We ended up playing four times over the course of our vacation, at three different courses. The first thing I want to say is, remember to bring money for gratuities! We never use much cash and I forgot to pack our American pocket money so that was at home back in Canada. I felt a little awkward because there would be people helping carry and load our bags onto the carts, as well as clean our clubs after our game, and I’ll admit I didn’t tip … because I didn’t have any cash! I felt so bad.

We played at the following clubs around Palm Springs, and really enjoyed our experience at each one. These are considered resort courses, read: easy courses, so they are perfect for playing on vacation. We thought the courses were very forgiving, so if you haven’t played in a while or just not very good, it’s a really nice way to experience golf. The views are stunning, and the course designs were great. We also realized that we have it really good in Kelowna for golf, and that some of the courses we play at home are hard AF!

• Gary Player Signature Course at Westin Mission Hills Golf Resort & Spa
• Pete Dye Course at Westin Mission Hills Golf Resort & Spa
• Dunes Course at La Quinta Resort & Club

We brought our own golf clubs because we had the option of extra baggage with our vacation booking. When we did our research, it also looked like the most economical choice anyway. We didn’t know how many rounds of golf we were going to be able to get in in our week in Palm Springs. We didn’t know the quality of the club rental, or the selection, or price, so we decided to bring our own equipment down. Just make sure you have a big enough rental car. With 2 dog carriers, 2 checked pieces of luggage, and 2 golf bags, our rental SUV ended up being quite full. It looked like our hotel also offered golf club storage, but we didn’t take them up on that and instead just stored the clubs in our room.

Upon reflection and with the recent experience of air travel and transporting our golf clubs, it might be time to upgrade our golf bags because they are a million years old and weigh a ton. They both also have kickstands, and mine has always been a bit confusing for golf helpers to deal with, so it may be time to get lighter bags without stands. We recently bought golf carts because there are courses at home we like to play at, like 2 Eagles in West Kelowna, that are very walkable. So between having hand carts, and playing at courses that require power carts, it really makes sense.

Some of the courses in Kelowna allow you to take the power cart into the parking lot, so you can load up at your car. None of that is acceptable in Palm Springs. You can do valet or someone will greet you in the parking lot and help carry your bags over. When you wrap up your game, someone will help wipe your clubs, as well as the unload/load. When we played at the Pete Dye course, since it was on the property of the hotel, we got to take the golf cart back to our room, with supervision by one of the golf helpers of course! Otherwise, at the Westin they have a golf cart shuttle, so you can be picked up or dropped off, and not have to lug your golf bag so far.

We had a really fun time golfing around Palm Spring. We’re already looking forward to the next time we can golf there, and it’ll be a matter of coaxing our parents into playing with us! We mostly played in the afternoon, so the light was especially stunning on the landscape. We enjoyed the mild December weather, but do make sure to pack some warm layers because the temperature can vary so much in December. And throw some little heat packs into your golf bag, like the ones you can use for skiing. One of our fellow golf couples gave us some in one of our games, and they were such a nice little lifesaver!

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Here is a smattering of photos. It doesn’t feel like our place to publish the specific addresses of these doors. So just do a quick Google search of “pink door palm springs” and replace it with any colour, you’ll get the specific addresses of the homes. Look up “party lions palm springs” and that’ll put you in the area and neighborhood you need to be in.

How to get around

A lot of these Palm Springs Door Tour houses are in the same neighborhood. While not all of them have coloured doors, a majority of them are still stunning! Beautifully designed, with equally stunning landscaping. We just drove around because we didn’t know how far apart the houses would be. And it was too cold despite the sun shining and blue skies, so we weren’t dressed appropriately.

If you’re staying nearby, say at the classic Palm Springs hotel, Saguaro, they usually have hotel bikes, so you can definitely tour on a bicycle. There seemed to be big bike lanes on the roads, and it’s not much to navigate with traffic.

What time is best?

The light in Palm Springs is beautiful, especially the few hours in the afternoon close to sunset. That is probably the best time to go do your own door tour. The light isn’t too harsh and you won’t have extremely light and dark areas in your photos. We didn’t have all day so we just went around 11am and the pictures still turned out fine.

The Party Lions house is a fun one to visit because the owners dress up the lions. When I was doing research, it looks like they are often dressed up with pool toys.

The Pink Door house is apparently all the rage. We took this picture from the street. Didn’t even get out of the car. I’m pretty sure you don’t need permission to stand in the street to take a photo of a building, and that includes houses.

Overall, we really enjoyed driving around these neighbourhoods in Palm Springs. We love admiring different designs of houses. The coloured doors are what initially attracted us to do our own door tour. But when we got there, we were just taken away with how beautiful the designs of the homes were, as well as the manicured landscaping. It really makes me wish we could have those huge, full-blown cacti at home in our garden since we do xeriscaping!

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We could write about Vancouver for forever, but to keep this list short and sweet without overwhelming you with a ton of choices, every category only has 3 suggestions. Trust us, this was super hard to narrow down, but subscribe to our Vancouver Guide if you want the full run-down!

Getting to Vancouver is pretty easy. Tons of ways in on the highways, via boats and cruises, seaplanes, regular planes, trains, and bus. Vancouver is also a complete treat if you come by plane, because there is a train service that runs from the airport directly into downtown. It’s 9.20$ and takes about 30 or so minutes. Depending on how far your hotel is from the various skytrain stations located downtown, it’s worth taking it for the convenience and the ability to avoid traffic. Parking is pretty expensive in Vancouver, and a little pricey at the hotels too. You’ll just want to do valet because the price difference with self park is marginal.

Places To Stay

Definitely stay downtown if it’s your first visit to Vancouver, or if you planned on not having a rental car. We love the Pan Pacific, the Fairmont Pacific Rim, and the Sheraton. All of these hotels are in great locations, the hotels themselves are really nice, and have lots of amenities like a gym, spa, or pool. People like to stay at airbnb but this city struggles with housing affordability, so they crack down often on illegal airbnbs. There are a lot of stratas (think HOA) in downtown Vancouver that do not permit short term stays so your host could cancel your booking without any notice. So in my opinion, it’s too risky to book airbnb in Vancouver.

• Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre, central location close to lots of restaurants and shopping. We also love this hotel because its DOG-FRIENDLY!!
• Fairmont Pacific Rim, luxurious stay with beautiful rooms and views, and especially for the the spa lovers. The BEST spa with rooftop lounges, hot tubs, and sauna.
• Pan Pacific, beautiful view and great amenities. Pan Pacific also has a roof top spa and it’s higher and closer to the water views than compared to the Fairmont. Huge hotel and views of the North Shore or city.

Where To Eat

There are so many places to eat! These are the ones I recommend, because I love interesting menus, food quality, and great restaurant vibes.

Breakfast

• Medina, there is no other place for breakfast, lunch, or brunch. It’s worth the lineup, trust us.
• Pier 7 (North Van) – great brunch menu and views of downtown Vancouver.

Lunch

• The Poke Guy, filling and healthy lunch of poke with your choice of fixings!
• Festal, they call themselves a Paleo cafe. We think healthy comfort food. I like the turkey chilli with the cassava focaccia bread.
• MeeT in Gastown, vegetarian and vegan fare! Nice ambience, great menu selection.

Dinners

• Nightingale, modern Canadian cuisine. I always order the roasted cauliflower and grilled arctic char
• Copper Chimney, Indian inspired west coast cuisine. Order the platter so you can try all their tandoori.
• Blue Water Cafe, the best place to go for seafood in Vancouver.

Best Places To Eat With A View:

• The Teahouse in Stanley Park, west coast cuisine. You’ll have a view of the water and Burrard Inlet.
• Cardero’s, another seafood restaurant. For a view of Stanley Park and a place to eat nearby.
• Cactus Club Coal Harbour, this is a “chain restaurant” but it started in Vancouver, and their menus are awesome. In the summer this location opens up their windows and you have the most stunning view of Stanley Park, in what feels like a very intimate setting.

Happy Hours

I love a good happy hour, especially on vacation. These are my favourites because of the vibes, food menu, buck a shuck (more like 1.50$) oysters, and drink selection.

• Joe Fortes, in the summer be sure to hit up their rooftop patio
• Fanny Bay Oyster Bar, very low key and quiet, a great hidden gem.
• The Keg in Yaletown, again with the rooftop patio! Great happy hour food and beverages.

All Things Sweet (Desserts)

• Thierry Chocolates, hands down my favourite Patisserie. The tiramisu or mille feuille are divine.
• Ladurée Robson, Yes! Vancouver has one! Macarons are flown in from France.
• Nero Belgian Waffle Bar, for authentic Belgian Liege waffles.

Things To Do

• Bike or walk around Stanley Park on the seawall! This is a must-do! Try to hit up English Bay and stay in the seawall and to False Creek and Olympic Village. You could even make it to Granville Market, which is another must-do.
• Granville Island Public Market, a huge farmer’s market. Love this place for food, bread, treats, arts and crafts.
• Steamclock in Gastown, and then then hang out/shop/eat in Gastown too!

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• STAY: Westin Mission Inn Gold Resort and Spa
• DO: Thousand Palms Oasis Preserve
• EAT: Bubba’s Bones and Brews

Traveling for the holidays can be total bliss, or a total nightmare. You hear about the flights that were delayed from Cancun, where passengers are stranded on the plane, in what seems like a weird “Lord of the Flies” scenario. It has been a few years since we traveled far for the holidays, and not the traditional road trip down to Portland. We were not planning on it up until a month out, but then a Black Friday seat sale to Palm Springs popped up, and we jumped on the deal and treated ourselves. Welcome to our Winter Getaway Guide to Palm Springs!  

Palm Springs

Palm Springs had been on our radar for a long time. We had heard great stories about how dog-friendly the resorts are, how great the food is, and the laidback lifestyle. We were finally convinced to go check out Palm Springs. Now, the trick to booking flights when flying with two doggos is to call ahead to make sure that there is room on the flights for the dogs. We have never had issues with this in the past, but we made sure to play it safe. Well, it was a good thing that we did, as it was harder to get dog flights to Palm Springs than human flights. Ultimately, we had to shuffle around our dates a little bit, but it ended up extending our stay a bit longer. Oh well, worse inconveniences could happen.

Going into this trip, we didn’t read too much about what to do in advance and decided to research what to do when we arrived in Palm Springs. When we first arrived, we were surprised by the airport, as it is not your standard arrivals hall. Similar to Hawaii and other tropical destinations, the airport is open air. Louie and Mia enjoyed the dog amenities at the airport. After flying for the day in their in-cabin carriers and one layover, they enjoyed the inviting dog culture as soon as they land.

Westin Mission Hills

When it comes to accommodation, several hotels in the valley are dog-friendly. We chose the Westin Mission Hills as it offers expansive grounds in a resort-style setting. Further, as loyal Marriott-SPG members, we usually stick to their properties for their excellent treatment of their rewards members. This stay was no exception.

Upon check-in, we were treated to a golf-course view room. Note: the hotel does charge a $35/day resort fee. Unless you are golfing, this fee gives you nothing of value other than a free drink. Internet is included, but it is free if you are a Bonvoy member (formerly Marriott Rewards). Using the Marriott App, we were able to message guest services and have this fee removed. Another big plus is that parking is free on the property, and there is no additional pet fee! Make sure to check out my separate post that highlights the unique features of this property.

Thousand Palms Oasis Preserve

During our six days in Palm Springs, we enjoyed a mix of relaxation, shopping, exploration, and great eating. One of our favorite places that we visited was the Thousand Palms Oasis Preserve. The preserve was about 30 minutes away from the hotel and is a beautiful, sandy hike. It is relatively flat and boasts a gorgeous landscape of the Coachella Valley. Be advised that this is not a place to take large groups. Parking is limited, so arrive early. The doggies got to enjoy the hotel while we went on this little trek, as no dogs are allowed on the trails. The round-trip hike/walk takes about 45 minutes and has a little bit of cover, so make sure to bring your sunscreen.

Where To Eat

When it comes to food, Palm Springs does not disappoint. We were impressed by the variety of food offerings, as well as the impeccable customer service. We were too busy eating to take any photos, so we will do our best to get you up to speed! Some of the places we hit up were:

• LG’s Prime Steakhouse
• Bill’s Pizza
• Las Casuelas Nuevas
• La Quinta Cliffhouse
• Bubba’s Bones and Brews

LG’s Prime Steakhouse

We visited LG’s Prime Steakhouse in Palm Springs (there is a location in La Quinta as well) for a family dinner two days before new year’s. The wine menu was extensive, but reasonably priced considering the atmosphere. Come hungry, as the portions are very generous.

Bill’s Pizza

Bill’s Pizza is a great place to pop into for a quick bite while in downtown Palm Springs. Seating is available both inside and outside. We opted to sit outside so that Mia and Louie could join us too. The large pizzas live up to their name– they are large. Our party of 5 could have done with one large pizza and a salad, but we had to try some of the different types! Two of the pizza’s that stood out to us were the “The Charlie Sheen” and “Christine’s Rocker Pizza”.

Las Casuelas Nuevas

Las Casuelas Nuevas was so good we ate there twice. With a unique outdoor dining room, Las Casuelas Nuevas had a particular charm to it. We were treated to traditional Californian Mexican food, like as carne asada burritos, and carne asada platters. The margaritas are top-notch (we recommend the Maestro Dobel Silver smokey). Tip: make a reservation ahead of time as the place was packed each time we went. We also recommend sitting outside versus inside. There are tons of patio heaters, so it is warm all year round.

La Quinta Cliffhouse

The La Quinta Cliffhouse is literally built into the side of a hill and gives you a unique atmosphere on their patio. However, we decided to sit inside since the weather was really cold that day. The La Quinta Cliffhouse is a large restaurant that features a great happy hour, and a sunset dinner menu. We heard that the sunset dinner menu was the way to go, and we arrived early to do so. The sunset dinner menu is only offered between 4-5 pm, so it is a little early, but it’s a deal with two courses for $22.75. We both did the caesar salad with the flat-iron steak, paired with the happy hour red wine (Pacifica Merlot). Outside of the sunset menu, the prices jump considerably.

Bubba’s Bones and Brews

Finally, we checked out a local favorite, Bubba’s Bones and Brews. On a weeknight, this place was packed, and rightfully so. With an extensive beer and bourbon menu, as well as great food features, go to Bubba’s if you are hungry. Our party did the street tacos (3 for $5 on Tuesday and Thursday), as well as 4 meats. During our travels through the States, we always try to hit up barbecue joints as the ones in Canada are average, and very place usually has chicken, but it is dry. Not at Bubba’s. This is probably the best barbecue chicken you can get without going to Texas.

Until next time, Palm Springs …

Next time we hit up Palm Springs, we have some longer hikes on our radar, but are looking forward to hitting up some of the same spots, and hoping to find some new favourites.

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Ironman Canada 70.3 was such a challenging and awesome race!! It was a sufferfest for me, because I had some pain and nutrition issues, but I’m still going to sign up for this race again in 2018. We got to explore Whistler in the summer time, and have a mini race vacation, a race-cation. It was a Team Betty takeover, with 15 of us racing. A few friends were also racing, so it was awesome to have so many familiar faces.

The 70.3 shared the same course as the 140.6, and it was so awesome. We had amenities like wetsuit strippers, change tents, and sunscreen applicator volunteers. It was so luxurious! The race is also very spectator friendly, I saw my hubby 8x over the course of the day. Seeing Justin, our friends, as well as so many of my team mates was really special. Special thank you to Betty Designs for making sure we look amazing out there on the race course.

Pre-Race

I was thrilled heading into this race. I felt fresh, I felt strong, I felt ready!  Transitions were in separate places and had to be set up the day before, so there wasn’t much to do on race morning but bring nutrition and swim gear.

Race Morning

We got up around 530am. I felt so rested and ready to go. Since we weren’t racing until 9am, I thought I’d be able to manage 2 breakfasts. On a regular day, I have breakfast and am hungry again at 9am. So I started with oatmeal. I didn’t feel like eating, and I should’ve listened to my body. It was such a mistake. Eating created a huge knot in my stomach which ended up bothering me all day. Thinking it would pass, we packed up to head to T2 to catch the shuttles that would bring the athletes to T1. Justin then walked from T2 to swim start.

I dropped my favourite running hat into my T2 bag, and went to get body marked. I ran into a friend and we chatted on the bus all the way to T1. So happy we had that conversation, because I didn’t get a chance to preview the back half of the course so I had no idea what to expect. I knew it would be hilly, but I couldn’t visualize it until after our chat.

Since the 70.3 didn’t start until 9am, we bummed around T1 for so long. Put my food and water bottle onto my bike. Chatted with girls who were racked nearby. Watched the full 140.6 athletes start their day. The 70.3 got some time in the water before the race, so I made sure to get in and swam to the first buoy and back. Alta Lake was the perfect temperature, and the water was so clean and fresh. The lake was pretty calm, but it would change quite a bit during our race.

Swim Start

The swim is a rectangle. I started closer to the back, around the 40 min swimmers. I was hoping to find some fast feet to hang onto for a better pace than my own. It took a few minutes to get into the water, and I was feeling pretty calm. I swam straight out towards the yellow buoys, and found myself swimming close to the inside line the entire time. Got caught behind slower people a few times. Laughed at myself because I saw one person backstroking faster than I was front crawling. I generally enjoyed the swim out towards the first turn. I got a couple mouthfuls of water but thought it was due to poor body rotation. I hadn’t noticed yet that the waves were picking up.

Once I hit the first turn, it got a little choppy. Once I got to the next turn, I peeked at my watch and saw it was at 30 minutes. Then I looked around me and noticed it was a little quiet, and how wavy the water was. I kept swimming and I could feel every wave. I was starting to get nervous about my time, so I picked up the pace. Then the buoys started to feel farther and farther apart, so I got a little more nervous. Reaching the last turn buoy was a huge relief, because it looks like a short, straight shoot to the finish. But this is where the swim got really interesting. The water was super choppy and it was really windy. It was my hell.

Luckily in training, Leana and I went for a horrible swim at Kits. It took us forever to get to Kits Beach because of traffic, so I committed to swim at least an hour even though I just wanted to go to splash around and get some open water time. The waves were huge that day. It took us 40 min to swim 400m. I’m sure Leana could’ve swam a lot farther, but she’d wait while I panicked every 10 strokes and stopping to tread water and calm down. So while the last turn at the swim in Alta Lake sucked big time, I told myself to HTFU and keep going because I had been through worse.

T1

It was all smiles on the swim exit. I gave someone a high-five, and proceeded to the wetsuit strippers. I didn’t wear the straps on my bib shorts during the swim, so I held onto my pants to make sure they didn’t come off. I got my bike bag headed into the change tent. It was pretty quiet inside the tent so I had a volunteer all to myself. As I exited the change tent, there were sunscreen applicator volunteers, so I let them spray me down. I hurried over to my bike, and headed toward the exit. The mount line was surprisingly a bit busy, so I made my way to the left side and peddled away.

Bike 

I left my bike geared down, so that I would take it easy out of T1. It was a scenic ride past Alta Lake out to Highway 99. Popped some Tums, hoping it would sort out my stomach, and then later sipped on my liquid nutrition. As we got onto the highway and headed towards Callaghan Valley, my hips and deep in my hamstrings started to hurt. I tried moving around on my saddle and stretching on the descents. When it didn’t seem like the pain was going away, I started to get upset because now I was distracted from enjoying the bike course and scenery.

The pain in my hips and hamstrings finally ended after about 30km, but my stomach pain wouldn’t let up. Any time I sipped on my liquid nutrition, my stomach would protest and hurt even more. So I picked up some course nutrition. Managed to get down half a pack of Shot Bloks and a vanilla gel. After debating on making myself throw up, I attempted to around the 70km mark, with no success. Then I just dumped my liquid nutrition and decided that Gatorade and water would have to do. Always for fun, I packed Ghirardelli chocolates in my bento box, and I was so happy I did. I was able to get down a small square of caramel chocolate. It was only 60 calories, but it was a great pick me up. There were some great descents on the north side of Whistler towards Pemberton, so I made sure to enjoy them because they wouldn’t be so fun on the way back.

All in all, I managed to get in maybe 600+ calories by the time I finished on the bike. I was aiming for 1,100+ calories. So that calorie deficit had me on the verge of tears quite a few times. At one point, I actually started to see stars and my vision got a blurry. So that wasn’t fun but I survived. Since the bike course is 2 lollipops, it was so nice to see so many of my fellow Team Betty girls and other racers coming and going. It was uplifting to see so many familiar faces, and it made the time go by much better. I also saw Justin and our friends quite a few times too! So despite the pain, I really loved the bike course and experience. It was pretty hot and windy too, but I didn’t notice because my stomach hurt so much.

T2

It was really quick to get myself out of my cycling kit and into my tri onesie. I threw on my favourite racing hat, shoes, and race belt, and I was off. Justin was cheering me on out of T2, so I went over to give him a kiss and told him I’d still be a while until the finish.

The Run

I didn’t pack any nutrition because I was planning on Coke and water. When I made my way to the first aid station, I immediately grabbed a coke, and that made my stomach hurt too!! I was really counting on the familiarity of Coke on my stomach. It was settled, this day would stay hard. The beginning of the run course was pretty quiet without many spectators, so I sniffled and ran/walked, trying to hold back tears of frustration. My fellow team Amelia was out cheering, and she jumped up to give me a hug and I just started crying. I was so happy to see her, but so upset in that moment. She gave me a huge hug and sent me on my way. So I ran a bit more, and when I was far enough away, started to cry again hehe.

Eventually, something clicked and I decided to buck up and finish strong. The course finally got more busy, with more racers and people around. The run course was gorgeous, and went past Lost Lake and then up to Green Lake. Part of the run course was on dirt trail, and some on concrete. On some parts we ran alongside the highway, so we could see the full distance Ironman racers heading back into Whistler. I took ice at most aid stations to put down my trisuit. and it was divine. I ended up being able to get in tiny sips of Coke and water. Some people said the run course was pretty hilly, but I really didn’t think so.

THE FINISH

As I started to approach the finish line, all my pain went away. I high-fived people and soaked in the finish. I couldn’t find Justin, but he got this great photo of me!

OVERALL

Loved this entire experience!! I woke up Monday morning and decided I’d be racing this one again. Ironman 70.3 Canada was a great character builder. I wish I hadn’t got upset so much, but I didn’t give in and kept soldering on. Even if you are suffering big time, you can fake it til you make it. I made sure to smile all day, especially when it got tough. And guess what, it totally works!! I’m already making plans for Whistler 2018, can’t wait.

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