Daniel
recently surprised me by announcing he’d accrued far more paid time off than he
originally thought. A fringe benefit of
this is that we’re planning to travel more extensively in the coming year than
we’d previously envisioned. In late 2021
we abandoned tentative plans to visit Palm Springs (PS) in favor of more economical destinations. Although one such trip was beneficial in its
own way, we kept PS on the back burner as a future option. We were able to revive those plans late last
year and set the ball in motion to visit PS and get away from the Cleveland
winter.
This was
Daniel’s first visit to Palm Springs and my second – the first having been with
my stepmother’s parents when I was about 14 years old and too young to really
appreciate it.
Palm Springs
(by which I mean, of course, the location in California, not Florida) is known these days as a popular LGBTQ+ travel destination, ranking alongside Puerto Vallarta and San Francisco.
But there is much that anyone can appreciate here: nature, architecture,
art. We decided early on to avoid some
of the more decadent guest houses and instead chose the local Hyatt hotel – conveniently located downtown
and within walking distance of countless restaurants and vibrant nightlife:
gay, straight, and mixed.
The first
day of our trip was a comedy of errors as, just a mile into our drive, we found
ourselves with a flat tire. Instead of
changing it in the pouring rain, we headed back home to the thumpa-thumpa
accompaniment of said tire. Daniel then
switched our luggage from one car to the other as I grabbed the other car key
and we restarted our journey to the airport.
The flight to Palm Springs was uneventful, including a layover in San
Francisco where I spotted a United Airlines plane with retro livery. Once landed at Palm
Springs’ charming airport,
we found ourselves at the back of a long line at the Budget Rental Car
stand. All told we waited two hours,
which did afford us some amusing conversations and commiserations with fellow
standees but was highly annoying. Eventually
we got our car and, as we turned from the airport onto East Tahquitz Canyon
Way, we encountered a breathtaking view of the San Jacinto Mountains which made the entire hassle of
getting there worth it. We arrived at
the hotel just an hour before North Palm Canyon Drive was set to be closed to
traffic for the weekly Village Fest. After settling in, we got the lay of the land
as we walked among the vendors and found a Mexican restaurant where we laughed
over the mishaps of the day. We were in
Palm Springs where the weather was dry and mild, the moment was all that
mattered. After a dinner that was too generous
to allow for dessert, we walked to East Arenas Road, home to several gay clubs
including Quadz, Streetbar, and Hunters.
Most of these clubs are pretty much the same: video screens accompanied
by loud music that reminded me of the thumpa-thumpa of our flat tire,
amplified. Indeed, of the several gay
clubs we visited during our trip, none had the relaxed type of ambience that
Garbo’s piano bar in Puerto Vallarta had.
This is a niche waiting to be filled in PS, unless such a place exists
and we missed it. By the time we’d
finished our first drink, jet lag was taking effect, so we made an early night
of it. Both that day and for the rest of
the trip, Daniel and I were struck by the easy-going charm and politeness of
nearly everyone we encountered there.
Never did we once sense that we were being rushed in favor of the next
customer.
We awakened Friday morning and were treated to a lovely view of San Jacinto from our balcony. If selecting this particular hotel, we recommend opting for a mountain view room, as Palm Canyon Drive is active and loud into the wee hours. That morning brought us one of the highlights of our trip as we drove up the steep hill leading to the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. The Valley Station had some interesting exhibits on the construction and history of the Tramway, but nothing compared to the 10-minute tram ride itself where, despite multiple ear pops, we enjoyed a breathtaking ride over Chino Canyon to the Mountain Station. From there, we took in spectacular views of Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley before lunch at Peaks Restaurant, followed by a descent, accompanied by more ear pops.
Saturday
morning was set aside for shopping, first at the Desert Hills Premium Outlets and then the nearby Cabazon
Outlets. Then we returned to PS and took a driving
tour of the Movie Colony and Warm Sands
neighborhoods,
populated by gorgeous but not overwhelming mid-Century modern homes, one of my favorite styles. To commemorate the 114th anniversary of my
grandmother’s birth,
Daniel and I headed to Lulu’s and drank a toast in her honor with her favorite
drink: a Vodka Martini with olives - interspersed with dinner and people
watching. We took it easy the rest of
the night, saving our strength for Sunday’s adventure.
A fairly
early breakfast at Pinocchio’s was enough to prepare us for a morning hike in Palm Canyon, Native land run by the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla
Indians. As we hiked the canyons and
crossed over streams, I felt an intangible sense of something beyond the
physical. It was a special moment and we
determined to make it part of our future trips to Palm Springs, which we hope
won’t be too far off. After the hike we
did a bit of bar hopping before heading back to downtown PS and to Tommy
Bahama’s restaurant and store for dinner and a pair of matching shirts. Neither Daniel nor I are football fans, so we
ignored the shouts and groans as patrons watched the Super Bowl. By then we were pretty tuckered out and ready
to start preparing for the journey home.
We awakened
early Monday and headed to the nearby Starbucks Reserve.
On the way back, we learned a fire alarm at our hotel had gone off, but
there was no fire. Our return home,
connecting through DFW, was uneventful save for spotting a plane with vintage American
Airlines livery and a British Airways A380
– the first of that model I’d ever seen “in the flesh.”
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