Once again, Diane, our now official historian will recount the adventure for us: (Thanks Diane) Moms' Second Adventure: Indio, February 4, 2007
Rilla's Magical Mystery Tour
Pre-Tour. We kinda expected a weekend at a cabin in the snow...
Teasers
1. We're going from 5:00 Friday to 2:30 AM. "Have an open mind." So we thought we would be HOME at 2:30 AM. Home from. . . .what? Chippendales? Guess we can make other plans for the rest of the weekend. Diane plans to procrastinate her laundry into the next weekend. Others make more exciting plans.....
2. What to wear, what to wear.....All in good time ladies.....
3. Dress up BUT bundle up in a coat and bring a lawn chair. OK. That is just too oxymoron for us. I plan to wear jeans. Dressy jeans.
4. Aaaannnnnd. We will spend the night, and go to the Palm Springs Aerial Tram up the mountain, and bring a bathing suit. Brrrr! Are we going swimming in hot springs in ice caves? I will NOT sleep in an ice cave.
5. Belinda's ASAP Ironing Issues: Belinda begins a subtle search for clues. She must know ASAP. She needs to make reservations with her ironing board.
AND THE ADVENTURE BEGINS So on Friday promptly at 5:00, Rilla & Diane met Jan, Belinda & Sharon at El Pollo, after Diane bought more Sea-bands at Vons, so as not to throw up on Sharon, come what may. We carpooled to Corona, and all piled into Jan's car for the next leg of the mystery tour. Rilla directed Jan up the Fast Track on the 91 to the 55, then the 22, then the 405, to Long Beach by saying, "Turn here, go left there." And eventually we found ourselves in the deserted parking lot of the Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center of Long Beach College.
There Rilla spread out a sumptuous tail-gate party: sushi, veggies, grapes, salami, cheese & crackers, & wine. We feasted in our lawn chairs, bundled in our coats. In a surreal interlude, we were solicited by an earnest and excited lady to join the communists in ousting Bush, and Diane risked political exile by accepting the community newspaper to peruse later and help her make her decision. Next we enjoyed Rilla's surprise concert. Ladysmith Black Mambazo. They were amazing acapella harmony singers and performers. At first they were a little too mellow to keep us all thoroughly awake, as it was the first time some of us had had a relaxing moment all week, but soon their spirited moves and voices had us all memorizing the dance steps (tip-toe) to try later. I don't think most of us had heard of this group from Africa, although they have had a presence in the background of many movies, and singers and have had Grammy nominations. It also turned out that they were on Vanessa's Grace DVD. Their style of music originated when blacks were mining in South Africa, and evolved into regional contests. Ladysmith continually won the contests, and made a career of it. After the concert, we picked up Rilla's car in Corona, and carpooled out to the desert....Indio. On the way we pursued a quest to fina a Starbucks with an open drive-thru, eventually with success......somewhere, and all the designer cafe addicts were appeased. (Diane snuck off to a convenience store and got a plebian diet coke.)
In Indio we pulled up to a beautiful resort where Rilla had acquired a lovely suite for us through a time-share bonus. She had even come down the night before and stocked the refrigerator and put chocolate hearts on all our pillows! There were lots of beds. Jan and Sharon shared a room with singles. Diane and Belinda had a humongous king size bed with a private bathroom, Rilla got the Murphy bed. 
We had a PJ fashion show, and practiced our dance moves from the Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Diane made everyone look at her battle scar on her boob from the kayak adventure. Then we chatted, read a little and slept, all vowing to sleep in. Next morning we bundled up weird layers over our night clothes and had a lonnnnnng visit on the balcony overlooking the beautiful lake and grounds of the resort. 
We munched on bagels and cream cheese, and the juicy oranges one of Diane's first grade dads had picked the day before. Then for lunch, Rilla served us delicious chicken salad, potato soup, veggies, etc., and we stuffed ourselves preparing for our snow adventure. We put on our snow clothes, and after Jan entertained us with a pole dance to demonstrate her fly-apart ski pants, we headed for Palm Springs. Jan took her car too, because she had to leave from there. We finally found the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway around 4:30, and headed up the mountain. It was just amazing! I could not have imagined it! 
We were suspended from a sort of globe, all windows, on a ski lift cable. About 20 of us stood inside, and the globe revalved slowly as we went up so we could view the ascent, from front, back, and all sides. The floor revolved, but the glass walls and railings didn't, so you couldn't lean against the glass because it kept moving. The passengers had to keep up or make new friends fast! As we ascended we passed through a geological timeline, with great strata of rocks passing by. It was very dry. Lots of dead foliage. Eventually there was a dusting of some snow, then some small drifts. We seemed to go really fast and passed close to great jutting rocks whizzing by. At the top, we changed our dinner reservations to 6:00, and headed outside for our snow adventure. There wasn't much snow, and the sun had already set. We trudged down a windy steep sidewalk with hand rails, then came to some trails. 
We picked a short one, and we went pretty slowly, which worked out well for Diane. 
We wanted to make snowballs, but the snow was dry as powder, so we threw some in the air and got "snowed on". Diane wrote "HI" in the snow, but it seemed rude to do anything more to disturb the little bit of snowy ambiance for the other visitors. There were huge pine trees towering over us, and giant pine cones artfully strewn about under them like Christmas presents waiting for the kids. 
At the end of a short trail we came to view, and the sky was all pink and blue behind silhouettes of tall black pines like a watercolor painting. Sharon set up the camera for a group shot, and we all gathered by a boulder and waited for her to dash over and get in the picture. But her hiking shoe caught on one of the little rocks lying about, and she took a dramatic flying fall, flipping over and landing on her back. 
She lay there with her hands up to her face, and was laughing so hard! Though we were frightened, we had to laugh too, and that is what the camera caught us all doing when the delayed shot finally went off. We pulled Sharon up and examined her cut hand and finger tips. She had torn her jeans on the shin, too, but amazingly was spared further injury. She didn't even break a nail! ( You can see my knees under Diane's red glove-Sharon) Then as we were fussing over her, Jan noticed her eyes rolling back, and we supported her as she nearly fainted. We almost had to deposit her on a pointy rock, but she was mobile enough to get her over to a broader, more appropriate rock to finish recovering. It was getting dark as we headed back, and Diane found a long splintery branch to use as a walking stick. We made it back to the lodge without incident, and enjoyed the moon and stars coming out. We identified Venus, Orion, and the Pleiades. It was a magical night!
We went to dinner, and Jan surprised us with the Tram's photos of the five of us all in front of a tram (well, a picture of a tram,). It was a great picture of us all! We were seated alone at the end of the dining room with the table set up so all of us could see the lights of Palm Springs below. We had tasty Margaritas and lovely dinners. Jan had lobster bisque, Rilla and Diane had fabulous burgers with delicious crispy fires, Belinda had BBQ chicken salad with onion rings, and Sharon had linguini. The bread was great, and the service was excellent too. Then we rode the tram down in the dark. There were only a few of us on it, and everyone was very happy. We walked down to our cars singing The Happy Wanderer, and reluctantly bid Jan goodbye. She had to see Ken off to Georgia early the next morning. The rest of us drove back to Indio, with another quick Starbucks stop, and got to our suite to hit the spa. Rilla and Sharon had on matching outfits of blue hoodies and blue and white beach towels, another addition to the Mom's Weekend Fashion parade we were participating in. The spa was really hot, and quite lovely. Sunday morning Rilla made us eggs, soup, cinnamon rolls, and oranges, and then we packed up to leave our beautiful resort. We may have hit another Starbucks on the way home; they are beginning to become a blur. What a great weekend! Rilla thank you so much! You did an amazing job of planning your secrets, and graciously putting together all the details for our pleasure. It was packed with fun, AND relaxation. You have set the bar high for the next adventure! Diane will have to lower it. We don't know who is next, but Jan is hinting around about hang gliding, and Diane has decided she can't do that. She will happily WATCH other people do that, but she doesn't even go on roller coasters that go upside down. Tally: Injuries; Adventure #1 Diane's breast bruise Adventure #2 Sharon's cut hands Who will be next! ?????
Rilla's Magical Mystery Tour
Pre-Tour. We kinda expected a weekend at a cabin in the snow...
Teasers
1. We're going from 5:00 Friday to 2:30 AM. "Have an open mind." So we thought we would be HOME at 2:30 AM. Home from. . . .what? Chippendales? Guess we can make other plans for the rest of the weekend. Diane plans to procrastinate her laundry into the next weekend. Others make more exciting plans.....
2. What to wear, what to wear.....All in good time ladies.....
3. Dress up BUT bundle up in a coat and bring a lawn chair. OK. That is just too oxymoron for us. I plan to wear jeans. Dressy jeans.4. Aaaannnnnd. We will spend the night, and go to the Palm Springs Aerial Tram up the mountain, and bring a bathing suit. Brrrr! Are we going swimming in hot springs in ice caves? I will NOT sleep in an ice cave.
5. Belinda's ASAP Ironing Issues: Belinda begins a subtle search for clues. She must know ASAP. She needs to make reservations with her ironing board. AND THE ADVENTURE BEGINS So on Friday promptly at 5:00, Rilla & Diane met Jan, Belinda & Sharon at El Pollo, after Diane bought more Sea-bands at Vons, so as not to throw up on Sharon, come what may. We carpooled to Corona, and all piled into Jan's car for the next leg of the mystery tour. Rilla directed Jan up the Fast Track on the 91 to the 55, then the 22, then the 405, to Long Beach by saying, "Turn here, go left there." And eventually we found ourselves in the deserted parking lot of the Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center of Long Beach College.
There Rilla spread out a sumptuous tail-gate party: sushi, veggies, grapes, salami, cheese & crackers, & wine. We feasted in our lawn chairs, bundled in our coats. In a surreal interlude, we were solicited by an earnest and excited lady to join the communists in ousting Bush, and Diane risked political exile by accepting the community newspaper to peruse later and help her make her decision. Next we enjoyed Rilla's surprise concert. Ladysmith Black Mambazo. They were amazing acapella harmony singers and performers. At first they were a little too mellow to keep us all thoroughly awake, as it was the first time some of us had had a relaxing moment all week, but soon their spirited moves and voices had us all memorizing the dance steps (tip-toe) to try later. I don't think most of us had heard of this group from Africa, although they have had a presence in the background of many movies, and singers and have had Grammy nominations. It also turned out that they were on Vanessa's Grace DVD. Their style of music originated when blacks were mining in South Africa, and evolved into regional contests. Ladysmith continually won the contests, and made a career of it. After the concert, we picked up Rilla's car in Corona, and carpooled out to the desert....Indio. On the way we pursued a quest to fina a Starbucks with an open drive-thru, eventually with success......somewhere, and all the designer cafe addicts were appeased. (Diane snuck off to a convenience store and got a plebian diet coke.)
In Indio we pulled up to a beautiful resort where Rilla had acquired a lovely suite for us through a time-share bonus. She had even come down the night before and stocked the refrigerator and put chocolate hearts on all our pillows! There were lots of beds. Jan and Sharon shared a room with singles. Diane and Belinda had a humongous king size bed with a private bathroom, Rilla got the Murphy bed. 
We had a PJ fashion show, and practiced our dance moves from the Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Diane made everyone look at her battle scar on her boob from the kayak adventure. Then we chatted, read a little and slept, all vowing to sleep in. Next morning we bundled up weird layers over our night clothes and had a lonnnnnng visit on the balcony overlooking the beautiful lake and grounds of the resort. 
We munched on bagels and cream cheese, and the juicy oranges one of Diane's first grade dads had picked the day before. Then for lunch, Rilla served us delicious chicken salad, potato soup, veggies, etc., and we stuffed ourselves preparing for our snow adventure. We put on our snow clothes, and after Jan entertained us with a pole dance to demonstrate her fly-apart ski pants, we headed for Palm Springs. Jan took her car too, because she had to leave from there. We finally found the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway around 4:30, and headed up the mountain. It was just amazing! I could not have imagined it! 
We were suspended from a sort of globe, all windows, on a ski lift cable. About 20 of us stood inside, and the globe revalved slowly as we went up so we could view the ascent, from front, back, and all sides. The floor revolved, but the glass walls and railings didn't, so you couldn't lean against the glass because it kept moving. The passengers had to keep up or make new friends fast! As we ascended we passed through a geological timeline, with great strata of rocks passing by. It was very dry. Lots of dead foliage. Eventually there was a dusting of some snow, then some small drifts. We seemed to go really fast and passed close to great jutting rocks whizzing by. At the top, we changed our dinner reservations to 6:00, and headed outside for our snow adventure. There wasn't much snow, and the sun had already set. We trudged down a windy steep sidewalk with hand rails, then came to some trails. 
We picked a short one, and we went pretty slowly, which worked out well for Diane. 
We wanted to make snowballs, but the snow was dry as powder, so we threw some in the air and got "snowed on". Diane wrote "HI" in the snow, but it seemed rude to do anything more to disturb the little bit of snowy ambiance for the other visitors. There were huge pine trees towering over us, and giant pine cones artfully strewn about under them like Christmas presents waiting for the kids. 
At the end of a short trail we came to view, and the sky was all pink and blue behind silhouettes of tall black pines like a watercolor painting. Sharon set up the camera for a group shot, and we all gathered by a boulder and waited for her to dash over and get in the picture. But her hiking shoe caught on one of the little rocks lying about, and she took a dramatic flying fall, flipping over and landing on her back. 
She lay there with her hands up to her face, and was laughing so hard! Though we were frightened, we had to laugh too, and that is what the camera caught us all doing when the delayed shot finally went off. We pulled Sharon up and examined her cut hand and finger tips. She had torn her jeans on the shin, too, but amazingly was spared further injury. She didn't even break a nail! ( You can see my knees under Diane's red glove-Sharon) Then as we were fussing over her, Jan noticed her eyes rolling back, and we supported her as she nearly fainted. We almost had to deposit her on a pointy rock, but she was mobile enough to get her over to a broader, more appropriate rock to finish recovering. It was getting dark as we headed back, and Diane found a long splintery branch to use as a walking stick. We made it back to the lodge without incident, and enjoyed the moon and stars coming out. We identified Venus, Orion, and the Pleiades. It was a magical night!
We went to dinner, and Jan surprised us with the Tram's photos of the five of us all in front of a tram (well, a picture of a tram,). It was a great picture of us all! We were seated alone at the end of the dining room with the table set up so all of us could see the lights of Palm Springs below. We had tasty Margaritas and lovely dinners. Jan had lobster bisque, Rilla and Diane had fabulous burgers with delicious crispy fires, Belinda had BBQ chicken salad with onion rings, and Sharon had linguini. The bread was great, and the service was excellent too. Then we rode the tram down in the dark. There were only a few of us on it, and everyone was very happy. We walked down to our cars singing The Happy Wanderer, and reluctantly bid Jan goodbye. She had to see Ken off to Georgia early the next morning. The rest of us drove back to Indio, with another quick Starbucks stop, and got to our suite to hit the spa. Rilla and Sharon had on matching outfits of blue hoodies and blue and white beach towels, another addition to the Mom's Weekend Fashion parade we were participating in. The spa was really hot, and quite lovely. Sunday morning Rilla made us eggs, soup, cinnamon rolls, and oranges, and then we packed up to leave our beautiful resort. We may have hit another Starbucks on the way home; they are beginning to become a blur. What a great weekend! Rilla thank you so much! You did an amazing job of planning your secrets, and graciously putting together all the details for our pleasure. It was packed with fun, AND relaxation. You have set the bar high for the next adventure! Diane will have to lower it. We don't know who is next, but Jan is hinting around about hang gliding, and Diane has decided she can't do that. She will happily WATCH other people do that, but she doesn't even go on roller coasters that go upside down. Tally: Injuries; Adventure #1 Diane's breast bruise Adventure #2 Sharon's cut hands Who will be next! ?????
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