Palm Springs Weekend

Early one April morning, four friends arrived at Portland International Airport bound for adventure. The plan was this: land in Long Beach at 9:30, fetch the rental car, stop for burgers at In-n-Out, and spend the day riding roller coasters at Magic Mountain. Unfortunately I developed a cold the night before we left, but otherwise the plan went off without a hitch. Observe:





The park was unusually crowded for a Thursday, so we were only able to get on Apocalypse, the Riddler's Revenge, Batman: the Ride, Colossus, Green Lantern, Scream!, and X2. That's about half the rides in the park. Tatsu was closed half the day, Viper would have aggravated the massive headache I got from Scream!, Goliath had a 90-minute wait for no good reason, and Bobby doesn't like the Revolution. Tatsu was the only real bummer of the day, although my illness contributed to me being a wimp and closing my eyes for the duration of both Green Lantern and X2. See here for the latter:



We left the park about a half hour before closing, and stopped to refuel at Del Taco before making the long journey to my childhood home. The next morning, the boys enjoyed pre-breakfast cake and coffee, while I saved room for the best waffles in the entire world (courtesy of Cheeky's):



Fortunately Palm Springs is finally getting some decent breakfast restaurants, which I'm sure has something to do with the presence of the Ace Hotel and the ever-growing Coachella crowd. We hung around the backyard for the rest of the afternoon until my cousins, aunt, and uncle turned up for a giant family dinner.







I made margaritas for some of the guests, and caught up with dear relatives I hadn't seen in ages. Family stuff complete, the boys and I departed for Toucan's Tiki Lounge (my favorite bar in town). Alas, with my stupid cold I decided drinking was a bad idea, so I got to play designated driver while the three boys enjoyed cheap PS drink prices. I still got to dance though.

Saturday's weather was warmer than Friday's, though not warm enough to heat my parents' pool. I suffered bravely for a while before padding next door to ask if we could borrow their heated pool. The boys and I swam around for hours, attacking each other with water guns and pretending to be jellyfish while enjoying margaritas crafted by our host. He was also kind enough to cue up a Pandora station for us. When asked to choose, I said "ROBYN! R-O-B-Y-N!" Dinner at Rio Azul followed, and we ended up back at the neighbors' watching the Coachella live feed until the night's headliners (Radiohead, which I watched under protest) concluded.

Our last day arrived much quicker than expected. Breakfast at Lulu and a few hours in the sun before it was time to return to rainy Portland. Here I am trying to chase away the nasty Oregon glow:



Obligatory photo of the travelers prior to departure:



We stopped for one last In-n-Out meal and returned home. Conor and Jonathan are exceptional traveling companions, and I am confident they'll be sharing my parents' house with me on some future trip. For now, I am still fighting this cold and the winter malaise that lingers over my chosen hometown. Until the next plane ride!