My Trip To Palm Springs
Not everyone is able to see a dinosaur, play on a mountain covered with snow, go to Joshua tree, and see airplanes in 4 days. Well I did just that on my trip to Palm Springs during my winter break.
Day 1- I was laying on my cozy bed when someone shook me. When I opened my eyes my mom was staring down at me. When I looked at my clock it was 6:30 AM. I jumped out of bed so fast it felt like I was flying. I was so excited because this would be my first trip to Palm Springs. I ran into the bathroom where I saw my dad already brushing his teeth. After I brushed my teeth, I went back into my room to put on my clothes. Then, I went downstairs to eat my breakfast, which was a bagel. Then my mom, dad and I went into the car and started our drive to Palm Springs. After about an hour and 30 minutes on the road, my dad pulled up to a place that had big dinosaurs. The place was called Cabazon Dinosaurs. I saw 2 dinosaurs, one was a T-Rex and the other was a brontosaurus. The dinosaurs were very big just like when they existed on earth. Both of the dinosaurs wore Christmas themed outfits. My dad and mom took a couple of pictures with me standing next to the dinosaurs. After we took pictures, we found out that the brontosaurus tail led us to a gift shop. The gift shop was filled with toys that had to do with dinosaurs. After that, we drove to our hotel in Palm Springs. After we parked, I saw that the hotel had a lot of windows and 4 floors. After we got our luggage out of the car we went into the building and got our room key. Since we had to wake up early the next morning, we had an early dinner and went to bed shortly after. I couldn’t wait for the next day to start where we would go to the top of a mountain.
Day 2- I was sleeping in my bed when a sound woke me up. It sounded like a Ring Ring Ring! When I opened my eyes I learned that the ringing sound was made from my dad’s phone. I looked at my clock and it was 6:30 AM. I jumped out of bed and I woke up my mom and dad. Afterwards, my family and I brushed our teeth and changed our clothes. We ate breakfast. After that, we went into our car. I was so excited because my family would go on top of a mountain that had snow on it. After 45 minutes on the road, we pulled into a parking lot. When we got out of the car, I felt this freezing air hitting my face. I thought I was going to freeze still like a statue. We all put on our heavy jackets and snow gloves. Even with the jacket and gloves, it was still freezing cold. We got on a bus that took us to a building where we would buy our tickets to ride on a tram that would bring us to the top of the mountain. After a long wait, we boarded the tram for our ride to the top of the mountain. The ride to the mountain was amazing because the tram’s floor would spin 360 degrees and we could see the whole view of the mountain as we were going up. The tram took us over 8,000 feet to the top of the mountain. After the ride ended, we stepped off the tram and I could see the entire mountain covered with white snow. This was the first time I got to play in real snow. I did play in snow once before at Legoland during their Snow Day in December when I was 3 years old, but that was not real snow. We got on our sled and rode down the hill. Each time we went down the hill it kept getting better. It was very fun riding down hill because it made our sled go faster. It was also fun because we were able to hop a hill. I also had a snowball fight with my dad. Having a snowball fight was really fun because I used the trees to block my dad’s snowball and that helped me win. I was so cold because when the snowball hit me in the face it made me shiver. After the snowball fight, we ate our lunch. After lunch we rode down the mountain again. The ride back was more fun than the first ride because the driver put on some music. After that it was time to leave and we rode the tram back to the building. I told myself that today was one of the best trips of my life. I couldn’t wait for tomorrow because my family and I would go to Joshua tree.
Day 3- I was sleeping in my own bed in a hotel in Palm Springs when somebody shook my bed. When I opened my eyes I saw my dad staring down at me. Then, I looked at my clock and it was 6:00 AM. I jumped out of bed. I was so excited because my family and I would go to Joshua Tree. Afterwards, I brushed my teeth and changed my clothes. I had breakfast. After that, my family and I jumped in the car and drove to Joshua Tree. After 1 hour on the road, my dad pulled into a parking lot with a building next to it. When I got out of the car I saw the building was very old. When we went inside I saw that there were two desks and two ranges near the entrance. We asked a woman if we could have the Junior Ranger activity booklet. The woman said yes. She also said the Junior Ranger activity booklet asks questions about plants and animal life. After that, we explored Joshua Tree. I learned that some spots in Joshua tree that are famous are Skull Rock, Cholla Cactus Garden, Keys View, Hidden Valley Nature Trail, Barker Dam, Jumbo Rocks campground, Arch Rock, Cholla Valley Preserve, Ryan Mountain, and a lot more. I learned that Joshua Tree was a national monument in 1936. President Franklin Roosevelt signed the proclamation to protect Joshua tree and the plants and animals that live here. In 1994, the monument became a national park. Now about 2,500,000 come here every year. Joshua tree is about the 10th most visited national park. I also know that butterflies, bats, lizards, bighorn sheep, kangaroo rats, gambel’s quail, darkling beetle, scorpion, ground squirrel, cactus wren, Jack rabbit, desert tortoise, roadrunner, tarantula, gopher snake, coyote, and a lot more animals live here. I also learned scrub oak, beavertail cactus, chia, joshua tree, brittlebush, cholla cactus, sacred datura, mojave yucca, creosote bush, california fan palm, juniper, barrel cactus, and a lot more plants live here. At 1:00 PM, my family and I went on a tour of the Keys Ranch. I learned that the Keys Ranch was built in 1910 and Willam and his wife Frances Keys live there with their 7 kids. Most importantly, I learned that Willam Keys never wasted anything and he used all the things he had to survive. Back at the hotel, I felt happy because I had a great trip but I was sad because tomorrow would be the last day in Palm Springs. But I couldn’t wait for tomorrow because my family and I would go to the Palm Springs Air Museum.
Day 4- I was lying comfortably in my bed and suddenly I woke up. I looked at my clock and it was 6:30 AM. I felt happy and sad at the same time. I felt happy because today my family and I will go to the Palm Springs Air Museum where I could see airplanes. I felt sad because today would be my last day in Palm Springs. When I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth I saw my dad doing the same. After we changed our clothes we had breakfast. After breakfast we put all of our luggage in the car and drove to the Air Museum. After 30 minutes driving my dad pulled into a parking lot that had a lot of cars. When I got out of the car I saw a big building and airplanes next to it. My dad and my mom took pictures of me standing near the airplanes. After that, we went inside to buy tickets. When I went inside I saw a woman sitting at a desk. We asked the woman how much money would 2 adults and 1 child cost. We learned that 1 adult costs 20 dollars and one child costs 0 dollars which meant we had to spend 40 dollars. After we got our tickets the woman gave us a map. She showed us that there was a second floor which had a library and flight simulators. She also said that we had to go outside which would lead to hangars where the airplanes are. My mom said that we should go to the second floor and do the simulators. When we finished climbing all the steps to go to the second floor I saw a little shelf filled with books. We also saw chairs where we saw the inside of an airplane. There was a man that told us that this room is where we get to play on a flight simulator. He taught us how to move the airplane and soon I got the hang of it. He also told us if we hit P on the keyboard we can parachute out of the airplane. When we were about to leave to check out the airplanes I fired my blasters at an enemy plane and it blew up. I felt proud of myself. I saw a lot of airplanes on this trip but my favorites were the C-47 Skytrain, PT-17 Stearman, T-6 Texan, T-28 Trojan, T-33 Shooting jet, F-117A Nighthawk, F-14 Tomcat, P-40 Warhawk, A4-Skyhawk and the Grumman F7F Tigercat. I learned that the C-47 Skytrain first flight was on Dec.23, 1941, its cruise speed was 160 miles per hour, it weighed 31,000 pounds, and it can fit a crew of 3 and 6,000 pounds of cargo or about 28 airborne troops. Some cool facts about the PT-17 Stearman is that its wingspan is 32 feet and 2 inches and its max speed is 135 miles per hour. Some amazing facts about the T-6 Texan is that its wingspan is about 42 feet and its range is 750 miles. Some cool facts about the T-28 Trojan is its first flight was on Sep. 24, 1949, its weight is 8,247 pounds and its speed is 364 miles per hour. I learned that the T-33 Shooting Jet wingspan is 38 feet and 10 inches. I also learned that this airplane’s range is 1,275. Some cool facts that I learned about the F-117A Nighthawk first flight was on June 18, 1981 and its speed was 684 miles per hour. I learned that the F-14 Tomcat speed is 1,544 miles per hour. Some interesting facts about the P-40 Warhawk is that its speed is 360 miles per hour and its cruising speed is 270 miles per hour. Some cool facts about the A-4 Skyhawk is that its top speed is 675 miles per hour and it has a large variety of bombs, rockets, and missiles. Some cool facts about the Grumman F7F Tigercat is that its top speed is 435 miles per hour and it weighs 16,270 pounds. After I checked out all of the airplanes, I saw that this place has a coin machine. In another blog that I wrote, I saw a coin machine just like this. That blog is called A Trip To The Zoo. The coin machine has airplanes on a coin and it costs 51 cents. I asked my mom if I could get one and she said yes. The coin I got was a F-117A. After I got my coin I got to play on the simulators again. Before we left the museum, we went into the gift shop and my mom bought me a glider that can fly more than 25 feet. We had to leave because there was traffic heading home. I was happy because this had been one of the best trips of my life. I couldn’t wait to come here again.