Palm Springs - San Diego Day Six

This morning I woke up to the sound of a sweet little voice saying, "Mommy, Mommy I have a (sur)prise for you! I have a 'prise for you! Wanna see what it is?" I opened my eyes to see Christian standing my by bed grinning. "It's a cookie!" he announced proudly handing me an Oreo. "Want me to get one for everyone?" He ran off to provide everyone else with this wake up service before I had a chance to say anything. He was a little disappointed when he came back to find that I hadn't yet eaten my cookie but I convinced him that I wanted to wait until after breakfast. Will and Jon weren't so picky. It isn't the healthiest way to start the day but when can you have cookies for breakfast if not on vacation? And Christian was so proud of himself for thinking of everyone.

Today we drove out to Palm Springs, a town about 150 miles North West of San Diego. The drive wasn't bad but I'm afraid I was a poor conversationalist. Will and Jon were listening to A Wrinkle in Time and though I usually can tune out their audiobooks this time I was hooked! It was one of my favorite childhood books and I haven't read it in years. I was enjoying it so much in the car that I didn't even hear anything James or Camille said to me. Eventually I had to ask the boys to turn it down low enough that I couldn't be tempted to listen. But I am going to read that book again as soon as I get home!

Jon's took this picture when we stopped for lunch

On the way into Palm Springs we stopped at a roadside attraction. It was a dinosaur park similar to the one we visit in Virginia. This one though had a gift shop inside of a brontosaurus (I know, they have a different name now but I'm too lazy to look it up) and T-Rex that you could climb in. The boys enjoyed running around the paths and looking at all the dinosaurs and they particularly liked climbing inside the T-Rex although they concluded that it was "creepy". 

Christian enjoyed the dinosaurs

Will and Christian flee from pursuing dinos

Christian finds a dinosaur rock in the dino dig

Inside the second gift shop was some animatronic dinosaurs which fascinated Christian. "Are you real?" he shouted to a Triceratops, "What do you want? Are you real? Do you want to eat me?" Then, he leaned in closer and roared at robotic dino. Christian always amazes me, when something scares him instead of running he attacks it. That was how he got bitten by our neighbor's goose, it scared him, he ran towards it yelling, and it bit his pants. Thankfully the dinosaurs did not bite him despite his growls and he was really cute as he wandered from one to the other asking them what they wanted and if they wanted some leaves to eat. 

Giant T-Rex

The boys inside the gullet of the T-Rex

After a quick lunch we headed into Palm Springs and over to the Aerial Tramway which would carry us up 6,000 ft to the top of Mt San Jacinto. The floor of the tramcar rotated as it went up so that everyone had a good view, I saw later that it was quite stunning. I am terrified of tram/cable car rides so I didn't look down. I love the top of the mountain but I hate getting there! Every time we passed a tower the car would rock and swing, I would pray and Will would shout "Whee!"

Jon's picture of the valley below us

Palm Springs

We arrived safely and set out to explore. The hiking paths were down a steep hill so Camille stayed up at the mountain top lodge while we trekked down. We were about 8,500 feet up and the air was very dry and cold. It wasn't too bad while we were moving but poor Jon was freezing even with two sweatshirts.

James, Jon, and Will on the path

Jon's picture of me

Christian in the rocks

Heading down to go hiking on the mountain

Will is a mountain lion

Christian wanted to pose for a picture under this rock

We walked through a pine forest to the edge of the mountain overlooking the valley below. There was a couple of miles of trails but we didn't want to leave Camille for too long so went only part of the way down the trail. On the way back we passed a large number of huge boulders and the boys had to stop and climb every one. Will and Jon were great at climbing but Christian's fearlessness had me worried! He is great at climbing too but he doesn't seem to have an inner voice telling him to slow down at the edge of a cliff or to hold on when climbing down a steep rock so I have to be that voice for him.

Jon was never without his camera

Christian climbing on the rocks

Three boys climbing the rocks

Will at the top

Christian and Daddy

The walk back up to the lodge was steep but not nearly as bad as the hill to Ehrenberg Castle. We got back up fairly quickly and walked around the lodge enjoying the views. I had been fine while we were walking but once back to the lodge I started feeling dizzy and out of breath. We didn't stay too long before heading back down to the valley below.

The boys and I are on the path back to the lodge

Jon and Daddy

The boys look out over the valley

Jon's picture of Palm Springs far below

Jon's new camera that we got him as an early Christmas present has already broken. He put it into a pocket that had sand from the dunes already in it and the super fine sand got into the inner workings of the camera. James is hopeful that we can get it out but he hasn't been successful yet. Since his camera wasn't working we let Jon use our waterproof one (Perhaps that is a better idea for a 7 year old anyway...) and he took a ton of pictures. He is just like his Daddy!

Jon taking pictures during the tram ride

Jon's picture of our descent

Jon's picture of the mountainside

After the mountain we went into the town of Palm Springs to look around and have dinner. Camille is usually a few steps behind us wherever we go but the presence of shops revitalized her and we could barely keep up! She led us into town where we discovered a crowd watching fireworks while a band played patriotic songs. It was the best Veterans Day celebration I've ever seen!

Grandma leads the pack

Christian and Daddy watch the fireworks

We wandered the streets searching in vain for a restaurant. Most of them seemed to be empty fancy restaurants or biker bars, neither of which was good for the kids. Jon was exhausted and so we took to the car for our search. Finally when we were just about to head out of town we hit the jackpot and found a delicatessen. Christian was wide awake tonight and ate a ton! Hooray! The food was pretty good but the best part was their large selection of cakes. We shared a couple pieces of various chocolate cakes that were absolutely delicious. 

Enjoying dinner

We didn't get in until almost 10 making this our latest night so far. Our plan was to visit the zoo tomorrow but I think we'll put that off until Friday so we can relax a bit and get some sleep. Speaking of sleep, everyone else is in bed and it is time for me to go too! 

Goodnight!