, mushrooms, and thyme, with homemade jam on the toast...

The bacon (extra) was $1 per slice, but there were four varieties to choose from.  In my opinion, the bacon was worth twice the cost!   

No more food photos, I promise, for a while.  These were so exceptional that we just wanted to remember them.  

After breakfast we drove to Palm Desert to visit the desert living museum, which Roger will blog about next time.  On the way, after passing the vintage auto dealership in Palm Springs that had bright, shiny vintage autos of every description, closer to Palm Desert we passed, one next to another, the following dealerships:  Porche, Land Rover, Bentley, Maserati, and one designated for nothing but electric cars.  There were plenty of them driving around the swanky boulevards, too.  

I'm not sure why, if you could afford to live anywhere, you'd pick this area of California.  The weather was in the mid-100s the entire time we were there, and it's only April.  I think the only comfortable time of year would have to be January-March.  A nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there!

The pet picture of the day was taken just a moment too late.  Bandido and Tequila are sleepyheads in the mornings.  This morning, Tequila was still in bed and Bandido was in the living room, but had fallen asleep with his head resting in his toy box.  I couldn't get to the camera fast enough to keep him from waking up, but it's a cute photo of him anyway!

Sleepy Head with His Toys