Palm Springs is for Lovers

The last time 

I celebrated Paul's birthday
with him

he was turning 18.

I made his mom's enchiladas,

blindfolded the poor guy,

and took him to my favorite spot in the world;

the sand in front of the beach house

I shared with my girlfriends

every 1st week of August 

since my freshman year.

Before this past weekend,

the only time we had

ever gone away together

we spent a day and night

camping in San Onofre

and we were freshmen in college

and our parents were pissed

and we never...ahem...left the tent.

This birthday he will be 30

and we have a few more bucks

and our parents watched our kid

and we managed to...ahem...leave the room.

Honestly
I only have a few pictures
and a few words
because it was such
a precious time
I didn't want to spoil it
then
with a camera in my face
or now
with too many details.

I over-packed.

We left Friday around 11am

and time pretty much

became play dough 

after that.

Paul works graveyard in the ER

and had done so Wednesday
and Thursday night

so I drove his car.

This is a point of contention

between us

because admittedly 

I am a terrible driver

and he is a control freak.

For all my hopes and wishes

he never fell asleep

and so I had to listen to a litany of 

"Don't rev the engine"

and 

"Eassssy...easssssy".

At one point when I thought 

he'd drifted off

I reached for my phone 

to check the directions

and without moving his

head he plucked 

the phone from my hand.

It's all very funny to me now

but ask me again in 30 years.

We pulled into town

as the Germany/Greece match began

which meant the birthday boy's 

first request was to find a sports bar.

For those of you not dating 

soccer fans,

it is Euro Cup time,

which means every few days

90+ minutes are dedicated to intense

soccer viewing.

We stopped at a place called

Over the Top Sports Bar

which was comfortably cold

and host to a few German fans

and a pretty yummy steak salad.

Afterward we checked into

our room at Los Arboles

and my guy who had been up

since 6pm the night before

finally fell asleep.

I napped and then spent

a few blissful hours

watching cable from the comfort

of the world's biggest, softest
most amazing bed.

We had dinner and dessert

at Las Casuelas

where I had shrimp tacos and gucamole

and then we walked it off
around Downtown Palm Springs.

She was hanging in Downtown too.

The next morning we did

what we really wanted to do

with our time alone...

we slept in.

When we finally got up and going

we stopped at Wal-Mart for snacks

and Woody's for lunch

and then headed to the Aerial Tram

for a mid-day hike and adventure.

Tram bound.

Let's paint some happy trees.

The weather was beyond beautiful at the top

and we hiked for a few hours

before stopping at the viewing deck

to eat trail mix and apples

and watch little kids chase squirrels.

We came down and drove back

and finally got in the pool.

The water was delicious.

And so were the margaritas

and chips

and my second serving
of gucamole.

We had an 8 o'clock reservation

at Copely's

where we ate 4 courses of amazing

under the stars.

Lobster risotto anyone?

After that,
I think it was my terrible idea

to head to Morongo casino.

I am an ex-smoker from hell

who doesn't like crowds, 

so a smoke-filled casino

filled to the brim
with frenzied gamblers

was probably not the best place

for me to be on a Saturday night.

I lost 20 of Paul's dollars
on a slot machine

and was ready to go home after that.

The next morning we headed to

El Mirasol,
a Mexican restaurant
attached to our hotel

where I had the world's best

Chilaquiles and eggs.

And more guacamole.

After we checked out
we headed to the 

Hair of the Dog English Pub

to watch the Italy/England match
with a bunch o' Brits.

Mixed in with the rest
of the weekend
was a bunch
of snuggling
and chatting
and laughing
and a photo booth
and a $1.99 red turban too.

It was bliss.

And Paul drove home.