Palm Springs

We were trying to plan a little getaway on the weekend of my boyfriend’s birthday. We considered everything from flying all the way to Europe for 24 hours to driving somewhere near where he lives in San Diego.

It ended up making the most sense to drive somewhere nearby, and that came as a bit of a relief to me considering I wouldn’t have to fly on my off days. We booked a hotel room in Palm Springs for Friday and Saturday night and decided to stop at Temecula on the way up and spend a day in Joshua Tree.

We grabbed a coffee at Better Buzz on our way out of town and stopped to get bagels at Garden State Bagels. Both stops were an essential start to the road trip, even if the first chunk of our drive was only four hours.

Temecula was the first stop on our weekend adventure. Luckily, we’d gotten some recommendations so we had some places in mind. First, was Callaway Winery. We got there pretty early in the day so it was relatively quiet, which was nice. We went up to the bar, ordered some wine, and sat outside. The winery offers sprawling outdoor spaces to sit and enjoy some wine. Most importantly, they give you pretty fat pours. Always a plus.

Since it was early afternoon there wasn’t a lot going on, but they do offer live music and it looked like the restaurant would be worth going to. I definitely recommend trying to go later in the day if you’d want to do either of those things.

Next on our list was Bolero Winery at Europa Village. Callaway was very modern with great outdoor spaces, and Bolero on the other hand gave much more of a European castle vibe. It’s in a castle-like building, with a bar in a great-hall type of room. There’s also plenty of outdoor areas to enjoy and while we were there, a guitarist was playing.

Bolero offered a tasting menu, and the bartender working asked us what we liked before starting. She modified the menu slightly to allow us to try wines that were like wines we told her we preferred. Bolero was definitely our favorite of the two for wines.

After enjoying some wine, listening to music outside, and taking in the picturesque scenery we decided it was time to make our way to Palm Springs.

The drive wasn’t too bad, and luckily we got on the road before traffic got too crazy. We picked the Sonder V mostly because it was one of the few hotels with availability since we booked two days before our trip. Word of advice-Palm Springs is fairly busy on weekends of February. Would highly recommend booking more in advance than we did.

The hotel was nice and had two good-sized pools which were most important. After getting settled into our room, we headed into downtown Palm Springs to Las Casuelas Terraza. Like most things we did that weekend, it was recommended by a friend for its good food and live music. Everything was great about this place, the food, the drinks, and the environment. The live music and huge patio made for a perfect Friday night on vacation.

Saturday morning we woke up for me at a normal hour, and for my boyfriend early. We took a dip in the pool before we set out for Joshua Tree. Waking up early and enjoying the pool and hot tub before the DJ and darty took over turned out to be a relaxing/rejuvenating way to start the day.

After our morning dip, we hopped in the car to try and beat the traffic to Joshua Tree. We drove through a Starbucks, fueled up on coffee, and headed on our way. We pulled into the west entrance, waited in a short line to buy a pass, and were in the park in no time.

Beforehand we had looked at trails, and certain hikes we thought we wanted to do, but since we went on a Saturday when it was busy and just planned to spend the day there we strayed a bit from our plan. First we stopped at a trail that wasn’t too busy, we parked and walked around for a little warm-up. Next, we had planned to hike a specific trail, but even though it was early it was already pretty crowded and we couldn’t find a spot so we just drove around the park.

Lastly, we did the Lost Horse Mine trail. it wasn’t anything too difficult but had some old mining equipment left behind which was pretty cool to see. After spending a few hours exploring Joshua Tree, we headed out of the park. On our way out at about 11 am/12pm-ish there was a massive line to get into the park. We passed probably a hundred or so cars waiting to get in. I highly suggest you get there early like we did to avoid this massive line. I can only imagine how long those people were waiting.

It was that time of the day when I needed another coffee, so we stopped at Joshua Tree Coffee Company. We grabbed a drink sat outside for a little bit, then decided to head on over to Pappy and Harriet’s for lunch.

Pappy and Harriet’s was exactly what I was expecting of a restaurant located in a town called Pioneertown. And yes, Pioneertown is a little old-time town. It was packed, very country-like, and had good bar food. Luckily we found two spots at the bar because it was packed. The couple next to us who live locally told us that at night it’s a great spot for live music.

After our lunch, we headed back to Palm Springs so we could enjoy the last few hours of sunset at the pool.

We got back to our hotel, freshened up, and had a drink at Gigi’s, located in our hotel, before heading to our dinner reservation. Gigi’s is a modern, boutique-style restaurant with creative cocktails. The restaurant and bar overlook one of the pools and the whole place is a large outdoor/ indoor space. The drinks we had were great, and sitting at the bar was a great spot for pre-dinner cocktails.

King’s Highway and the Amigo Room, located in the Ace Hotel, was the spot for dinner. It’s laid out like an American diner, but much more upscale, modern, and eclectic than your typical diner. Just what you’d expect out of Palm Springs. We split the beet salad and I got the fried chicken sandwich as my entree. The beets salad came with whipped feta and was no doubt one of my favorite things we ate all weekend. So good, and a must-try if you find yourself at King’s Highway.

Since our dinner spot was so close to our hotel we were able to walk there and back. on our way back, simply out of convenience, of course, we stopped at Gigi’s again for a little nightcap. We just had to since the bar was literally right under our hotel room.

Sunday morning we planned to grab breakfast somewhere downtown Palm Springs and get on the road before traffic out of town got too bad.

We had a few people recommend to us Wilma and Friedas for brunch. When we climbed the stairs to the second-floor landing that is the entrance to the restaurant, we were informed that they were short-staffed and therefore the wait was a little over an hour. We put our name in just in case but decided we would just eat somewhere else.

After walking around and looking at a few other places’ menus’, we looked up Wilma and Friedas menu just for fun. Looking at their menu coerced us to wait just a little bit longer.

I can tell you we were very happy with our decision to wait. I got the Christmas Enchiladas which is made with homemade red and green sauce and we split the churro waffle. Yes, we went in February and what I got was labeled ‘Christmas’ but let me tell you there is a reason they’ve stayed on the menu for a few extra months-they’re flawless.

Both the enchiladas and waffles were incredible. Wilma and Frieda, I can assure you, know what they’re doing when it comes to brunch. The place was worth the wait, easily. of all the places we ate at on our weekend getaway, Wilma and Frieda is the restaurant I urge you to make it to.

We were comfortably full for our scenic two-hour drive back to San Diego after brunch. Palm Springs was a quiet oasis away from the coast, the perfect weekend escape. the drive was easy and beautiful, also offering fun stops along the way.

If you’re somewhere in southern California and looking for a little time away without having to hop on an airplane and deal with bustling airports, I can assure you this is the road trip for you.

If you want to see a highlight from my Palm Springs adventure click here!