Palm Springs
We spent the first weekend of 2025 in Palm Springs at an amazing rental house with a private pool and lots of adventures! We decided to not do presents for Christmas and instead take a family trip with my parents to Palm Springs and we all loved it so much I think it’s going to be a new family tradition! My sister and her husband were even able to drive over from San Diego for the first night so we got to see them as well!
The first day our main event was the Palm Springs aerial tram. This was the one activity we did as the 8 of us. It was not as cold as we had planned for, there was a fun little waterfall, and lots of viewing “notches” along the hike. The kids were not fans of the rotating tram car for the 10 min ride either direction which made it a little interesting and honestly surprising! It was sunny and beautiful for the hike and there were lots of rocks for them to climb on and we packed lots of snacks! We stopped for a very late but delicious lunch at El patron which was great Mexican food with vegan options. We then spent the rest of the day in the pool/hot tub. There was an incredible sunset and we all enjoyed relaxing for the afternoon.
The second day was canyon day! We ended up at Andres Canyon and Palm Canyon which were both very beautiful. Corban found Andreas Canyon online and it was shockingly great for the whole family! We loved walking alongside Andreas creek and then around to the desert side of the canyon! Next we went to Palm Canyon to find a waterfall that ended up being completely dried up. But the kids loved climbing the rocks and then we spent probably 30 mins standing in the parking lot watching mountain goats! Next time we will intentionally hike here because you walk down from the parking area into the canyon and spend the entire hike walking by a stream in the shade of massive palm trees. Palm Greens Cafe which was a delicious lunch spot after our active morning and then we got date shakes and ice cream and walked to the Marilyn Monroe statue because when in Palm Springs right? We went back to the house and hung out for the evening again, and the kids got lots of pool and hot tub time.
Joshua Tree National Park was an incredible adventure and truly a different landscape than I’ve ever seen before. It was a long day and Corban was an absolute rockstar since he felt SO bad on this day. He was sick this whole trip but felt especially bad this day! We did a bunch of little hikes/walks, lots of rock climbing, and tons of picture taking. Halle’s little stuffed dog came with us for most of the day which made for some hilarious pictures! This took most of the day so we ordered pizza for dinner which we ate around the fire pit and spent the rest of the evening in the hot tub/pool!
Our last day we checked something off the list that I had been excited about but thought I’d have to let go which was Moorten Botanical Garden. This is a very cool little botanical garden with thousands of native plants and a little lawn that would be amazing for a tiny wedding. Being relaxed leaving the garden and then slow to pick a lunch spot did mean we were RUNNING through the airport but it was worth it! We got Native Foods which was the best plane food, since we were so late to the airport Corban and I didn’t get to eat until we had boarded. It’s so close to the airport that it will be our first stop off the plane next time!
