Minnesota winters can be long, so we try to find someplace warm to go and thaw out for at least a few days. This year we booked a short, four day trip to Palm Springs, California.
We attended church on Sunday, February 8, then went to a casual brunch with friends, and then made our way to the airport for our afternoon flight, arriving in Palm Springs about dusk. A rental car “upgrade” is not always a good thing. The midsize sedan we reserved was not available, so we were stuck with a too big SUV. It got us to our motel in Palm Desert — not a fancy place, but comfortable enough.
Monday morning we were up early — two hour time change — so after breakfast at the motel, we headed to Indian Canyons. The tribe charges senior citizens like us a $7 entry fee, and we got our money’s worth by hiking a couple different trails. After driving right in on our morning arrival, we were surprised to see a long line of cars, eager to pay their entry fee and lined up for over a block to get in.
A lunch hour stop at a recommended restaurant refreshed us with cold beer. Then we made our way to the Palm Springs Visitors Center to get the low-down on locations and events. We had purchased tickets online for the late afternoon “Ride and Dine” at the Palm Springs Arial Tramway. The ride was fun, there was more hiking at the top of the mountain, and the meal was better than we anticipated. The ride down after dark gave us a panoramic view of the city lights.
Tuesday was spent primarily in “old” Palm Springs. The city became popular with the rich and famous in the 1950s and -60s, and is filled with examples of “mid-century modern” architecture. These include the Twin Palms neighborhood, the “Ship of the Desert,” and a home supposedly occupied by Marilyn Monroe where she secretly “entertained” John F. Kennedy. The downtown area also features a number of historically registered buildings, now all filled with trendy shops.
The art museum is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but we visited the outdoor sculpture garden there (including a massive Marilyn Monroe statue), as well as another sculpture garden a half hour away in Palm Desert, nearer our hotel. We also wasted a great deal of time trying to find a brew pub. There aren’t any here!
Wednesday was devoted to visiting Joshua Tree National Park, It was an hour’s drive and a climbs to 4,000+ feet elevation. The visitors centers (there are four of them, and we visited two) are the worst we’ve seen in any national park. Maybe consolidate to just one good one? But we had some nice hikes, and at the first one, “Hidden Valley,” it felt like we had the place to ourselves. Things got more crowded mid-day.
Thursday, our final day in Palm Springs, started with exploring two additional neighborhoods of mid- century modern homes Then we returned to the central business district for more window shopping and another excellent Thai lunch. We drank beer at a pleasant sidewalk bar and watched people for awhile. The big “Modernism Week” festival begins today, so there were lots of interesting people to watch! Getting to the airport and returning the car were easy. The only snafu of the entire trip was getting the shuttle back to where our car was parked near the MSP airport.
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