Palm Springs in January

We stayed at The Chase because it was within our per diem rate and it had a downtown location. The room is an older hotel (70's style) that has been upgraded somewhat. When we first got to the room, it appeared nice since it had new furniture/furnishing; however, once we go in the room and checked out the bathroom, etc., it could have used quite a bit more upgraded. It had old fixtures, there was no hairdryer, there were ants in the room and the shower was a step down style with no shower door, just an old wrought iron railing. The first time we used the shower, some of the tiles came loose from the floor/steps.

It did have a heated pool, but we did not attempt to go in, since it was a bit chilly when we where there. Also, we could not get the little heater in the room to give out any heat, so we just turned it off and we were fine. They hotel did provide chocolate chip cookies in the lobby which were very good, and the breakfast wasn't bad; it was your basic breads/bagels/muffins, yogurt, fresh fruit, etc. Although the hotel wasn't great, I would consider staying again due to the price and location.

We had dinner at Tommy Bahamas in Palm Desert. It was a cool evening, but decided to try sitting outside, and with the heaters they had going, this was no problem. We both had steak (filet I believe) with garlic and blue cheese over mashed potatoes. We really enjoyed it. We also ordered a side of asparagus and enjoyed the equally as well. We enjoyed this restaurant as it was very relaxing. We really liked our food.

We were looking for somewhere to get a quick/reasonable bit to eat since it was late and we didn't want an expensive steak dinner, so we choose the Village Pub. I had the lobster ravioli and my husband had the fish and chips. Both was OK, edible, but nothing to rave about. My husband also order a few drinks which were very weak. We decided to sit outdoors, which wasn't bad, but unfortunately the group of people sitting cattycorner to use where very loud and obnoxious. I couldn't decide whether it was very annoying or amusing listening to them discuss their sex lives. We would not go back there for dinner.

We were dining with a another employee and were looking for somewhere reasonable to eat, so we chose Las Casuelas Terraza. We ordered margaritas to start off with, which were very good, and also the guacamole dip. For dinner we had the usual burritos, enchilada, and chimichangas. All the food was very good and we had no complaints. The waitress was very friendly and attentive.

We decided to have lunch while we were up at the tram. Of course, the restaurant had a wonderful view. I had the lobster bisque, and a salad which was ok, but nothing spectacular. My husband had a burger he also said it was ok. Although the food was nothing special to talk about, we had discussed coming back up for dinner because we thought the view/scenery/sunset would be great if we have dinner there in the evening. Unfortunately, we did not have time to go back. Maybe next time.

We spend the day at Joshua Tree National Park and started off at the West Entrance. We stopped at many of the areas that had short hikes available. The first hike we took was at Barker Dam, which was very peaceful, except for the birds that were scattering before us, we didn't hear any other sounds. The trees/cactus and rocks along the way were very cool. When we got down to the dam, it was still early in the morning and the lake was frozen over. I could have spent the day just sitting around in this area.

We then headed to keys view for a view of the surround area. We also stopped at areas such as skull rock and arch rock. When we got to the intersection, we headed up to Oasis Visitors Center and stopped in town for lunch, then back into the park. Our hike around arch rock was very cool. There were lots off big boulders all over the area, that looked as if nothing was holding them in place. We did some rock scrambling in this area, trying to find our way and would get to areas where we where surrounded, and had to head back, but it was very neat.

On our way out of the park at Cottonwood Visitors Center, we stopped at the Cholla Cactus Garden. This was a very cool with all the cactus. It was also latter in the day, which I think made the cacti look even better. We really enjoyed this park, as there were a lot of areas to stop at an explore that were relatively short hikes and not strenuous at all.