business, with a little vacation mixed in

A couple weeks ago I went on a business trip to California. I took my cousin with me. Just as I did last time (2015), I tacked on a few extra days so I can see some sights and have a little relaxation time. It's been a rocky year, so we both needed the down time.

Before the trip I took some precautions to minimize back pain, since I knew a 6+ hour flight, followed by three days at a conference, and then another plane ride back would be hard on me. I took the steroids the doctor prescribed, used my back brace as much as possible, tried to keep moving, and brought the Percocet along in case I really needed it. My back was mostly OK for the week, although the plane rides were tough! I'll post another update on my back soon.

The view from our hotel room.
The pool was surprisingly quiet all week.

We left on Sunday at 7:30 am our time (EDT) and arrived in Palm Springs at 12:30 pm (PDT).  (Travelling backwards through the time zones is always a nice bonus on the first day, since it feels like the day lasts forever. It's usually nice while I'm at my destination, too, as I typically wake up earlier.) The airport at home was surprisingly busy and chaotic at 5:30 am, but we made it through the long baggage check line. We then lucked out by getting TSA PreCheck and were able to breeze through security pretty quickly. Our layover in Chicago was about an hour and 20 minutes, but it took awhile to get to the gate and off the plane, so we didn't have time to get a meal before we had to board the next plane. We ended up eating the cookies the airline hands out, which wasn't exactly a great meal for a WLS post-op. I was OK, though, as I just kept sipping my water.

Monday we visited The Living Desert, which is a zoo. The zoo was very nice and well-kept. There was a shuttle that you could take around the park. For $6.00 you could ride all day, hopping on and off as needed. My favorites were feeding the giraffe, and seeing the 14 year old porcupine, although he was sleeping the whole time, the meerkats, and the fossas. I'd never heard of a fossa, but it was cute and somewhat cat-like. Every time the shuttle went by the enclosure, it would run along side us. As cute as it is, though, I've learned it's a top predator in Madagascar and will eat pretty much anything in the forest.

Pretty yellow flowers, which smelled so nice! You can find them throughout the park.

I got to feed a giraffe twice. The first time the worker was using my cell phone to take pictures; however, she must not have hit the right button because there were no pictures on my phone. So, I came back later and fed him again and got some good pictures--my cousin took the pictures this time! 

One of my ancestors. This is where my height comes from. ;)

Cute little meerkat. He sat this way for a longggg time!
They seem to have no problem staying focused for long periods of time.

This guy is so cute! 

Tuesday we did some shopping, though neither of us actually bought anything. We were amazed at how many consignment and thrift stores there are in that area. Being that it was very close to Palm Springs, we had high hopes that we would find some nice things. Meh, not so much. We both decided that we're not cut out for thrift store shopping, as we don't really have the patience or desire to comb through the racks for hours looking for the perfect item at a rock-bottom price.

Wednesday, Thursday and part of Friday I attended the business conference, so there's isn't much to say here. It was very informative, the food was great and it was very fast-paced.

Friday afternoon we drove through the Joshua Tree National Park. We started at the west entrance, which is actually the north end of the park, and exited through the south entrance.  It was a really nice ride, but you must appreciate the desert landscape in order to enjoy it. The weather was beautiful. I was surprised that it was cooler than in Palm Springs. It was about 75 degrees with a very nice breeze.  We stopped and took some pictures here and there. We made sure to use the bathroom before we entered the park, as there are no bathrooms within unless you're at a campground. There were lots of campgrounds, though much different from campgrounds I'm used to.  Here's a link to the maps on their website if you're interested in looking:  https://www.nps.gov/jotr/planyourvisit/maps.htm

A Joshua tree, for which the park is named.Sections of the park look like a Joshua tree forest, whereas others have just a couple here and there, or none at all.

Seems like a road to nowhere. Gorgeous scenery, though!

Saturday we packed up and headed back home. Unfortunately our flight taking off from Palm Springs was delayed 45 minutes due to weather in Chicago. Then when we got to Chicago, our flight home was delayed about an hour and half, which was good because there was severe weather:  torrential rain, lightning and high winds. Oh, and a tornado watch. The whole plan was rocking from the wind. I was really annoyed, though, because they put us on the plane knowing that severe weather was coming and we couldn't take off--it was already pouring rain outside--and made us sit on the tarmac for two hours. Then once we got moving, there were at least 10 planes ahead of us for takeoff. Obviously I'm glad we didn't take off during severe weather, but it was annoying that they didn't just have us wait in the airport and then board the plane when the weather started to improve. Anyway, instead of getting in at 10 pm, we got in around 12:30 am and we finally got to bed around 2 am. Between the time change and the late night, we were exhausted on Sunday.

So, that was my trip. We had a good time, saw some nice sights and spent some quality time together.