Palm Springs | One

I know, I know.
I'm livin some life.

When I looked at the calendar at the start of 2017; I had no travel plans. No vacation plans. No longing to go anywhere.

So I made peace with using my 5 weeks of vacation days, taking random sunny days off to spend at the lake or the beach.

Then there was that random conversation which led to us checking to see if Classic East tickets for the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac concert was a possibility. And it was. So a girl's trip to New York was planned.

Then came the unexpected opportunity to join Sue on the Japan week of her Asian work trip. Ten days before I left, I bought a ticket.

And yup, here I am in Palm Springs for five days, with a friend at her house in the desert. I feel so very lucky.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I went to bed at 1:45 am and set my alarm for 4:45 am.
I picked up Julie in White Rock at 5:30 am, the border crossing guy was sarcastic and demeaning at 6:00  am, we parked at the economy lot, got shuttled to the airport, went through security, and boarded the plane by 7:30.

By 8 am when we lifted off, my eyes were closed, my mouth was open and I was awake-sleeping in the window seat.

Her driver picked us up from the airport at 10:30 and by 11 we had changed out of our travel clothes and ready to start vacationing.


First we needed to get just enough food to get us through the next few hours. Daylight/sunny hours were not going to be spent grocery shopping. We could do that in the evening. We just needed a quick stop to grab essentials.

So we got into her car (Mustang convertible) (I KNOW, right!) and encountered that clicking noise that indicates your battery is dead.

I am a BCAA member, but didn't bring my card with me, so I phoned and asked if they could help us anyway.
They totally could.
An hour later we were on our way.
Seeing we needed to keep the car running for 45 minutes, we tagteamed the shopping. While she went in, I sat in the running car, tanning my face, and then when it was my turn to go into Ralph's she babysat the car.

Finally at 2 pm, we were back home.
The backyard temperature was 97 degrees; just the way we like it. So we moved our loungers around the pool, following the sunshine til 5.

#bestdayever

At 6 pm we went out for Mexican, and at 7:30 pm, we were asking passing drivers if they could give us a jump start.

At 8 pm we were at Autozone buying a new battery.
Yes, that's just how exciting Saturday nights in Palms Springs can be.

From there we went to the 99 cent store and bought snacks, fruit, random things THAT ONLY COST 99 CENTS!

You wish you were vacationing with us.
It doesn't get better than this.

We've talked non-stop for 14 hours.
And saw no reason to quit, so we ended our first day together, sitting on her patio, looking at the stars, in our pajama shorts, in 80 degree (28 Celsius) weather, talking about life, kids, family, grace, growth, love.

My heart is full, my skin is glowing, and my head hurts.
I'm coughing again. I better not have caught another variation of the cold I've been dealing with since the last time I got on a plane.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Know what else happened today?
"Hello BC" featured one of my photos (of Cultus Lake) on their instagram account!
They are the Official tourism organization for British Columbia, Canada. 

I am so honored. Check out their page; so many beautiful photos ...