Another year, another trip to the desert. We had such a great time thawing in Palm Springs last winter that we booked the same house and made a return visit!

Palm Springs is a sleepy little community (when Coachella is not happening) and is just so unique. It’s the perfect spot to hide away and lounge by the pool with a book.

**Not our house, but the neighborhood is chock full of these mid-century beauties.**

We fell into a nice routine of going to bed and getting up early, thanks to our east cost internal clocks. So we hit the first trail early the next morning.

It’s easy to see how Jordan got the trail name ‘mountain goat.’

She makes it look so easy!!

Last time we did most of our hiking at Joshua Tree National Park, but this trip we discovered some of the great trails within the city of Palm Springs.

It’s been great to share a love of hiking with my fam, but we all agree that desert terrain is the best kind of hiking condition. Sorry, east coast.

After working up an appetite, we had to refuel with a famous date shake from Shield’s. No lie, these changed my dad’s life.

So. Freakin. Good. I also stocked up on California dates and pistachios to bring back to my work colleagues.

But we were definitely eager to get back to Joshua Tree the next morning…

I asked Dad to pull over right before we went through the official park entrance so I could snap some pics of the beautiful wild flowers.

You probably saw all over Instagram the buzz over the super bloom that happened in Southern Cali this year. Thanks to plentiful rainfall this winter, poppies and wildflowers were popping up all over the desert, and the ground was much greener this year than last! We were a few hours away from those orange Lake Elsinore poppies that Insta influencers just love to frolic in, but I was happy to see some of this natural beauty without all the crowds.

Last year we fell IN LOVE with the cholla cactus garden at sunset, but we switched things up this year and went in the late morning.

Once again, these prickly little buggers fascinated us! They just look so soft and fluffy!

Hiking Ryan Mountain was on my list to do last year but we never got around to it, so I was very excited to climb to the top!

And this one was a BUTT CRUNCHER!

But we did it!! And the view was worth it. This is at 5,400 feet overlooking the Pinto Basin. It’s about 3 miles round trip, and I’d say it took us about 2 hours.

Go mom, go! How cute is she?!

And that’s a wrap on our first couple of days in the desert! I’ve got a few more pics to share, including some good ol’ rock scrambling… so stay tuned.