We'd been looking forward to a vacation for weeks. The recent heat wave in Mountain View only made us more anxious.

We were headed to Palm Springs. We’d never been before but assumed even the desert would be cool by late September, right? Wrong.

It wasn't until I looked at the weather in Palm Springs that I realized the hot weather typical to Mountain View in early fall paled in comparison to how hot it was going to be in Palm Springs. But we had a wedding to go to and family to visit so not getting on a plane wasn't an option.

On Thursday, my husband and I followed our two children down the walkway at the San Jose airport. My husband asked if I wanted to buy a book for the flight. I laughed aloud and said I hadn't read a book on a flight since our oldest child was born 4 years ago. Instead of burying our noses in good books, my husband I spent the flight down to Palm Springs coloring pictures of pirate ships and princess dresses.

As soon as our children felt the Palm Springs heat, they asked how many minutes until it was time to go swimming. I started to get nervous - we couldn't spend the entire weekend at the pool - were we doomed to spending the entire vacation in an air conditioned hotel room? I definitely had not packed enough coloring books.

We made it through the weekend of over 100 degree dry desert heat. We managed to have fun at the pool and with family inside. But each time I exited the air conditioned rooms and tried to entertain my children outside, I missed Mountain View. I even missed how hot our townhome got on warm fall nights.

Because as my children bounced off the walls of the cool hotel room and struggled to go to sleep for nap time, I realized how lucky we are to live in a city where the weather permits us to play outside, comfortably, for most of the year. I realized how easy it is to enjoy the variety of outdoor activities just minutes away throughout the year, even on the hot days of early fall.