The Saturday after Christmas we had plans to go up the Palm Springs Tram. Zach has never been, the last time Adri went she was in utero, and we thought it would be a good chance for my dad to spend some time with the kids without all the craziness. We drove all the way out there just to find them doing traffic control at the bottom of the hill and a big sign that said there was a three hour wait. By the time we got there it was already after noon so it didn't seem like it would even be worth it. I was looking at the weather forecast on my phone trying to decide if it would be better to wait until the next week. So instead we turned around and went to lunch at Anchos with my Dad. We were thinking of going back on Monday but then the forecast changed and rain was on for Tuesday. So instead we decided to go up the tram on our way home, the Saturday after New Years Day. The only down side to this is my dad would have to drive up himself so we wouldn't have to go back to Riverside.
So to avoid the same mistake of the prior weekend we packed up the night before we left. We got up at six with plans to be out the door at 7. We left the gas station at 7:11 that morning, just short of our goal. We got to the tram right after it opened at 7. The only mistake I made is not having Natalie drop me off to buy tickets. I had to run up the lot and was winded by the time I got to the ticket line. Half an hour in line and I had tickets for 20 minutes later. Now I had to run back to the car and get everything and get back to the tram car.
It was 35 in Riverside that morning and 39 when we got to the parking lot at 8. Normally they say the mountain station is 40 degrees colder than at the lot. The Valley Station is at 2,643 feet and the Mountain Station is at 8,516 feet so it's only logical it would be much colder at the top. Well I don't know what was going on that morning but at the Valley Station they said the temperature was 35 at Mountain Station with 8 inches of snow. I was sure there had to be an error. Sure enough we got up there and it was just as warm at the top as it was in the valley. That would change in the afternoon.
Needless to say it was warm enough for us to be comfortable. I was worried about bringing Zach up there but he stayed nice and toasty. His nick name for the day was Ralphie, just look at his picture. We hike a couple miles through the snow and found a graveyard of broken sleds. Since I didn't bring a sled I found the best broken half a sled I could for Adri and let her have a little sledding fun in the snow. Zach was mostly just staying chill, taking it all in, Adri was jumping in the snow, kept eating snow, throwing snow, etc.
I think we spent about an hour and a half in the snow before we decided to head back. We got up to Mountain Station and had lunch. After a few hours playing in the snow chili cheese fries never tasted so amazing. We were back in the lot by 12:45 and on our way back to Arizona.
We had a lot of fun. It was great getting to spend some time with my dad away from all the chaos and let him play with his grandkids.
Adri enjoyed the ride up. Natalie got sick each time we hit the four towers, going both up and down. I couldn't help but laugh at her and even snapped a couple pics.
No comments:
Post a Comment