24 (Instagram Worthy) hours in Palm Springs

I usually spend the 4th of July at Lake Tahoe, but since we were unable to wrangle our full group, I did the next best thing. One of my best friends from college – and one of the people who pushed me to take the leap and start writing this blog – Nicole lives in San Diego so I looked up flights and invited myself down. We’ve talked about going to Palm Springs a million times so I was able to coerce her into adding a quick overnight trip there to our itinerary.

Thanks to my frequent flyer status on my favorite airline, Virgin America, I decided to book the flight with points and with my status got upgraded to main cabin select! Virgin America is my ride or die airline since they go everywhere I nee to go within the US and their planes are by far the best. All it took was a quick 1:15 flight and I was stepping off the plane, into Nicole’s car, and we were off for Palm Springs!

We spent the next 24 hours stopping by ALL the Instagram hotspots and taking pictures while pretending to be former Bachelor contestants. Heyo Flat Tummy Tea – sponsor me! (JK. Well, kind of…)

For a dinosaur lover like me, a stop at the Cabazon Dinosaurs was a must. From posing with an brontosaurus to climbing inside the mouth of a T-Rex, this was a stop that any 5 year old would love. Nicole practically had to drag me out of there as we were melting under the desert sun.

Treating the T-Rex like a jungle gym and if you look closely you’ll see me clinging to the Brontosaurus and not wanting to leave.

Wearing our bestie shirts that will make another appearance and I can’t take Nicole anywhere haha

Playing arounding in the gift shop. Surprisingly, I was not technically too big for that ride, but I got weird looks from the kids.

One last dinosaur photobomb

Our next stop was to the luxurious Ritz Carlton Rancho Mirage that was just 10-15 minutes outside of downtown Palm Springs and set up into a hill, with incredible views.

The views right when we checked into our room and again as the sun  was setting. So stunning!

Since our room wasn’t ready yet, Nicole and I switched into our bathing suits and popped down to the pool. We made a wrong turn and couldn’t find the adults pool (shocker, right?), but the general one was still and they quickly got us set up with towels, lounge chairs, an umbrella, and of course, a glass of champage.

Every few minutes our server would come by and offer us fresh ice water and ask if we need anything. Even when we were standing in the pool and splashing some water up onto the edge so that we could rest our arms, our server quickly came over and brought a towel as a cool place to rest, fresh ice water, and even offer to take a picture saying “this would be such a cute instagram!”

For dinner, I’d highly recommend The Tropicale. The food was absolutely delicious. I had the Tom Yum Soup and the Chilled Iceberg and Lump Crap Wedge Salad. Our waitress warned us about the large portion sizes and I should have listened because my salad had probably about a baseball sized portion of crab on it! That said, we had a fridge in our hotel room so I took my salad leftovers back and snacked on them in the car the next day on our way back to San Diego. Now that I think of it, I sound like “Scallop Fingers” from this week’s episode of Bachelor in Paradise, so judge me if you want… In any case, we sat on the open air back patio, but the interior was absolutely beautiful so I wish I’d had a few minutes to take some pictures!

Outside the restaurant

The view from the restaurant’s back patio where we sat to eat

The next morning after filling up on the Ritz’s impressive brunch spread we explored the property a bit more and then took a drive around Palm Springs.

Caught scoping out the fire pit

The view out to the fire pit and over Palm Springs

My beautiful travel companion on the steps leading up into the hotel from the pool

Pretending to be instagram models at all the pretty houses:

Best Instagram Wives

After driving back from our amateur photo sessions, I saw something weird out of the corner of my eye and made Nicole turn off the main street. Lo and behold we found Robolights! Apparently this is a big attraction in the winter with Christmas lights, but it’s still crazy to see on a random day. Not so sure that I’d want this in my neighborhood because you know, nightmares (look at the crazy tank…), but a driveby is worthwhile.

The one thing we sadly were not able to do on our girls getaway was to have a drink at the Parker Palm Springs’ Lemonade stands. As a heads up – they only allow hotel patrons at the pool even if just for a drink. That said, the interior, including the small mirrored bar, was absolutely so of course we unabashedly took lots of pictures.

Artwork in the lobby

My gracefulness caught in action

Paparazzi for hire

All in all the service at the Ritz Carlton Rancho Mirage was amazing. I found the deal via my Amex Platinum Card – one that I highly recommend for people who travel a lot because the perks and points you accrue are amazing. Now, you can get the card made of metal which feels pretty baller. We were able to get a room, $100 onsite restaurant credit, free breakfast (valued at over $30/person), late checkout, and an upgraded view room for just $220. While it was pretty scorching in Palm Springs, it was a nice warm up in comparison to the June Gloom that was continuing in San Francisco. Even though it was a holiday weekend, it paid off big time to visit in the “off season.” From the fresh ice water at every turn to the bath salts they offered for our in room jacuzzi. I would absolutely return (maybe) even paying full price. 

Plus one final pic because we’re corny and of course bought matching Show Me Your Mumu tanks 🙂

24 hours in Palm Springs  ✓!

xx

Nicole