It’s been a wild, cross-country-hopping few days, but I’m back in blogging business. Last week, I hop-scotched between Las Vegas, LA and Palm Springs. I had been hoping for tropical temperatures, but it hovered between the 50s and 60s during the entire trip. (Which also meant I wore the same Uniqlo sweater for almost the entire trip — a real drag on outfit photos.)
Cold or not, the trip was still fantastic. Here are some snippets:
The strip is as bright as Times Square, but I always sleep with the curtains wide open in Las Vegas. (The lights and street noise remind me of NYC, making it easier to sleep in a strange place.) To get the “blur” effect for this photo, I shot it through the gauze curtain liner in my hotel room.
After NYC’s harsh winter, it was a real luxury to be outside for a poolside party. (Even though everyone wound up huddled next to the heaters.)
After 5 days in Vegas, I jetted to Los Angeles to visit some friends in Santa Monica. My gracious hosts (recent LA transplants by way of NYC) took me to the Santa Monica Pier after I mentioned my favorite movie was partially filmed there. (The movie in question is The Net, and the scene is an epic chase scene on the merry-go-round between Sandra Bullock and Jeremy Northam.)
One of the more memorable dinners was at Gjelina in Venice, a kind of farm-to-table version of tapas. (Pretentious or not, everything tasted amazing — particularly the anchovy-topped burrata and the grilled octopus.)
This dinner was memorable because every single person in the restaurant was arguing over the color of that dress. (Everyone at our table saw blue and black, for what it’s worth.)
But our table was more preoccupied with discussing the pros and cons of Tinder in the LA dating scene, which led to a marathon swiping session — and the photo above. (The alternate title I considered was “The Neanderthals Discover Fire for the First Time.”)
After my husband arrived in LA, we trekked to Palm Springs to stay at the Ace Hotel. (I stayed there last year with my sister and really wanted to return with my husband.)
Once again, our dreams of a scorching weekend were dashed when we woke up at 8 a.m. to head to the pool. We bundled up in sweatshirts and stubbornly sat by the pool for nine hours. (I also insisted on drinking iced coffee the entire time.)
On our final day, we headed out to Joshua Tree, one of the most spectacular national parks in the country. The bizarre weather continued — we hiked the Hidden Valley trail loop in the middle of a downpour. (After hearing so much about LA’s famed drought — you can’t even get water in restaurants unless you ask for it — it seemed particularly ironic that it was raining in the Mojave Desert.)
The weirdness didn’t end there. As we drove deeper into the park, it started snowing.
Snowing. In California. In the desert. These are not typos.
Hours later, I was back in New York, navigating more slush, ice and more snow on the sidewalks.
The whole experience reminded me of an old joke I once heard: Want to make the universe laugh? Tell someone your plans — and for that matter, your packing list.
