Road Trip to Joshua Tree in the Volvo XC60

Apr 25, 2017

California was one big road trip for me starting in Los Angeles to Palm Springs for Coachella with stops in Pioneer Town and Joshua Tree, two must-dos if you’re in the Palm Springs area before taking a tour of Orange County. I’m not a light packer when it comes to music festivals and being on the road for three weeks didn’t help… that, coupled with James’ stuff, a compact car was unrealistic.

Fortunately we partnered with Volvo to try out the 2017 Volvo XC60, which we basically lived out of. We had the T6 AWD Inscription trim – it drove like a dream, so much that at one point I looked down at the speedometer and found myself pushing 90, when I felt like I was going maybe 60. It’s incredible how quiet it is, smooth and solid feeling no matter what speed you’re going.

It was one of the most comfortable rides through Joshua Tree and the timing could not have been better. With all the rain they’ve been experiencing there were wild flowers blooming that hadn’t budded in decades. With so many colors, it was beautiful! We stopped to climb the rocks, walk some trails, stroll through the cactus garden, and even met a snake along the way. Enjoy the drive with us in the video above, More on the car and photo gallery below!

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Meet Charlie

Apr 25, 2016

I have a big announcement, today we’ve added a new member to our family, Charlie Westin King! He’s a 10 year old Pomeranian that was found in a kill shelter before being rescued by Animal Samaritans — who I like to call Charlie’s Angels. And yes, he already has a profile on Instagram @PomPomCharlie (you know I had to!).

Instead of heading to LA in between both weekends of Coachella, James and I decided to stay in Palm Springs at The Westin Mission Hills to explore all of the amazing sites in the area before heading into weekend two of the music festival. The Westin has a partnership with Animal Samaritans and had Charlie living in their lobby allowing guests to play with him and take him for walks. I walked him everyday.

It can be really hard for older dogs to get adopted and I just fell so in love with him so after some nudging, James agreed that we needed to give this little guy a home! He came with the name Charlie so we didn’t want to change it but added Westin after the property for his middle name, and then gave him James’ last name since Charlie Westin King sounds better then Charlie Westin Eurdolian.

The Westin is an incredible property, set on a golf course with multiple restaurants and pools. Our favorite part was all of the activities they offered and the amount of animals on the property. Walking the grounds they have giant bunnies, tortoises, black and white swans, ducks, iguanas and a bee tour! They have a whole bee keeping program where they make the honey used on the property. And as some of you know bees are crucial to our survival and have been on the decline since 2006. On Sundays they even offer bee tours, which of course we had to do!