Off to camper life

On Friday, it was time to head back to LA to return the rental car and pick up the camper. We already knew it would be a very long day, but unfortunately, it ended up being even longer 🙈

We had our pickup appointment at Cruise America at 1:30 PM, which must be scheduled over the phone beforehand—nothing like 'online first' 😉 We arrived an hour early because we had to return the rental car to a station 20 minutes away. That went smoothly, and Reto took an Uber back to us. However, by then it was already 2:15 PM, even though the lady had promised us at our arrival at 12:30 that it would just be a few more minutes. Oh dear 😬 At 2:30 PM, our camper finally came around the corner, but during the inspection, we noticed that the refrigerator wouldn’t close properly - so the 'mechanic' had to take another 'quick' (30 minutes..) look at it... Just after 3 PM, we were finally ready to depart. Google Maps didn’t promise anything good.. normally it takes about 2 hours from LA to Palm Springs; it showed 3 hours and 40 minutes and various accidents... So there it was, the infamous LA traffic - and we were right in the middle of it. To the chagrin of the boys, whose nerves were definitely frayed after 2 hours (ours were too 😅). Another 2 hours later, at 7 PM (still just before it got dark!), we finally made it and arrived at Catalina Springs RV Park 🥳 A great place with free hot springs, a small playground & mini golf for the boys, and even a (decent) gym for me 😉

It took a long time for everyone to fall asleep - the first night in the camper is exciting after all - and the wind was howling so much around our camper that at times it felt like it might take off 😂

The next day, it was an early wake-up call (it’s unfortunately not dark in the camper either 🤪), but we wanted to go to the Desert Zoo in Palm Springs, so it was no big deal 😉

The zoo promises at the entrance, 'Today will be your best day. Ever.' Well, very modest 😉 Conclusion: We wouldn’t entirely agree with that promise, but it was nice for sure. There’s even a small 'waterland' in the zoo where the boys could play/splash/bathe. A very welcome change 😃

Tomorrow we’ll take the biggest 'cable car' up the mountain. And for the first time, (a little) hiking - just to 'warm up'. Let’s see how excited the boys are 😉