Palm Springs Wrap Up (And How Much Did It All Cost?)

In spite of being unseasonably cold the last few days of our stay (temps were in the 50's instead of the more seasonal 70's), we had a great trip, and have already added it to our calendar for a re-do next January.

Having the International Film Festival tickets to fill up our late afternoons and evenings made the trip especially fun. It allowed us to go slow the first part of the day, knowing we were going to be busy in the evening. We fell into a pattern of lingering for a few hours in our warm, cozy trailer, reading and scanning the internet via our individual Kindle Fires (and the RV Parks complimentary WiFi) while we waited for the sun to warm things up, then a nice long workout, then a soak in the hot tub, showers, lunch, and some more reading, before heading out to a show and dinner. On the warmer nights we'd hop into the hot tub again upon returning home, before heading to bed.

On the days we didn't have movie tickets, we'd head out to do something interesting (Joshua Tree, the wind farm tour, nearby S. Lykken ridge hike), then enjoy a leisurely remainder of the day at the RV park. Sort of the reverse of the days when we did have movie tickets.

Considering how much we did this trip, and in particular, how many nights we dined out, I think it was an incredibly well priced trip overall:

• Happy Traveler RV Park full hookups site for 7 nights/8 days: $290
• Gas: $60
• Groceries:  No change from what we'd spend if at home 
• Ice for our portable cooler (where we keep our produce and beverages): $4
• Tickets to 3 movies for two at the Palm Springs Int'l Film Fest: $60
• Tickets to Les Miserables, plus a Q&A with the director, Tom Hooper, and Eddie Redmayne, who played Marius: $50
• Palm Springs Wind Farms Tour: $66
• Dinner at Grind Burger Bar: $33 (The sports bar where we watched the BCS Championship game)
• Dinner at Birba: $32
• Dinner at Las Casuelas: $40
• Takeout from Bills Pizza: $12
• Frozen yogurt from Eddie's Frozen Yogurt: $5 (I bought a $10 Groupon voucher for $5. It was enough for us to visit Eddie's twice. Fabulous frozen yogurt!)
• Rugula from Sherman's Deli: $3
• Fresh dates & date shakes from Oasis Date Gardens: $11
• The Basic Gym: $10 (For Mike. I went running the days we didn't hike)
• Hiking the nearby South Lykken Trail, running along the base of the San Jacintos, biking, hot tub soaking, sunbathing, swimming, Palm Springs Village Fest, Joshua Tree National Park*, Palm Springs Art Museum**, Happy Traveler onsite social events - Free! 
• *We have the National Park Annual Pass
• **2nd Sundays and every Thursday between 4:00 and 8:00 PM
• TOTAL FOR ONE FUN FILLED WEEK IN PALM SPRINGS: $666

What will we do different next year? Skip the dinner at Birba and go to Bill's Pizza twice instead. Birba is a beautiful, outdoor restaurant, but we felt like we ended up with very little food given the cost (The bill reflects two modestly sized ala carte entrees, and no beverages whatsoever . . . we drank water). We'll also skip the somewhat greasy dinner at the sports bar, and instead enjoy that second pizza from Bills and watch the BCS Championship game at the RV park's clubhouse.

We'll also spend more time at the Palm Springs Art Museum during their free admission days. This privately funded museum is terrific, with exhibits on modern art, western art, glass art, photography and architecture, and it offers wonderful docent tours.

And finally, we'll skip the pricey one time $53 Film Fest special event, and instead buy another 6 pack of Film Festival tickets for about the same price. There were dozens and dozens and dozens of interesting sounding films to choose from, the procedure for lining up an hour ahead of time was fun in that everyone was very chatty, the directors came to many of the showings in order to do Q&A's afterward, and it was all just very well organized and easy to maneuver.

Palm Springs has two more film festivals scheduled each year - the American Documentary Film Festival in April, and the International Short Fest in June. We won't have time this year to attend either one, but would love to hear back from anyone that has ever attended either. There's always next year if these turn out to be don't miss events as well!

My favorite work from the western art section of the Palm Springs Museum. Although it looks to be made of old branches of wood, it's actually cast in bronze and then painted to resemble wood.
Artist: Deborah Butterfield