Palm Springs and Beyond

I left and have returned. Had a blast!!!!!!!!

We flew in Friday night about 11:00 PM. The flight down was hell. We had a layover in SF, and we got stuck in bad weather in a holding pattern. I truly thought I was going to spew forth all contents of my tummy. Thank God I din’t. Anyway we had about 40 minutes to regroup before being loaded back into another cattle car. I was sequestered in a middle seat. AAARRRGGG!. Kurt had the window seat & some other man had the isle seat. During this flight I was serenaded with stereo snoring. Ode to sleep.

When we FINALLY reached Palm Springs, Kurt informed me he had not brought his cell phone. I had to use a public phone (eeewwww) to call Karen to get the directions.

So we headed to the rental car place and were informed their computers were down. (Par for the course) Anyway, we still scored a decent mode of transportation, a Pontiac Grand AM. It fit Kurt. And that my friends is really the all important factor.

We arrived at the sister’s house about 15 minutes later. She lives close. But then again, everything is fairly close in Palm Springs.

My sister has a beautiful house. VERY upscale, VERY clean. My sister's house is, shall we say impecable. We were given the guest room which only has a double bed. Remember Kurt is 6’4” and close to 300lb’s. Karen offered to blow up the Euro bed, an air bed. But we, being completely stupid, told her that was not necessary. The double bed would be fine. NO IT WAS NOT!!! Upon getting in the bed Kurt banged his head on the head board then proceeded to gack his toe on the foot board. I wish I could say I was all sympathy and concern, but… well y’all know better. I laughed, then, asked if he was ok. Very caring wife am I. Around 2:30 Am Kurt rolls off the bed completely stressed, tired, and a tad bit grumpy. He proceeds to start pulling my covers off of me saying he is going to sleep on the floor. I of course being the sympathetic wife, say “What the hell? Go sleep on the couch. You can not have my blankets.” He grumpily got back in bed and took up what little space was left. I realized should I EVER want to have ANY sleep that night I better go and find him a blanket of some kind and kick his butt to the floor. I did and he went. Next night he slept on the Euro air bed. I slept great!!

Friday was driving day. Karen, my sister, lives in Palm Springs. Justin, my son, lives in Lake Elsinore. Arlette, my friend since I was three, lives in San Diego. I was determined to visit each and every one of them. So we took off around 10:00 AM drove an two hours to lake Elsinore. Chatted a bit w/ Stephanie, Justin’s wife, and then went to lunch with Justin and Kaylee. Stephanie was going shopping with her mother. (BTW I don’t like the mother of Stephanie much) After lunch we packed Kaylee into the car and headed South. Drove another two hours arrived in San Diego. I had planned to just go straight to Arlette’s, but husband insisted we call first. Again, I had to use a public phone. Thus, effectively spreading some cheap ass cologne all over the side of my face. I HATE PUBLIC PHONES. Oh, and of course the phone didn’t work. So I wasted .75 for nothing. We showed up at Arlette’s. Kaylee played with Sophia & Sebastian and the doggy. We had a wonderful visit. Arelette has done AMAZING things to her home. She is a stay at home mom and her husband J.P. is a 4th grade teacher. Arlette is only person I know who truly can take five cents and buy $100 dollars worth of stuff and get change back.

After the Arlette adventure we headed back to lake Elsinore. Now, remember it is Friday. We left Arlette’a around 6:00 PM. This is Southern California. They have six lane freeways. We drove at the whopping high speed of 15 MPH. All was going well, when Kaylee my adorable granddaughter started fussing. I handed her some water, some crackers, but she just fussed and wiggled. I chalked it up to boredom. That is until the reenactment of the pea soup scene in the Exorcist. (For some one so little that girl can produce an amazing amount of vomit.) we pull over get her out of her vomit strewn car seat and proceed to try to clean everything up, which I may add is kinda difficult when you have ONLY diapers, a spare set of clothes, and a bottle of water. Yet we did prevail. We cleaned the little girl up and headed back to her daddy’s place. Kaylee not really pleased with the idea of continuing to sit in a vomit smelling car seat voiced her displeasure the entire two & ½ hours it took to get her home.

Well that was Friday. Saturday was spent relaxing and taking in an art show. We saw some fantastic pieces, some NOT so nice pieces, some very overpriced pieces and one absolutely incredible artist. I’ll post his web site on my blog tomorrow. You defiantly must check out his stuff. It is incredible. Karen & Dr. Smith purcased two really great pieces. I approved.

We finished Saturday off with some really great barb-b-que and watched Kevin Kline in Delovely. Great music, good flick.

Sunday was spent washing some clothes, repacking, eating blueberry pancakes made by Karen, introducing Kurt to a date shake and In & Out Burger, and taking in a bit of gambling at a local casino. A wonderful day.


We kinda pushed the envelope getting to the airport. We were not flying home together. Kurt had a direct flight that left at 5:22 and arrived at 7:30 in Portland. We got him to the airport at 5:03. My flight left at 6:10. I arrived at 11:05 PM. Yes, I did fly via Siberia. And, yes I AGAIN had a middle seat. What is with the fat girl having to sit in a middle seat??????

And that my friends is my mini-vacation in a nutshell.