So I went to Palm Springs on Saturday

It's really hard for me to come back from vacation and give a rundown because it begins to sound all "trip-report"-y and nobody does trip reporting like Janie. So I won't give too much of a blow by blow, but we'll see if we can't hit some of the key moments.

First off, yeah. Palm Springs in August? Awesome. It's somewhat dead on account of the heat, and for someone who doesn't like crowds (people), it worked out pretty well. Cece was on time for the pickup and we didn't have much waiting around for the flight. That's another huge plus - 2 hour flight. Dig it. I flipping hate taking off, and only having to do it twice in five days was pretty awesome.

So right out of the gate (so to speak) things were looking good. Long Beach Airport is tiny, so the only real wait we had that morning was for the rental car, a spiffy little Nissan Versa (I've never heard of one either) for a steal of a deal on Priceline. I'd do that again. We hit Lakewood Blvd to the 91 (after having to flip the first bitch of the vacation pretty much almost immediately - one could argue that I shouldn't be the one behind the wheel since I have zero sense of direction and am easily distracted), then took the 91 to the 60/215/60 to the 10 to the 111. Take a left on San Rafael. Boom.

I can't remember who it was that told Cece to make sure she tried In-n-Out Burger, but since it was like 11am on Saturday morning we decided to make that the first stop. I can't remember what possessed me to find that In-n-Out in Yorba Linda, but this is how fate works. So since I haven't lived in Southern California in something like 17 years (seriously, I can't believe how old I am), I figured I'd stop in the areas that were more familiar. Taking the 91, Yorba Linda seemed to fit the bill. My brother Chris and his family live there, and I've been there within the last five years. I put Cece to work on finding the In-n-Out on her phone but we were having some challenges (she hadn't added the "Around Me" app yet) so I took an exit (Weir Canyon? I think) thinking maybe it was over in that super gigantic strip mall that has the Target and the Pavillions and all that. It wasn't there so I parked for a bit to try to find the thing on MY phone (all this matters). I said, You know, I COULD call Jill (Chris's wife) and ask her, but then she'll make us stop and I don't want to, we're on a mission. We were within blocks of their house and it was just not a part of the original agenda - in theory we wanted to be poolside by noonish (but we were already behind that schedule. Still...).

So I decide (I'm not sure why) to drive back out of the gigantic strip mall and get back on Weir Canyon and we have to turn left at a light that had two left turn lanes and sure as shit, there, next to me in the other turn lane, is my brother Chris. Busted. I yelled for him and he looked, shocked, since nobody REALLY knew I was around, and then I yelled, Where's the In-n-Out Burger? He pointed toward Imperial Hwy and yelled stuff I couldn't hear, but in the end, Jill phoned and gave me directions and then DEMANDED we swing by. I caved. We did. Cece got her burger and fries and also got to see Chris's pool and we spent an hour chit-chatting.

It bears noting that once we got back on the freeway again there was another In-n-Out about two exits away.

But it was fun and in true Jill fashion, we walked away with a whole bunch of stuff that she markets.

We made it to Palm Springs at around 3pm I think, I can't really remember. The unit (the $49-per-night condo that everyone was convinced would be a dump) was great. We changed clothes and headed out downtown to get some water and beer and chippage to just have, and stopped at a bar for a couple of Stellas. It was hot. We made it back to the pool by around 5:30 or so, past sun time, but with time to swim a bit and cool off and chat with two women who were out from Santa Monica for the weekend.

So in my attempt to be brief, we're only at day one. I can't believe I've written THIS much, frankly, so I might have to actually extend this. For those of you that hang on my every word, this is fantastic news. For those of you who just have me on your Reader and don't really linger over the words, sorry. You're stuck with another couple of posts before we're through this one.

Until later...