Hoot n’ Annie Visit the Desert: Adventure #11

A few weeks back my (Hoot) sister and niece were coming to California from Texas to visit our Grandmother (we call her Nana, so from here forth let it be) that lives in Palm Springs…so, we left our little paradise (Paso Robles) and drove down to the desert for a mini family reunion.

The day we arrived, I (Hoot) actually had a Twitter wine tasting to partake in called #CCwineday, which stood for Central Coast wine day and was covering wines from Monterey to Santa Barbara. I couldn’t miss out on this so we took our Central Coast wines to Nana’s house (my sis and Nana got to help and see a little bit of what I do with Twitter/social media) and I spent my hour or so doing the online wine chat.

What to do in the Desert?

A few highlights from the trip were going to Pacifica Seafood which is a great restaurant in Palm Springs….awesome vibe, great food, and a really cool patio to sit on if you can get a spot. I must admit, it was also good people watching that night as some of the desert freaks were out…if you are unsure what I speak of, you need to visit!

On the Friday we were down there we went to the Living Desert, which is this awesome spot with everything from this huge miniature scene including railroads, little towns, waterfall, and so much more. The detail put into project is pretty intense…see pics in the slideshow for what I’m talking about. The Living Desert also has tons of native plants and all kinds of animals ranging from a giraffe (and a baby one right now) to birds to butterflies. This place is pretty interesting and it’s great they have the sponsors and donors they have in order to keep running.

Another cool spot we went to is called Jackalope Ranch…I’m not even sure how to describe it but the bar is HUGE and filled with awesome but the patio (where we ate lunch) feels like an oasis in the desert. This place was gorgeous, complete with waterfall and pond, sitting area next to that, heaters if you needed them, outside bar, and a very well manicured landscape. This place quickly became our favorite!!! We didn’t want to leave!

These were some of the things we did on this quick trip to visit some of my family. It had been a couple years or so since I had seen my sister and niece, and roughly a year since I had seen Nana…so it was good for all of us to be together for a few days. Nana was a huge factor in our growing up….we spent more time with her (and Papa but he passed in 1996) than most grand kids spend with their grandparents, but it was a very good thing for us!

So, anyway…that was our Palm Springs adventure in a nut shell. I don’t want to bore you with all the little details but as we always say, the point is to get out there and adventure. Go do things you’ve never done before, go to places you’ve never been before, enjoy your family, and live life. Very little in life go as we “plan” for it to go, so soak up the adventure and live a little. Cheers and have a great weekend.

Here’s the visual tour for your enjoyment….