Palm Springs, California

2009-05-15

We were planning on sleeping in until 9 am, but the maid tried to walk in and clean our room at 8 am. We were awake, so we got ready, packed up and left a little after 10:30 am. We took highway 15 out of town getting our last view of the Vegas strip. While Ian drove, Lori caught up on the travel journal. We were soon crossing in California (our thirteenth state) and had a brief inspection for fruit at the border. Soon after crossing the border, we got onto highway 247 and drove into the dessert. It reminded us a bit of our drive to Guadalupe National Park, but there was more traffic and the dessert was a bit more orange in colour. It was hot out and there were no rest stops in sights, so when we finally came to civilization an hour outside Palm Springs, we stopped at a Carl Jrs for lunch. Lori had been snacking in the car, so only had a small bowl of chili, while Ian was starving and had a Southwestern burger with red onion, guacamole and bacon. After lunch, we had an hour drive to the Fairfield Marriott in Dessert Springs, which is right next to Palm Springs. Palm Springs was once the hangout of Sinatra and Elvis, but the city faded in the 1980s and is now becoming more popular again. We checked and called Carol to see if she was free to meet up that night. The past two weeks she had had Friday night off, but of course, this Friday she had a posture clinic, so we would not see her until the next day. We decided to make the some of the sunshine and enjoyed an hour by the pool. Lori enjoyed reading “Twilight” while Ian enjoyed a short nap. As the sun faded behind the Fairfield Inn, we got changed and walked across the street for dinner at IHOP. We had not eaten at one since November in Key West with Ollie and Ian had forgotten how big the portions were. He ordered a garden salad and onion rings with his dinner of roast beef with broccoli and mashed potatoes, which were too buttery for his tastes. Lori felt like breakfast for dinner and had scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon and a crepe filled with strawberries and whip cream. We were both stuffed when we finished and walked back to the hotel. Lori went to bed quickly as she knew she was up early the next morning.

The class was made up of 320 people and the room we practiced in was huge.

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2009-05-16

The day started at 6:30 am for Lori. As yoga class started at 8 am, she wanted to have a light breakfast and give it time to digest. She woke Ian up a little after 7 am and he graciously drove her to the J W Marriott Palm Desert Resort, which was ten minutes away. Carol was waiting in the lobby for her. They chatted for a bit and then headed to the yoga room. Carol filled Lori in that the resort, much to the course’s dismay, had not transformed one of the conference rooms into a yoga room, but had set up a tent over a concrete slat outside. Needless to say, it was boiling when Lori entered the room to lay out the mat. She could not even imagine how hot it must be when Carol did her normal afternoon class. Carol told her that the sun heated the concrete up so much one day that he feet hurt as the carpet was not that thick. The class was made up of 320 people and the room we practiced in was huge. It was interesting for Lori to practice with so many people and she was relieved when it finished and she had managed to stay in the room and do all the postures at least once. Lori, Carol and Andrea, a girl from the same studio in Houston as Carol, sent some time chatting after class. We went back to the hotel and Carol got changed. Ian came and picked us up and we went back to our hotel. Lori got cleaned up while Carol checked her emails. As the hotel she was staying at charged $14 a day to use the wireless and she did not have a computer, she had a bit of catching up to do. It was getting close to lunch time and we were all pretty hungry, so Lori made Cajun chicken sandwiches with coleslaw and broccoli salad for everyone. We all needed to pick up a few things at Wally World, so we piled into the car. We ended up going up and down most of the aisles to make sure to fully stock Carol up with things. As she did not have a car, she was normally limited to the expensive hotels around the hotel. The hotel also wanted to charge her $2 a day for a fridge, so we told her she should get an ice chest as then she could keep things cool for free using the hotel’s ice. She decided to get one and we filled it up once we got back to her hotel. As she had a roommate, we decided not to hang out there and went back to our hotel for awhile. Amy, Lori’s friend that lives outside of Los Angeles (LA), had called the previous day and told her that she was only an hour away and wanted to see if she could come see us for lunch on Sunday. It was going to work out, so Lori called her back and Amy and Kailynn were going to meet them the next day. We decided to go see the new StarTrek movie that night. We were not sure how crowded it would be given it had just come out, so we decided to buy tickets before going to dinner. Carol was in the mood for meat and we both thought Hamburgers sounded good, so Carol took us to Grill A Hamburger. There were about twenty different hamburgers on the menu. Ian was missing his hamburger with egg from Australia, so he ordered that with onion rings, fries and garlic mayo sauce. Lori had a spicy burger with jalapenos and Carol had one too.  Lori and Carol split sweet potato fries with mayo Dijon sauce. We finished dinner early and were able to make an early movie. Carol and Lori were both happy about that as they were both tired. Lori went into to save seats and sent Ian back for her jacket as it was cold in the theatre. Carol still was not there and Lori was starting to get worried when Carol appeared. She sat down and told them that they would not believe why she had been waiting for so long in the bathroom. She had been standing in line for awhile when she noticed that one of the other stalls was opened. She asked the lady in front of her if she wanted to go and she told her no, that she was waiting for the handicap one. Who would have ever thought that that toilet was so popular; only in Palm Springs.  The movie got off to an exciting start that held our attention for the next few hours. We all really enjoyed the movie. When we got outside, it had finally cooled down for the day and felt nice outside. We dropped Carol off at her hotel and Lori was soon asleep at their hotel.

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2009-05-17

As we did not have to check out of the hotel until noon, we slept in and then packed up. We picked Carol up a little after 11 am and then went back to the hotel to finish packing up and check out. Amy and Kailynn met us there at 12 pm. Carol knew of a cafe that did sandwiches and breakfast, so we all headed there. Kailynn had a chicken sandwich, Amy had eggs, hash browns and biscuits with white gravy, Carol had breakfast burritos with shredded beef, Ian had fries and a avocado garden salad and Lori had chicken, walnut and coconut salad on a bed of fruit. We all enjoyed visiting and catching up on everyone’s news. It was Amy and Kailynn’s first time to Palm Springs and they could not believe how hot it was there compared to LA, which was an hour away. When we left at 2 pm, it was over 100 degrees Fahrenheit already. We said goodbye to Amy and Kailynn and took Carol back to her hotel. We said our goodbyes and wished her luck with her last six weeks of training. We know it will be challenging for her, but something that she can do and Lori is looking forward to having a class instructed by Carol.