Well hello! Spring Break is officially coming to an end and we officially took our little trip to La Quinta. Whenever we return from a trip, no matter how small, I always feel like we conquered some big task. I know, I know. Vacations aren’t supposed to be a task. But when you add up the planning, packing, and entertaining along the way, it’s certainly no small feat. Thankfully, it was a good trip overall. With traffic, it took about 3 hours to get there (the one thing we didn’t miss during lockdowns!) and we stayed in a different part of town than we usually do. It was beautiful! Between being incredibly close to mountains, surrounded by palm trees and blue skies, the views never got old. The weather was spectacular too — even verging on the edge of “chilly” one day, which is really a blessing in the desert IMHO.

I was very irritated with myself that I remembered to pack all my camera accoutrements, but left the actual camera sitting by the front door on our way out. Paul assured me that the iPhone would suffice. And while it’s not the same, it sure is convenient in so many ways.

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lodging

I had this house (and about 10 others) bookmarked for future reference, since I am a serial vacation planner. I started getting the urge to seriously plan something around my birthday in January. We were casually looking at weekends, but I was just blown away by how expensive everything was. Times in the Palm Desert sure have changed, huh! Then we realized that before we knew it, Spring Break would be here! And it made a whole lotta sense to go during the week and save a chunk of money. So we booked! It was our favorite place, second only to this house, and it was perfect for what we needed. The pool was great for Stevie, and even more importantly the house was clean and spacious. We were very comfortable. The house was managed by a vacation rental company so all of our questions and concerns were answered really quickly.

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eating

Alright. I know there has to be some good eateries in La Quinta. I have faith that there are. It’s just that we didn’t really experience any of them on this trip. Haha! One thing we have realized this past year is that takeout is not our favorite. We actually love the experience of eating out — being in a restaurant somehow makes the food and experience better overall. We miss doing that a lot. So I am probably being extra critical here, but none of these places were it for me. We ate our breakfasts, lunches and snacks at the house. But were excited to get takeout for dinners so we didn’t have to cook and didn’t have to do any extra grocery shopping.

Our first night we ordered happy hour items from Stuft Pizza Bar & Grill. The menu looked BOMB, and maybe we should’ve stuck to pizza? It was fine, but just kind of cold and stale by the time we picked it up and brought everything back. Our second night we did sushi, and it wasn’t half bad (for desert sushi!) Our number one choice was only doing indoor dining, but we’re not there yet. So we ordered and ate way too much from Misaki Sushi & Grill. On our last night, we got Casa Mendoza. It was mostly just melted cheese. LOL. Listen, I consider myself a connoisseur of cheese, but I also like Mexican food. So it would’ve been nice to taste that. Next time, I gotta plan better. Or perhaps next time, we’ll get to eat at the restaurants!

going

One of the pleasant surprises about the house we were staying in was the surrounding area. The nearby village with shops and restaurants was a bonus. We didn’t spend time there, but I like easy access to things like that. There was also a bike and walking path that went around the whole neighborhood. I loved that. We were able to bring Stevie’s bike and get some walks in to kill time. Then just down the road, there were a slew of hiking trails. They ranged from easy to difficult (I’ll let you guess what we did) and while there wasn’t much to look at on our little trek, I very much enjoyed just being out in the dirty desert for a little while.

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wearing

So you all know by now how I feel about making graphics like this. (I hate it!) But even I had to admit that it was time to create another simple minimal packing list. It’s been awhile — and Lord knows they are the only thing giving my Pinterest boards any action. Now… I’m not sure how minimal I can claim it to be, considering I packed 2 bathing suits. But hear me out. One bathing suit is for sunning and the other is for momming. One can be a backup, in case the suit from your morning swim is still wet in the afternoon. And, never mind how small they are. Taking up practically no space at all. TWO bathing suits. Very necessary and still minimal in my mind.

I realize there aren’t many outfits to speak of here, and that’s just because we were traveling in times of Covid. We didn’t really have any plans other than lounging, swimming, and looking at 4 different walls than our own house. La Quinta is a pretty casual town anyway. But if we wanted to get a nice dinner, I probably would’ve added some bling-y sandals and jewelry to wear with my navy dress. Nothing too wild for this old bird.

Alright, I think that about sums it up! Who else has been to La Quinta / Palm Springs? And more importantly, what did you do for Spring Break?

loves,
jaana