Las Vegas/Palm Springs Trip

Grad school is a lot of things — inspiring, exhausting, and a time-suck. So this blog is long overdue, since this trip was back in October. It's going to be difficult to recount every single thing that happened on this trip, as we packed in A LOT into a short week of travel, but I will do my best. Mostly, I just wanted to do a photo dump of all the pictures I took! Here are some highlights.

Las Vegas

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Here are a few videos from the party!

[playlist type="video" ids="6359,6362,6365,6366,6367,6368"]

It's hard to describe our trip to Vegas, because there was just SO MUCH that went on while we were there. Between the conference and the general craziness of being in Vegas, it was a wild trip. Staying in the Venetian was incredible. It is truly enormous - it would take Kyle and I at least 15 minutes to walk from our room to where the conference was being held, and sometimes, I would have to take multiple elevators or escalators to get to the right rooms for my classes. We barely even left the hotel, because we had so many things going on for the conference, that we didn't really have time to go anywhere else. We didn't gamble (I know, I know), but I don't feel like we missed out on anything there.

Kyle and I only took a couple of classes together, because we were mostly trying to learn different things - he wanted leadership and InDesign classes, I wanted hand-lettering and photography workshops. It was so much fun, and the most unique event I've ever attended. We would leave a class, and there would be magical snack stations that appeared. We'd walk down a hallway to the sounds of a DJ set up in the corner. There were acrobats and performers everywhere. It was like living in the land of the weirdos, in the best way.

I will say this about Nevada - it WRECKED my skin. I'm honestly still recovering. It is so dry there, and I don't know if it was in combination with the fact that I was kind of sick or what, but I have never had drier skin and hair than when I was there. Even once we made it to California, it got a little better. It was nuts. The desert is no joke, guys.

Palm Springs/Joshua Tree

After we left the conference, we rented a car and drove to Palm Springs, which was about 4 hours away. Kyle has been wanting to visit there for years, so he was pumped to finally get there. I was excited, but I wasn't prepared for just how much I was going to fall in love with this place. It is basically everything I love about a place, all rolled into one.

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Other than what the photos show, we did lots of walking around, shopping in fun stores, and drinking iced coffee. We bought a new Christmas ornament, as we always do while traveling, and I just put it on the tree last night. (It's a pink flamingo in a santa hat!)

During this part of the trip, Kyle and I were in our best moods - chill and up for anything. We squeezed a ton of adventure into a short trip, while still making time to chill out by the pool and have insane cocktails at a tiki bar. It was a dream. This place has art and culture, plus a vibe that is somehow both tropical and midcentury. In my excitement, I told Kyle I would retire there. No joke. Besides mountains, this type of place is where my soul resides, so I could totally see myself here. Cacti Lady is the yang to my Mountain Mama yin.

I hope you enjoyed all the photos and reliving that trip with me! I feel like Kyle and I got a good mixture of both kids of travel - fun and crazy, plus chill and relaxing. I really enjoyed going West, so I'm excited to explore more of that part of the country.

TRAVELKayla DyerDecember 11, 2017adobe, adobemax, adventure, alice in wonderland, beach, birba, bootleggers, botanical, business, cacti, cactus, california, cheekys, conference, creatives, culture, desert, exploring, garden, kings highway, koffi, las vegas, life, marc ronson, maxbash, midcentury, midcentury modern, moorten, museum, nevada, palm springs, palm trees, tiki bar, travel, vegas, west coastComment