summer getaways: palm springs

p a l m  s p r i n g s  ;  "the people are the city"

My best friend, Becky, and I have been wanting to plan a get-away for a while; just the two of us. We knew we wanted it to be close enough to drive to, but far enough away where we felt like it was an actual vacation. Living in Orange County, we have the best of most worlds. The city, the beach, the mountains and the desert. We chose the desert, and started planning a two night/three day trip to Palm Springs. 

If you know me, then you know I always look for a deal. I use Travelzoo as a good tool to find the cheapest hotels. I found the cutest little boutique hotel called Alcazar. It had great reviews, good rates and it was right downtown. I was especially sold once I saw that "townie bikes" came with our room purchase. Yes, please! 

You know how there are so many different types of vacations? There are the ones where you plan out every detail, and there are ones where you do lots of excursions and touristy things. And, then there are also the ones where you go with zero plans, except to swim, relax and have fun. That was the getaway we both wanted. 

On our way out to Palm Springs, we made a stop at an awesome brewery called Hangar 24. I recommend the Orange Wheat! We went once before for my bachelorette, so we wanted to go again. It was nice to make a pit stop to get our vacation started off on the right foot!

Hangar 24 - Orange Wheat

We got to Palm Springs on Sunday afternoon, and scoped out our hotel. It was the perfect place for a relaxing trip. The property is quaint and has only 30-something rooms, with one pool and one jacuzzi. I would definitely recommend it, and especially going on a Sunday-Tuesday. Better rates and less people! The hotel is very modern, and the landscaping was beautiful. On the hotel property, there are two other really neat places: Cheeky's & Birba. Cheeky's is a famous breakfast/lunch spot in Palm Springs, so we knew we needed to go there! Birba is this bar and lounge, with really neat cocktails and an urban atmosphere. I loved that we didn't have to go very far for anything. We could walk or bike everywhere. That's my kind of vacation! 

becky // townie bikes // our hotel

french toast breakfast at Cheeky's

While we were in Palm Springs, I told Becky that I wanted to branch out with my choice of drinks. I am a beer girl, and that has always been my go-to. I wanted to try different drinks, and step out of my comfort zone a bit! I even tried a Churrotini (great concept, but I disliked it so much that I sent it back!). Our go-to for this trip turned out to be something I never thought I'd enjoy: margaritas! I've never been a fan of tequila. Maybe it was the fact we were on vacation in the desert, or that it was 100+ degrees, but I was really craving margaritas! I'm a fan now :)

homemade margaritas, thanks to Trader Joe's

Overall, this was one of my favorite little getaways. It was great to spend quality time with my best friend, and to embrace a little R&R. Palm Springs is such a neat little desert town, and I look forward to going back someday.

getting ready for the pool!

riding bikes around town

XO

Brenda

life is meant for getaways

Jamey and I have been busy just about every weekend for the last two months. Date nights were placed on the back burner, and our weekends would just fly by. I mentioned to Jamey that I was craving some genuine quality time with him. I love my husband for a billion reasons, but one of the things I love most is how intentional he is. He listens to my needs, and he does his best to meet them. 

Last week, I told him that we had zero plans that weekend. He told me that he actually had a surprise planned for me that Saturday. I was so excited! I love surprises. He wouldn't give me anymore information, and I didn't even bother to ask, because I didn't want to ruin it! I had a couple guesses in my mind of where we were going, but I didn't bug him about it.

While I was getting ready Saturday morning, he went to his parents to pick up a memory foam mattress, because we were planning to sleep in our car that night. We hit the road around 9:30am. We got on the 5 North, so that eliminated San Diego (one of my guesses). I was on cloud nine. I had my favorite person beside me, good jams playing, the most perfect weather, and a day full of mystery & adventure in front of us… I couldn't be happier!

We had been driving for a couple hours, and since I happen to be horrible with directions/geography, I had no clue where we were. I eventually saw signs for Santa Barbara, and he started to pull off the freeway. He made it clear to me that this was just a stop. He drove around for a bit, and then eventually pulled into a brewery parking lot! We were going beer tasting! :) We've been wanting to do this more lately, so I was really excited! It was an awesome brewery/tasting room called Figuerora Mountain Brewing Co. It was perfect. We bought a flight of four different beers. It was so fun to relax and be in a new atmosphere. Plus, drinking good beer is always a perk!

We got back on the road, and I was still clueless as to where we were going. An hour later, I see a sign for Solvang, and it hit me; I knew where we were going! Solvang is such a cute, little danish town about an hour from Santa Barbara. We walked around and looked at all the precious shops. I love that when you're walking around Solvang, you feel like for a moment in time, you're not in America anymore. That was the best part! Another thing I noticed about Solvang was, you can't walk further than 5 feet without running into either a winery, coffee shop or bakery. Man, you're set! 

Solvang is the definition of cute

We decided we wanted to end our evening in Santa Barbara. We didn't have any set plans, but that's what made it so fun! I kept saying to Jamey, "we can do anything we want!". I believe there's a time for plans, and a time for spontaneity. This was a time for spontaneity. We looked up a drive-in theater, and found one right outside of SB. They were showing the Lego Movie, which Jamey's been wanting to see, so it was perfect. I mentioned earlier that we were planning to sleep in our. This wasn't because we couldn't stay in a hotel, but because we wanted to do something we'd never done before! We have a Kia Soul, so we laid our seats down flat and filled the trunk area with blankets and pillows to make it even with the seats. Then, we laid a memory foam on top of that and voilà! we had a make-shift bed :) After we watched the movie, we started driving around SB to find a spot to go to sleep. We ended up in a rather nice neighborhood, overlooking the ocean. I'd say our spot was better than most hotels we could have stayed in. We woke up to the sun rising over the Pacific and, my God, was that breathtaking.

The view of the Pacific from our backseat

I loved our little surprise getaway. It was so much fun, and it was really needed. I love taking the time to enjoy our lives and the spare time we have. It's so important to invest and be intentional with one another. Now, it's my turn to plan a little surprise getaway for Jamey, and I can tell you my brain is already filling up with fun ideas!

XO
Brenda

Solvang is also full of awesome photo ops

Babe alert.