A rainy day in Palm Desert with my favorite mother- and brother-in-law

I decided to stay an extra day in Southern California so I could visit my mother-in-law in Palm Desert, something I’ve wanted to do for years.  Thanks to my brother-in-law, Craig’s willingness to pick me up and put up with me for four hours in the car, we were able to make a wonderful day trip!

The California Desert is about as different from the Pacific Northwest forests as you can get!  I was mesmerized by the both the geography and the beautiful sky as we headed to Palm Desert from Anaheim.

I was also mesmerized by these gorgeous windmills!

 

I’d heard so much about Palm Desert, where Nana lives, but I’d never been there.  What an oasis in the desert!

Nana was happy to see us!

She won me over by showing me her daily reading material…

(OK, that’s not quite true – YET!  One of these days, Nana will keep up with her grandchildren by logging on!)

Craig and Nana showed me all around Palm Desert.  We paid a little visit to an oasis directly ON the San Andreas fault line! 

Uh-oh!  What’s gathering in those skies?

Could those be storm clouds?!  It hasn’t rained in Palm Desert in well over six months!  Hmmmmm.  Maybe the combination of an earthquake fault and storm clouds mean we should high tail it outta here!

So we drove through the beautiful desert, under an incredible sky…

 

… to the Marriot Hotel, where there are trees and a lake indoors!

It was kinda like Disneyland all over again!

Which meant we needed a touristy picture, of course.

I flirted with some birds who whistled at me.  (I’m such a sucker for attention!)

And then the skies opened up and dumped! 

Apparently, this is an unusual sight in Palm Desert:

We had a delicious steak dinner, thoroughly enjoying and appreciating each other’s company, knowing that our visit would be a short one.

I can’t get over the beauty of the sky over Palm Desert today, and couldn’t stop snapping photo after photo, hoping that just one might display the beauty of that sky.  I don’t think I got any that truly captured the magnificence.

(I think that last one looks like a poached egg!)

Within just a few hours of arriving in Palm Desert, Craig and I were on our way back to Anaheim.  I loved having a chance to spend some driving time today with just Craig, getting to know him better even after all these years. Usually we’re surrounded by family and activity, but very occasionally we have the opportunity to develop our own friendship – one that is really special to me.  Thanks, Craig!

Today was one of those short, sweet days spent with favorite people – a day passed that far too quickly.

Done with the conference, now off to Disneyland!

After a very successful conference, a few of us (that’s Allie, Kyle, Belinda, and me) hopped on a shuttle and headed to Disney land for the evening.

When I worked for Disney in the early to mid 80’s, I had a Silver Pass and went to Disneyland at least once a month (it was, to Elisabeth, what a neighborhood park is to most kids!), but it’s been a while since I’ve been there, and everything had changed!

Well, everything except the good ol’ Disneyland Railroad Station at the front gate.

And Main Street.

The crowds were huge! Like I’d never seen!

Crowds or no crowds, some of us were downright giddy!

   We played like a bunch of school girls at The Mad Hatter…

(Kyle does “Goofy” so well!)

 

Of course, we had to pose in all the usual places…

But we went on a good number of rides and walked most of the park, too.  Problem was, it was already dark, so I couldn’t get any good distance shots, try as I might!

Once we found a place to settle in front of Cinderella’s Castle for the big fireworks show, I was able to get a few shots…

But only video does any justice to the show, which was the BEST fireworks show I’ve ever seen (and just as good, though completely different, from my hotel room)!

The theme of the show was “dreams do come true,” and somehow they were able to include sound tracks and dialogue and sound effects from Disneyland rides over the past 30+ years.  It was awesome, and even sentimental… for me, at least!

The Star Wars segment was a bit bizarre.  Combining Cinderella's Castle with Star Wars was a bit of a stretch – but the lasers were pretty cool (and even more amazing from my hotel room)!

It was well after midnight when we headed back down Main Street.

By the time we got back on the bus, we were all just about spent!  I loved watching Allie enjoy her first trip to Disneyland as much as the most enthusiastic 5-year-old!

It plum tuckered that girl OUT!

Anaheim and “The Argument Clinic”

I’m in Anaheim, California where The Gottman  Institute is hosting a training for clinicians in Gottman Method Couples Therapy. 

The days are filled with workshop activity (like my little arts and crafts marketing project)…

and the evenings are filled with friends and fun (like my absolutely wonderful visit and three hours of non-stop laughter and timeless connection with my dearest friend and former neighbor, Lisa)…

…and if I had the energy I’d write about it all. 

But tonight the most I can muster is a few tiny tidbits because I’m fading fast and tomorrow is another big day.

I thought you’d enjoy the video that the Gottmans showed to kick off the workshop this morning. There’s nothing like this to really focus audience attention and bring up the topic of conflict. I love this!