The End!

So what more can I say? Tuesday was hot. Like 115 degrees hot. It was mostly pool time but seriously when you are that hot, you can't really lay out. We tried (in vane) to get floatie rafts for the pool one morning (Sunday? Or was it Monday?) and hit the Target and the Walmarts, and the only thing we could find were noodles. Which were fine, but I didn't have the balls to do that spider-looking thing that Cece did with them, and we only bought one each because we thought they were $10 but they ended up only being like $3. $6 I can leave behind, but $20? I'm too much of a tightwad these days. Silly me. We made it to about 2:30 or so in that kind of heat then went to clean up and hit the outlet mall in Cabazon.

It's this superfantastic high end one (though it did have the regular outlet mall stores in it too) and it was huge. It was sixteen miles away (I know this) and though we hit quite a bit of it, my heart wasn't in it and all I purchased was lotions from L'Occitaine. After the mall we decided to check out the other desert cities, beginning at Palm Desert and working our way back to Palm Springs, googling things like The Betty Ford Clinic along the way. We almost found it, too, but apparently it's not as easy to find as it used to be back in the day. We put a lot of miles on that Versa, mostly because I have no sense of direction and get lost and turned around easily, but the whole area is beautiful. It was dark when we made it up the 111 back into our home turf, but we stopped at a shop or two before heading back to the casita to pack up.

We had to be out of the unit by 11ish, and I thought it might be a good idea to get out of the desert and back closer to the ocean before it got all shitty on the 91, so we laid out first thing Wednesday for a couple of hours and then went back to clear out. We drove west(ish) and hit Newport Beach for a little bit, chatted with a lady about a beach front rental, and then headed up PCH to Huntington. Wow has that area changed! I realize it's been something like 20 years since I've been there but for Pete's sake. There's a Duke's there, for crying out loud. I bought a sweatshirt.

Made it to the airport relatively unscathed (except for almost getting killed in the glorieta that came out of no where and then not being able to find a gas station) and in plenty of time, and got back to Portland around 9pm. I was home by 10. It was really a great trip and now that I am back and have worked a full day my mind has been completely drained of anything vacation-like.

But I'll go back. I may not be that tan, but for under $500 per person, August in the desert is the only way to go.