Our Getaway to Palm Springs

So this previous weekend my dear husband and I took off to Palm Springs for what he defined as an S.E.S weekend. Two of those letters stand for Sleep and Eat the other well I am sure you can figure it out :) We were excited to be hitting up some warm weather, but got a little more then we bargained for. Between 10am and 4pm it was roughly 108-113 degrees outside. Let's just say it was HOT. Thank goodness it's the desert and thus a dry heat, because that same weather on the East Coast would be paired with 90% humidity and I hate humidity. But besides the overly hot weather, I had an absolutely perfect time.

Here's the skinny on our 3 days and 2 nights in the desert:

Friday Morning:
Slept in :), then packed and took-off around 11am. Hector grabbed a breakfast burrito on the way and I ate donuts. Generally I am 100% of the time up for a B-fast Burrito, but donuts were calling my name and chocolate milk....yum yum yum 

The back road to Palm Springs gets super crazy and with Hector driving 50+mph on the tight turns I had to hold on.

I promise I am not overreacting...

Friday Afternoon: 
We checked into the Hyatt Regency Palm Springs and after just finishing up a 15 million dollar renovation I must say this place was very nice! I would give it 4 out of 5 stars. I take away 1 star because although we got a great rate ($90 a night) they only served a breakfast buffet for $20 a person and their room service menu was atrocious. So I wasn't thrilled with their supposedly great food options. Oh well, not a huge problem since there was about 100 different restaurants and cafes within walking distance. Also parking was $15 a night and I was under the impression that this was included in the $12 per night resort fee. So we ditched the underground parking lot for street parking and our car was perfectly fine. I personally hate paying for things that you really shouldn't have to. Anyways here are some picture of our room. It was a Premier King Suite at $90 a night (govt rate) that was roughly 700 sq feet and had beautiful views of the desert mountains.

The living room area. Larger then our condo...

No spa tub, but a super nice shower/tub combo and vanity area. 

King bed that was a little harder then I prefer, but still comfortable. Huge flat screen TV's though in both the bedroom and living room.

The view from our balcony. I thought it was beautiful. Better then looking at the pool or street. Apparently it was an upgrade from the room we booked. We also ordered an in-room amenity online which was suppose to be this grand fruit platter, well it was more like a fruit bowl and it was nothing spectacular. It was $20, but they didn't charge us for it because of our anniversary. It always pays to tell the hotel when you are celebrating something :) Trust me. Now that I think about it, I should've ordered the cheese and fruit platter for $50 and the chocolate dipped strawberries for $35. Next time...

Friday Night:

So after we checked-in we took a very nice nap in a freezing cold room. It was bliss. We woke up around 3:30pm and decided to hit up the pool before dinner. We lounged about for 2 hours and then headed up to our room to get ready for our 7pm (unnecessary) reservations at Miro's Restaurant. When we arrived the restaurant was completely empty, besides 2 Senior Citizens who were boozing it up in the corner ; ) But honestly it was soooo nice. We felt like we had the restaurant to ourselves. We came here because the reviews were impeccable. I ordered the 10 oz filet mignon on a bed of mashed potatoes, with steamed vegetables and a green peppercorn sauce. It was superb! Hector got the Shrimp and Scallops platter with saffron rice and steamed vegetables and he asked me if I could re-make the sauce at home if I tasted it. Unfortunately, I am not that amazing. Hector's dinner also came with some really great Lentil soup and I opted for the Caesar salad to get in some greens while they sounded good. All in all I would definitely come back. It's not your local Chili's so be prepared to drop a bill or two, but so worth it. 

Outside Miro's Restaurant - trying to rock the bump :)

Another one outside, taken by Miro himself.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel, took another nap and then headed out to the Palm Canyon Drive Strip around 10pm. It was surprisingly packed, probably because the 90 degree weather at 10pm was rather comfortable. We walked around, scouted out possible breakfast options and of course got some Ben n Jerry's ice cream. It was delicious, although 2 minutes after ordering I got a horrible stomach ached (probably from that delicious 10oz filet) and only had 1 bite. The dinner was totally worth the stomach ache. I just don't think my pregnant self handles red meat well. 

Saturday Morning:

We slept in till 11:00ish... :) it was divine. Then we headed out for breakfast and Yelped this rather awesome restaurant called Elmer's. To be honest if you saw it from the street you would think it was a Denny's, but their menu rocks. For starters they have this dish called a dutch baby and it looks interesting and apparently is delicious, but we both had cravings for something more familiar. Hector ordered the Strawberry-Rhubarb French Toast and I got the 1/2 Rancher's Breakfast. It came with scrambled eggs, 2 slices of the thickest most amazing bacon in the world (seriously we thought they had just butchered the pig in the back) a homemade biscuit and northwest breakfast potatoes. I give it a 5 out of 5. It was a simple plate, but executed with perfection. Hector also loved his Strawberry-Rhubarb French Toast. The jam/jelly/sauce topping tasted fresh and apparently was housemade. We scored with 2 orange juices at a $1 a piece (unheard of ?!, can we say overpriced Hash House with your $6 juices!!) We both left with zero on our plates and only $22 from the pocket including a good tip. This shows that great food does not always come with a high price tag.

Outside Elmer's Restaurant

After breakfast we hit up the local redbox to rent a movie and grab some C-Bean. We took a chance with The Road, starring Viggo Mortensen (the middle aged love of my life and the reason why I now have a weird thing for Russian Mobsters and Russian Names - watch Eastern Promises if your curious) and Charlize Theron. I LOVED it. It was intense, dramatic, interesting and surprisingly creepy in all the right places.  Would definitely recommend to any one who is a movie buff. 

If your a Guy Pearce fan, don't expect much from this. His role is all of 2 minutes at the very end. Robert Duvall or Charlize Theron deserved title credits more then he did. Although he did good.

After watching The Road on our mac we took another well deserved nap and woke up somewhere around 4pmish. We hit the pool again and relaxed while soaking up the 100 degree sun rays. I think around 7ish we headed back to our room and tried to decide on a place for dinner. Neither one of us was starving and for some reason we both wanted burgers so we went to a somewhat favorite of the masses and hit up Ruby's Diner. No need to go into the deets about this place, you can visit one yourself in our own Mission Valley mall ; )

After dinner we walked around for awhile, took a detour to take some pic's of a restaurant with a funny name that our friend Jason would appreciate ("Wang's in the Desert"), and then hit up some more ice cream on the way back to the hotel and finished the evening with a little tv and good conversation :)

Sunday Morning:

We were sort of missing our pup Harley so neither of us really wanted to prolong the day with extensive sun-bathing. We decided to pack up the car and hit the road around 11:00am. We picked up Harley at my sister's around 12:45ish and then grabbed subway before going home. It was the perfect ending to a perfect, relaxing weekend. Hector did have to come back and pack for a 2 week training course in Georgia the next morning, but all in all it was a sweet getaway and an awesome way to celebrate 4 years of marriage!

** In the past I have only stayed at Rancho Mirage, so this was our first trip to PALM SPRINGS. I think it has grown tremendously over the years, because this place was definitely awesome. It has been known as the less desirable spot to stay in comparison to Rancho or La Quinta, but I give it 2 thumbs up... just make sure you stay on or near the Palm Canyon Drive strip :)