Last year we had a spring break trip planned to Palm Springs, which didn’t happen due to Covid-19. We were fortunately able to rebook the rental house for this spring break, and looked forward to this first travel adventure in more than a year.
We rented Sun Haven Escape through Acme House Company, an immaculate, cheery, comfortable, midcentury-style home that sleeps 8 and was perfect for our gang:
The Palm Springs Mod Squad driving tour — a 90-minute midcentury architecture tour led by the entertaining and extremely knowledgeable Kurt Cyr — should be required on the first day of any vacation in Palm Springs. After all, Palm Springs is “a modernism mecca for mid-century architecture and design.”
Pre-Covid, Kurt would drive you around the city in his van. In the Covid era, however, you follow behind the van in the safety of your own car, connected by cell phones. It worked surprisingly well. And off we go!
Here are a few examples of brise soleil we learned about:
And desert stonework:
And wonderful midcentury homes:
The tour began and ended at the eye-popping Saguaro Hotel:
Another activity our family really enjoyed was the San Andreas Fault Bones of the Earth tour with Red Jeep Tours, with our awesome tour guide Greg:
The approximately 4-hour tour takes place on the private Metate Ranch. The first stop was a palm oasis:
We learned a lot about palms that afternoon. Did you know that palms are not trees, but are actually a type of grass? Did you know that there are more than 2500 different types of palms? (Actually, I knew this.) We now know that palm trunks are composed of something akin to thousands of straws, and do not have rings by which you can count growth:
We also learned that the very resourceful Cahuilla Indians used the fibers from the palm fronds as thread:
So much palm knowledge. But wait — there’s more! We had so much fun bouncing around the desert in the jeep, learning about tectonic plates, the San Andreas fault, and all sorts of geological facts (so many steps closer to being Cliff Clavin):
Everyone got a little creeped out seeing the home of rock-boring bees:
Climbing through a slit canyon was a highlight of the desert tour:
Next up was the fabulous gardens at Sunnylands and a tour of the historic Annenberg estate.
We all enjoyed the 45-minute golf cart tour around the beautiful estate, led by our delightful guide Dan:
No historic estate would be complete without a totem pole
After the tour we strolled around the spectacular gardens filled with cacti and succulents, admission to which is free:
Bonus points for all the hummingbirds flitting about the gardens:
Sunnylands is definitely worth a visit — go in the morning, when the sun is not so strong and you can get great photos.
We wrapped up our trip with a day at Joshua Tree National Park.
The park’s landscape, with its Joshua Trees and huge rocks, is surreal, vaguely prehistoric feeling.
The trail to Barker Dam (which unfortunately was dry due to drought conditions) is easy (trust me) and interesting, with lots of great photo opportunities. In fact, the whole park is pretty much one giant photo opportunity.
Along the trail to Barker Dam
Cap rock
Sweeping views of the Coachella Valley and Salton Sea
The Cholla Cactus Garden was fascinating: 
The kids spotted an Influencer in the Wild among the cholla cacti, which was entertaining to say the least, and begged the question “Is she wearing underwear?” (It had been a long day):
After a year of Covid-19 restrictions, it was great to travel (although I declare airport security a superspreader event), and this was thankfully a trip that everyone enjoyed and won’t soon forget. Check back for Part II, which will feature some of the restaurants we enjoyed in Palm Springs (this is a food blog, after all).