Today, I’m off to Southern California’s most popular desert resort town, Palm Springs!
In addition to attending a real live gala for a film festival, I’ll be visiting a few hotels, checking out a spa (which I do only for you), heading up a mountain, and visiting the home of a famous philanthropist. I’d say it promises to be a lovely weekend.
For this trip, I’ll be joining my pal Ann Shepphird, editor of Association News and writer of the fabulous gardening/cooking/travel blog Gardens to Tables; we’re excited to play dress up with sparkly baubles and hob-knob with film glitterati.
I’m also looking forward to seeing more of Palm Springs than I ever have before. When you live in Los Angeles, Palm Springs (which is about a 2-hour drive, southeast) is generally considered a sedate version of Las Vegas, with a few gambling casinos, cabaret revues and outlet malls. It’s a place where you go sit beside a shimmering pool, drink mid-century cocktails or wander from hole to hole on a ludicrously well-watered golf course.
This will be my fifth visit to the area. (The first one was actually my first weekend away with Adam (back in 1994) at the Marriott Desert Springs, a spectacular example of the “check in here/check out of reality” desert resort.) And yet, this trip will mark the first time I’ll actually explore the central downtown and the surrounding San Jacinto Mountains.
Every Thursday evening is VillageFest, when the businesses along Palm Canyon Drive open their doors and make way on their sidewalks for market vendors selling everything from produce to jewelry. Later in the weekend, we’ll take the Aerial Tramway up to the tippy-top for a sprawling view of the Coachella Valley from the (by all accounts lovely) Peaks Restaurant.
Down on the ground, we’ll be based at the new Renaissance Palm Springs Hotel. We’ll be lounging one morning at the Spa Terre at the Riviera; I’m eager to indulge in the something-for-everyone Massage Medley. There’ll be a breakfast visit to the new/old-fangled Ace Hotel (I’ve only ever been to the one in Portland, Oregon, and oh, wow is that cool) and visits to a few more local resorts, as well.
Especially interesting, we’ll be preview-touring Sunnylands, the vintage ’60s estate of the late Philadelphia newspaper tycoon/potentially spiteful philanthropist Walter Annenberg. Why “preview-touring,” you may ask? Well, the house won’t actually be open to the public until November 2011, when it will be used as a free-to-enter education/conference center with a mountain-view café.
Oh, and again, there will be gala-age, for the Palm Springs International Film Festival. Rumor is, Colin Firth and Javier Bardem will be there, in which case it’s a great thing that Ann and I will be there together…so we can catch each other mid-swoon.
On our way back home on Sunday, I hope to coax Ann into stopping at Hadley’s Fruit Orchards in nearby Cabazon to try one of their famous date shakes. Over 17 years in Southern California, and I have yet to try one of these legendary sweet concoctions.
Ah, the wonders of the Golden State never cease.
Have fun! We’re looking forward to reading of your adventures.