So I shared my fantastic experience about Designer Vaca last week, but there was more to my trip than just lounging around in the pool and making amazing design friends – Curtis met me out in California for some time in the desert!

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Our 1st stop was the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, and woah was it cool! My mom had suggested we check it out, and when I started googling pictures I knew it was a must-see. The tramway starts at the bottom of Mount San Jacinto and climbs to almost 11,000 feet! It literally went from 100 degrees to about 60. And the views were breath taking (as you saw above.)  The gondola slowly spins so you get all of the views on your way up and down. Definitely worth the $25 to ride up!

Our next stop was into Joshua Tree. We got an awesome Airbnb and explored both the town of Joshua Tree and the National Park. It was a whopping $20 for a 6 day pass into the park, which we took full advantage of – stopping in for a couple hours here and there, and returning for a sunset, a sunrise and a late night star gazing.

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We called these the Dr. Seuss trees – so crazy looking!

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Big Horned Sheep and a *tiny* big of water at Barker Dam, our favorite spot in the park. We hiked in 3 times!

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Skull Rock!

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Our 1st stop to Keys View – the far mountain in the distance is Mount San Jacinto – the mountain the tram is on. To the left you can see down into Palm Springs, the Coachella Valley and onto the Saltan Sea and Mexico on a clear day.

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Cap Rock

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Sunset at Keys View

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We got up at 5 to watch the sunrise on the last day. We found a large rock formation and hiked up around dawn (carefully – I was nervous of snakes & mountain lions!!) so that we had a higher vantage point to see the beautiful pink clouds.

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On our way out of the park we saw a coyote that wasn’t going to be distracted by us as he tried to get a critter out of it’s home! (*yes we were in the car!)

Heading back into LA to head home, we stopped at the Cabazon Dinosaurs!

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Being in the desert was such a unique experience and we loved exploring a part of the country SO different from our own! The little town was great – we seriously had one of the best breakfasts of our lives at the Crossroads Cafe (the Zydeco breakfast), and we had one of the most interesting pizzas we’ve had in awhile – the David Bowie, which was a white pizza with jalapeños, pineapple, caramelized onion, bacon & a fig drizzle. YUM!

We’re already talking about going back, but this time camping in the park! Can’t wait 🙂

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