2022 - Palm Spring Trip

Alice, Helen, Mimi, and Fei planned this trip since early January of this year. Later, with covid issues still going on, it was postponed to late March. On March 21's group call, we decided to move forward for this trip. It was a trip for 4 lifetime close friends getting together, chatting, shopping, dinning, and enjoying life together. Since we have been in Palm Spring area many times, there is no need of any excursions of sightseeing, we just want to be together and enjoy each other's company. 

March 28, 2022 - Travel to Palm Spring, CA

Mimi and Helen had a one hour flight form San Francisco to Palm Spring arriving in early afternoon.  Alice and Fei took a United flight from Houston to Palm Spring arriving in late afternoon. By the time Alice and Fei arrived, Mimi and Helen already picked up the rental car, checked into our Villa and bought essential groceries of water, milk and fruits. What a wonderful work they did!

Mimi came to the airport to pick up Alice and Fei. We went to our Villa directly to join Helen. We were overjoyed to see each other. It had been about one year since our last Hawaii trip in 2021.

The Sundance Villas is our first time staying in Palm Spring. It has personal pools and spas. This vacation home rental is private, quiet and beautifully decorated.  We enjoyed the stay very much.

For dinner, Helen reserved a table for us at the Eight4Nine Restaurant in Palm Spring. We shared fish, chicken, beef, and a large plate of salad.

We had a belated birthday celebration for Mimi and Fei. Just a note, Mimi and Fei have been friends for over 45 years but they did not know they shared the same birthday (same date, but a different year, and Mimi is younger) until a couple of years ago.

March 29, 2022 - 2nd day in Palm Spring

We all got up around 7:30am.  Mimi was making coffee, Helen was foaming the milk (for coffee latte) and making avocado/tuna toast, Fei was making oatmeal, and Alice was making red bean soup and getting tea leaf eggs ready.  What a team work!

We planned to go to Cabazon Outlets for shopping today.  It's located only 18 minutes from our Villa.  There are over 100 stores in this outlet, but only several selected stores we are interested in. We bought sweaters, pants, coats, and purses.

Again, Helen reserved a table for dinner at the Miro's Restaurant in Palm Spring.  We shared appetizers of Escargot and cabbage rolls. We also shared main dishes of their combo platter with cabbage rolls, goulash, chicken paperkash, and mediterranean chicken. The restaurant was crowded with local people and out of town visitors.  Thanks to Helen for this forward thinking of making dinner reservations prior to our trip.  Otherwise, we will have a hard time on finding a nice place for dinner.

March 30, 2022 - 3rd day in Palm Spring/Palm Desert

After breakfast, we dressed up and took many pictures around the pool. It was a beautiful day with blue sky and white clouds.

We went to El Paseo mile-long shopping district in Palm Desert downtown for shopping. There are shops, restaurants, art, and more.  Some of us bought sunglasses, T-shirts, and sandals.

For lunch, we had pizza, soup/salad. 

Helen reserved a table for us at the Le Vallauris Restaurant.  What a treat to explore outdoor dining in Palm Spring. We shared apprizers but ordered individual dishes for ourselves. The Duck Cassoulet is the best.

March 31, 2022 - 4th day in Palm Spring

Today, we decided to to explore downtown Palm Spring. At lunch time, Helen suggested to try Farm, which is a traditional French style restaurant in the historic Plaza. The atmosphere was very nice (we were outside), the service was excellent and the food was delicious.

In their ladies restroom, we noticed the hand cream smells good and feels wonderful. Immediately, we took a picture of this hand cream with a brand name of 'Cowshed'. At night, we all went to 'Cowshed' website and ordered hand soap, hand cream and soap.

There are many shoppers on the main drag.  Mimi recognized one of the hat store.  We all went in to try out different kinds of sun hat.  Some are good for causal walking under the sun, some are good for travel (foldable and with neck tie). Each one of us bought one or more hats and modeled outside of the store. What a lovely experience!

We had salad, eggs, tuna in the refrigerator.  Since this is our last night at the Villa, we need to clean the refrigerator.  Helen quickly made delicious salad for us.

After dinner, Helen shared 10 quick meal recipes with us. It covers beef, chicken, fish, and vegetables. These are her lifelong cooking experiences of making wonderful quick meals. We wrote it down and will try out these dishes later.

We continued our chatting until Mimi could not hold on anymore.  We went to bed around 11:30pm.

April 1, 2022 - Travel day for getting back to home town

Today is the travel day for going home from Palm Spring.  Helen and Mimi had an earlier flight. Therefore, we did not have any particular agenda, just get ready to drop off Helen and Mimi first at the airport. The return flight to Houston for Fei and Alice had to make a stop at Denver, and the 1st leg from Palm Spring to Denver was delayed.  Luckily the distance between terminals were close enough in Denver. So, Alice and Fei made the connection flight on time.  

We had a wonderful time in Palm Spring and will definitely plan another get-together for next year. We all treasure our time together.