Dec 2 to Dec 6, 2025 - Our Trip to Palm Springs and Palm Desert

For 2025, we added another trip to Palm Springs/Palm Desert, CA to our annual get-together.

As usual, Helen and Mimi flew in from San Francisco to Palm Springs airport. Alice and Fei flew in from Houston on December 2. 

We have been visiting Palm Springs and Palm Desert areas for many times due to Mimi's timesharing arrangements many years ago. We love these cities and want to come back to visit again.

Thanks to Alice on finding a wonderful place - Palm Valley Comfort (inside Palm Valley Country Club) for us to stay for 4 nights. It is a private retreat set among lush, tropical landscapes in the heart of Palm Desert, California. We had a very comfortable stay here.

Dec 2, 2025 - Travel to Palm Springs

Mimi and Helen arrived early and waited for us at Palm Springs airport's baggage area.

We were very excited of seeing each other. Many hugs later, Mimi and Alice went to get our rental car. Thanks to Mimi of making rental car arrangements and getting a bigger car for 4 ladies' suitcases. Mimi has been our designated driver for many trips, thanks to Mimi.

That was about 2pm and we all were very hungry. So, Mimi drove us to Palm Valley Country Club's restaurant for lunch. We were excited to see this beautiful place with golf courses, green grass, tall palm trees, and prestige homes. The restaurant is nice also. we ordered Lentil soup and salad. It's perfect amount of food for us.

After lunch, we checked into our BnB inside the Palm Valley Country Club. It has two bedrooms, one living area, nice kitchen and a wonderful golf course views.

We also went to a grocery store buying coffee, oatmeal, fruits, vegetables and eggs for breakfast. Mimi also picked up 4 packs of silk tofu and miso paste. She is planning to make miso soup for breakfast for all of us.

For Dinner, Helen pre-booked a table for us at the Oceania Palm Desert Seafood Restaurant. We shared Roasted salad, Drunken shrimp, Scallops, etc. They are all very delicious.

Dec 3, 2025 - Shopping at Desert Hills Premium Outlets

We had coffee, miso soup, hard boiled eggs (rolled in soy sauce), and avocado/orange marmalade on toast for breakfast. 

Today's main focus for us was to shop at Desert Hills Premium Outlets which has 180+ stores (about 35 miles from our BnB). We have been here many times before and have our favorite stores to shop. we bought clothes and shoes at Etro, Max Mara and Ferragamo. We used to shop all day until we drop in the evening. This time, we stopped before 4:00pm and ready to go back.

For dinner, we ate at one of our familiar restaurant - China Wok. 

In the evening, we chatted about our latest activities in lives, found out Eric is going to get married next year, and shared info on supplements, skincare products, etc.

Dec 4, 2025 - Shopping in Palm Springs

We got up early and took pictures of our backyard. The weather was just beautiful today with blue sky and white clouds.

After breakfast, we went to downtown Palm Springs. To our surprise, we saw our favorite hat store - Hats Unlimited after our first turn on Palm Canyon Drive. Due to weather report of cold days in Palm Springs this week, we did not pack hats for sunny weather. Of course, we dashed into the store and tried on different styles of hats. We all found one or more beautiful hats. We also stopped at the Birkenstock shoe stores and bought comfy walking shoes.

Mimi's picture in 2022 and 2025

For lunch, we went back to our beloved FARM. This is a French restaurant with rich and healthy foods. We ordered tomato soup and shared Chicken salad, Oven roasted duck, Savory smoked salmon, and Strawberries/bananas crepe.

We bought small cosmetic items from Sephora and "Palm Springs" coffee mug from Starbucks.

Helen pre-booked dinner for us at the 4 Saints. The restaurant is very close to downtown Palm Springs' main drag and we don't even need to drive. What a convenient location!  We had Heirloom Beets salad, Grilled Spanish octopus/potato, Mary's organic chicken, Chilean Sea bass and Sorbet trio for desert.

When we came out from 4 Saints, we noticed a street fair close by, plus special happenings like holiday lights and music. We walked around for a while and went back to our BnB.

Dec 5, 2025 - Shopping in Palm Desert and Watched a Show

We had another wonderful breakfast in our BnB this morning. 

Last night, Fei was using a hair dryer in the main bathroom and Alice was blowing her hair in the other bathroom at the same time.  Somehow, It tripped the circuit breaker.  So, this morning, Alice went out to the garage and looking for the breaker panel. She can't find it. It must be inside the rooms. Mimi found it in her room closet and flipped it back "ON". It worked! We had to pad our shoulders for the good work.

We decided to go to downtown Palm Desert for shopping today. From the shops on El Paseo, you can find various stores. It is a pedestrian-friendly outdoor shopping destination in Palm Desert. Mimi and Helen found a shoe store selling all kinds of shoes made in Spain. These shoes are very confirmable for walking. So, both of them bought several pairs. 

We had lunch at Mole Mexican Kitchen. We shared meatballs pasta, Roasted red and yellow beet salad, mussels, fries, and pizza.

In the evening, Mimi found a contemporary dance show for us to see - the dazzling "Alice" at the McCallum Theatre . It is a spectacular dance and theatrical production inspired by Lewis Carroll's beloved classic, Alice in Wonderland.

We packed our suitcases and reluctantly accept the fact that we are going home tomorrow.

Dec 6, 2025 - Fly Back Home

Today was our travel day. 

Our breakfast was to finish most of the leftover food in the refrigerator. We also need to throw out perishable foods, clean the kitchen and take garbage out.

We have similar flight schedules at noon. So, we left the house around 9:00am, return our rental car and headed to the airport. We hesitantly said goodby to each other and headed to our gate. The flight was smooth for us. We assumed that Mimi and Helen had a good fly home also.

This is a short 5 days trip but we had a great time together. We are looking forward to meet again in 2026.