West Coast Adventure {Day 7}

Day 7 – Palm Springs, CA

Day 7 was going to start with driving out to the middle of nowhere (in the desert) to see Salvation Mountain, but I had not been a fan of driving in the desert thus far, plus I wanted as much time in Palm Springs as possible. Salvation Mountain, I will see you another day.

A lot of blogs I read before this trip raved about The Parker Hotel, so I added it to our list of places to go. I was excited to see the hotel and also eat at Norma’s for breakfast – which also had rave reviews. It was a short minute or two drive from our hotel, and we made it there at about 10 a.m. When we got there, we were immediately directed to valet which I was not expecting. Merry and I pulled up, in our super-messy-because-that’s-what-happens-on-road-trips car where the young valet attendant told us politely that it was a valet-only property – BUT, the valet was complimentary. (I’m pretty sure he added that last bit for our benefit, because we were clearly not the kind of girls who were used to using valet service.) As he got us all prepped with a ticket and everything he made small talk (to lessen our awkwardness) and we found out he lived in Washington for a bit. Small world! I reluctantly handed him the keys to our cluttered-mess on wheels, and we were off to find Norma’s.

It didn’t take long, as Norma’s was quite close to the valet drop-off and we were happy to see that there weren’t a lot of people there. We got a table right away, and we chose to sit outside. The vibe at Norma’s is retro chic, and I loved it. We each ordered an iced vanilla latte which was perfection in the warm Palm Springs weather. They bring out a complimentary shot of a random smoothie before you order which is cool. Everything on the menu sounded good, but we decided to split the crunchy french toast which is coated in Rice Krispies – YUM. I’m so glad we split because it was HUGE. We were so stuffed having shared it, I can’t even imagine if we’d each gotten our own!

After a lovely meal with great service, we set off to explore the grounds at the Parker, which are so cool and chic. There are palm tree lined pathways through lush greenery that lead to random sitting areas and lawn games. We found hammocks and had to lay in them for a little bit:)

After The Parker we went back to El Saguaro to spend the afternoon by the pool. It was another hot, hot day, over a hundred degrees. We ordered a beer at the pool bar and r e l a x e d.

For dinner we went to happy hour at Trio, downtown Palm Springs. Their happy hour specials were great, and we each got a margarita, plus we shared ceviche and house made potato chips. The potato chips were SO good!

After dinner we stopped by Great Shakes for a milkshake on our way back to the hotel. It was a cute little place with a ton of fun milkshake flavors. I got salted caramel – always a great choice.

The rest of our night was spent blowing up a donut floatie, laughing until it hurt, and more pool time. Oh, and trying to make our time left in Palm Springs last as long as possible.

The Parker Hotel, Palm Springs, CA