Travels: Palm Springs, California – December 2010

 

Finally an update for you all regarding our recent trip to Palm Springs, CA.

The Hotel and Setting:

Despite my complaints about the hotel construction in Palm Springs things were not as bad as they sounded. (See my ranty post here.) They were doing some construction and it was slightly noisy and a bit smelly but the rooms were lovely (they did a sort of Japanese style and Asian Buddhist color scheme of grays and browns with a touch of orange… loved it.) And the location was fantastic. We had a view of the mountains on the back deck and could walk to any of the wonderful restaurants and shops near the hotel. In Scottsdale it is difficult to walk anywhere so it was a welcome treat. The weather was cool in the low 70’s to high 30’s.

Here is a link for pictures of the rooms – Hyatt Regency. Looks just like the room we stayed in. We like Asian décor so this was nice.

The Shopping:

Dad did his seminar and John worked in the hotel room, which was great because Mom and I did not bore them with our obsessive 2 day junk shopping spree. We found a plethora of junk, thrift, and antique store shopping and brought in a haul of clothing and misc stuffs which the local population have tons of. Considered a consignment store Mecca, Palm Springs is the play ground for LA celebrities. With a huge GLBT population the stores and restaurants are fun, quirky, and tasteful. The food was also amazing.

We found some wonderful treasures. Sadly due to the poor economy and much of the gay population suffering from AIDS, they are almost giving away so many beautiful collectable treasures.

Books:

And no trip would be complete without its prerequisite book purchases. We found this super funky used book store and I found two fairly old copies of two science fiction books:

I found a copy of Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. It was originally published in 1915 but this paper back was reprinted in 1979. Which is still fairly old. It is feminist science fiction and is utopian in nature.

Here are what the covers look like:

I also found a copy of The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein. This is a paper back  which appears to never have been read. It is almost as old as I am (you can do the math.) Published in 1966 with an original price of 95 cents. Amazing!

The great thing about these two books is the fact I got both for under five dollars. Wow!

The Oasis Canyons:

The best part of the trip - when the “parental units” left for home, John and I went for a hike and found this wonderful canyon with naturally occurring springs where he took some pictures – seen above.

It is easy to see why the area was populated for centuries by Native American Indians. In the top right picture you can get some idea of the scale. John took a picture of me in front of the palm trees – the only native palm trees in the Northern US. (Top picture on the right.) I’m the little grey blue line there.

The two canyons we visited where beautiful and the landscape is lined with these oases, which at one time supported a very large population of original residents hundreds of years ago. Apparently under the Palm Springs area (which is appropriately named) there is a huge aquifer which feed the springs.

A recommended place to visit, especially in seasons other than summer – unless you like it very hot. We are talking 110 degrees plus. Where temperatures remain fairly constant and generally do not go below the 90’s in the height of the season, even at night.

Highly recommended! We give it 4.25 stars.