Palm Springs 2

We started the day with coffee of course! Monroe loved the model train that made circuits around the roof of the diner.

After breakfast and a trip to a local grocery joint to get picnic supplies, we headed up into the foothills to meet Mike and Naomi at the tram station. Monroe was very excited and surprised to see her Aunt Naomi!

The view from the tram station parking area was already amazing.We rode the world's largest rotating tram car--kind of like a giant, spinning ski lift. It took us 2 and 1/2 miles straight up Mount San Jacinto. It was a nearly 15-minute ride with breathtaking views. We traversed through 5 distinct climate zones to a snowy wonderland at the top of the mountain, where it was about 30 degrees cooler than the valley below.

Look at this picture, taken from the tram station at the top of the mountain. Bottom center in the frame you can see a descending tram car on the cables, heading for another white tower (there were 8) along the way.

After a picnic lunch inside the warm lodge/tram stop, we set out to explore the winter wonderland.
Monroe lasted all of 5 minutes before the cold got to her and the whole thing wasn't fun for her anymore. She just couldn't see what we were all excited about... and it didn't help that she can't be convinced to keep her fleece hat on to save her life. So I volunteered to take her back to the lodge while the rest of the gang went exploring.

We found a lovely ballroom overlooking the park which was empty save two fully-decked out Christmas trees. Pretty much the perfect place for a one year-old to play! As you can see in the following two pictures, Monroe prefers her snow at a distance but her Christmas trees she likes very very close. :-)


The rest of the group had a nice wintry hike to a dessert lookout point where they could see the whole Coachella Valley.




Sunset on the mountain was odd--at about 4:00 the sun dipped behind the neighboring mountain, blazing bright due to the unusually high angle at which it slipped behind the extra-high horizon.
We relaxed in the lodge with coffee and drinks to watch the snowy mountain turn pink and purple before the AMAZING tram ride back down the mountain in the dark, looking out over the moonlight mountain to the lights of the city.


We Who Travel with Baby were off at that point, enjoying our Sesame Street Christmas Album until Monroe fell asleep in the car (and for most of the rest of the drive, to be honest.) Mike and Naomi, who had only just arrived that day, used Urban Spoon (on the iPhone) to pick a cool place for a romantic dinner in Palm Springs and drove back a few hours later.