from desert to tundra

man, is it cold out there or what?

know where it's not cold?

PALM SPRINGS.

palm springs is a magical desert place with huge mountains, low shrubbery and dry heat. when we walked off the airplane upon arrival it took me a few moments to realize that the airport was actually a tent-like structure and that we were outside. this was difficult to comprehend since it was a very room temp.-like 74ish degrees.

the resort in which we stayed had three or more pools. there were also hot tubs (see post below). there were birds that flew around inside the lobby of the hotel and a boat docked inside as well. the concierge gave us a semi-helpful map to help us on our journey to our rooms, but most of us got lost anyway. see my friend dean's blog for some pics.

on our second day in the springs, we got some relaxing done. a few of us spent the day poolside soaking up the gentle rays of sun. three of the guys decided to walk west in an attempt to reach the foothills of the mountains. they made hats out of newspaper and took two bottles of water each. three hours later, they reached their goal. while they ventured out towards nature, we ladies took it upon ourselves to focus on procuring some beer for the evening. we walked east toward ralph's which took us about 15 minutes. we bought many cases of beer, threw 'em on our shoulders and made the trek back to the resort. we got a lot of strange looks from drivers on the way back. i'm pretty certain it was due to the fact that the average age in palm springs is approximately 68. as we crossed the main drag, one older fella called our from his car window, "where's the party?" we took the somewhat less conspicuous side entrance and deposited our beer in the bathtub, filling it with ice from the machine down the hall. as we drank our precious treasure by the enormous fire pit later that night, people were thankful that we had made the trip.

the performance went well. i'm not sure what the mortgage brokers really thought of us. it seemed like a pretty reserved affair in spite of the unitard-clad dancers encased in blocks of ice (not me) and the ladies on stilts serving hors d'oeuvers (me). they seemed to be kind of afraid of me. i mean, no one really ate off my trays. what the heck was the problem? who knows...maybe they were intimidated. i suppose an 8 foot tall corseted woman in a huge metal skirt might be sort of scary.

the next day we flew home, dreading the rapid transition from desert to tundra. i slept and read and lost two hours of my life. once we flew closer toward the city and spotted the chicago skyline, i was glad to be home. we may not have palm trees and pools-a-plenty, but we've got hot dogs and skyscrapers and lots and lots of people (of all ages).

i mean...70 degrees 24/7 would get boring...right?