Lisa and I took a trip to Rancho Mirage to catch some rays and visit my cousin Lori over Veteran's Day
My cousins and I are like sisters, and when we get together, craziness tends to ensue. So the fact that our first night at Lori's was spent in a variety of wigs is really no surprise...
After we all decided to go with our own hair we headed out for a night on the town. Dinner in Rancho Mirage and dancing in Palm Desert. So fun to be all together - we really missed Ashley who couldn't make it out - not quite the same without all of us :(
Pre-funking
Classy ladies
Dancing the night away....
I could've spent the whole trip just relaxing by the pool - we did a lot of this. The pool is about ten steps from Lori's front door, and the weather was in the mid-eighties all week long.
When we eventually pried ourselves away from the pool we went out to Palm Desert's prime shopping district - the Rodeo Drive of the desert.
We had a delicious lunch at the Elephant Bar
After shopping we headed back to Lori's and played games and made dinner. By this time, Ryan had come home from his trip so we got to spend some time with him too...
Cooking dinner
Lori's famous chicken salad - Delicious!
The next day, after Lisa and I had some more pool time and a trip to Borders, we drove to meet Lori after work to take a gondola ride up to the top of Mt. San Jacinto.
Ryan drove us down in his sweet ride - a plush Lincoln Continental from the 70s
I think I've talked about my issues with heights in blogs past. This trip was no exception. We went up in a large gondola up 10,000 feet. Lori wasn't too keen on the idea either...
She warmed up to it as the ride progressed....
... but I got more freaked the higher we went - oh BOY!
We made it! Now how are we gonna get back down?
How to get back down? Well, apparently, there was only one way ... and it involved getting back on that gondola. The answer to how I managed to do it lies in that liquid courage I'm holding. Two of those babies and I was good to go - even enjoyed it a little :)
Back on solid ground - we went out to dinner at a yummy Japanese steakhouse
Happy 29th to Lori!
Ryan and Lori
Pretty fishies outside the restaurant
More pool time - I mean, did we really need anything else?
Being silly
Lunch in downtown Palm Springs
Shopping around downtown Palm Springs
Our final dinner - sad to be leaving back to rainy Washington
One final dip in the hot tub. We got kicked out after about 45 minutes - I guess we weren't abiding by the closing time. The security guard was pretty nice about it at least :)
Bye Guys - We miss you!
