I was so excited to see the Palm Springs design challenge! I love Palm Springs! We travelled as a family in December 2024 through to January 2025. As the name The Dutch Kiwi suggests, I am Dutch but live in New Zealand. I had not been back to the Netherlands in way too long, so it was time for a visit with a USA stop on the way. The first stop...Palm Springs of course!!!
We flew into Los Angeles arriving at the crack of dawn. Since we arrived so early we decided it wasn't worth waiting around for a motel or paying for two nights to check in extra early. We grabbed the rental car and made our way from LAX to Palm Springs, with many stops to make sure we stayed awake...which was much harder than I had imagined. But it is a 12 hour flight from Auckland, New Zealand to Los Angeles, so we were running a little low on sleep!
Palm Springs was the perfect place to relax and enjoy the warmth which was plenty warm enough for me even in winter. When we arrived much too early, the motel was kind enough to let us swim in the pool while we waited for our room to be ready. I had a soothing and relaxing swim followed by a lovely little nap on the pool lounger. Then we got a huge shock at the supermarket, the prices were so much higher than expected. Especially when we doubled everything to convert back to New Zealand dollars. Luckily we learned that Wallmart and Costco had much cheaper options!
We went for a morning hike just on the outskirts of Palm Springs, the South Lykken Trail. It was lovely, so cool to look back and see the green of Palm Springs like an oasis in the middle of the desert landscape. One piece of advice, take water with you! We were so glad we did, especially since we're not accustomed to the dry desert air.
Of course I had to include my favourite Palm Springs activity. It was definitely the Aerial Tramway. To be honest I was more than a little scared, as aerial anything is not really my thing. Thankfully, I was bullied into it my husband and teenagers. The views were absolutely stunning, especially in the evening. The photo below is of the night lights of Palm Springs. By the time we made the trip down I actually enjoyed the ride. The operator had music playing and lights, so it had a real party vibe. I am very glad we went! Next time I would go a little earlier and have more daylight time on the top of the mountain to look around. The front is shear rock faces, but once you're at the top it just looked like a pine forest from what we could see in the little light that was left. But hey, there is always next time!
When I saw the design challenge prompt come out, and I was so happy! I got to relive a piece of my holiday and look through all the photos for inspiration. Of course the Aerial Tramway, Visitor Centre, Mid Century Modern House, Dinosaur and Palm trees all had to feature.
I hope you like it!
Sending love to Palm Springs for an amazing visit!