Gavin "Hearts" the Tram

For Matt's birthday this year, I decided to surprise him with a family trip to the Palm Spring Aerial Tramway. We have always wanted to go and I figured it would be a fun, inexpensive way to spend the day. So, the day before his birthday, we bundled up in warm clothes (the weather report showed 23˚F) and headed to Palm Springs. We didn't know how Gavin would react to the tram or the snow since he has never been in it before. I was worried that we would end up with a freaked-out child half-way up the mountain with no way to get out and calm him down. However, that was definitely NOT the case. Gavin loved the tramway so much that he didn't want to get off! The ride up went smoothly and then we headed over to the restaurant to enjoy lunch before playing in the snow.

The view from the top

It was absolutely beautiful at the top and it was so much fun to see Gavin playing in the snow. There is a long, windy sidewalk leading to the snow and Gavin insisted on carrying a small clump of it in his glove the whole way down. In fact, every time the little clump would melt or fall apart, he would have to pick up another little clump before we could continue on. And, each time people would pass us on the trail, our polite little man would say, "Hiiii," which naturally earned him many friends along the way.

Once we reached the snow, Gavin was excited to see a little snowman that was just his size. He piled some extra snow on the top before exploring other areas. We had such a wonderful time just enjoying the outdoors and being together as a family. Matt and I loved watching Gavin play in the snow with his poor little red nose.

After awhile, we returned to the station for the ride back down. Gavin was very excited to be getting on the "cam" again. In fact, once we reached the bottom, he burst into tears and yelled, "Cam, cam!!" We told him that we would return to the Tram another day, but trying to reason with a very upset 22-month-old is nearly impossible. So, we just walked as quickly as we could to the car to keep from disturbing the other guests with our screaming child. Good times.

Overall, it was a wonderful day and we would definitely do it again.