Our room had one saving grace. The view of snow capped mountains and a man-made lagoon.


The hotel offers gondola rides, hence the huge lagoon. With the beautiful view, I think this ride is worthier than the one at Venetian Vegas.


Though I am a sucker for tourist traps, we had a 2 hour ride to LA and needed to start our day early. So no gondola rides.


Today we are going to Mount San Jacinto for some fun in the snow!


After driving some way up the mountain, we arrive at the ticket booth. The line to get tickets was so long! Note that we are currently at 2643ft above sea level.


Our destination is the peak at 8516ft. Which means we need to ascend 5873ft to get there!


Good thing they have the aerial tramway.


This tram not only climbs up to the peak, it also spins 360degrees so riders can get a panaromic view of the surroundings.


Excited to start the ride...


Look at the slant of the cable lines in the last picture. It's a really steep way to the top which makes me wonder how they built the tramway!


As the tram ascended, the landscape changed from dry ground to snowy peaks. We also saw the entire Palm Springs city.


I really hate it when we go over one of these supporting tower. The tram would shake so violently that it felt like we were going to drop to our deaths. My heart would leap out of my mouth. See video in my next post.

The first time it happened, a group of people involuntarily went 'wooooah!'. That made everyone laugh and it became a group thing to do each time we went over a tower. Sure calmed my nerves when I laughed at our collective 'WOOOOAH!'.


We have reached the Mount San Jacinto mountain peak!




Kelly does an introduction to San Jacinto in the next post.


But no time to waste when fun awaits!


We had to go down these slopes to where the thick snow lies.


Can you tell I was wearing 4 layers?


Kelly too!


The Mountain Station.


Winter wonderland!


OF COURSE we must have snowfight!


And this is why I hit no one. My angle is all wrong. After Kelly won, we switched to tobaganning. This was my first time! Look at the videos in our next post!





And a glamourous finish!


Kelly took the tobaggan up for his turn. Climbing the slope in mushy snow is quite the exercise, like running on sand at an angle!






Look at the third picture. Doesn't Kelly look like he's on a magic carpet? This is what happens when you hit a hump, you fly off the ground! In the last picture, Kelly's posture looks like a hero who has just saved the world. Cue the grand music!


Kids sliding down the hill!


This boy so drama queen.


I haven't made a snowman before so I really wanted to make one before we left San Jacinto. But the snow wasn't clumpy enough so we ended up with a tiny tiny snowman. Looks more like an alien?

Bye Palm Springs! I had fun, hope to see you again!