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Published: March 2nd 2011
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San Jacinto Mountains
The Coachella Valley is nestled between the San Jacinto and Little San Bernardino Mountains. Palm Desert, California
A Desert Oasis Leaving the vulgarities of winter behind us, we anticipated a week’s stay in California’s Desert Region. At the floor of the Coachella Valley, nestled between the San Jacinto and the Little San Bernardino Mountains, lies eight resort cities strung together to form the Greater Palm Springs Area. These interesting locations include Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells, Indio, and La Quinta. We chose a home destination of Palm Desert, mostly because of the resorts we selected, but also for the central location amongst the resort areas.
We are not retirees with the luxury of time at our doorstep, but a couple of very busy executives in our early 40’s with three kids and a mortgage. We left the kiddies at home for this one and had a goal of relaxation.
Our first hotel was the JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort
. This hotel is very nice and a definite step above your typical Marriott. The view of the mountains directly out the back lobby of this hotel is magnificent. Unfortunately, our room afforded no such vista. We give them points for the Starbucks in the lobby and the layout of the pool areas. Conversely, we downgrade them a smidge because the hotel lacks a 4-5 star restaurant since they closed their famous “Tuscany Ristorante”. They still have signage in the hotel for the restaurant, but no chefs, no food and no wine. We were there three nights and we had a pleasant stay. The hotel bar is quite lively at night and has a nice wine selection.
We wanted to mix things up a bit by changing resorts mid-stay, so we finished up our trip with our last three nights at the Westin Desert Willow Villas. This is a timeshare property and having the full kitchen, full living area and separate bedroom was a definite plus. The ability to spread out and relax cannot be overstated. The Westin Desert Willow was outstanding! Our one-bedroom premium was luxurious and had a lovely view of the desert and background mountains. The property sits on a golf course and is therefore a bit spread out. We stayed in building five and enjoyed the seclusion from the more populated areas of the resort. As a consequence, we also enjoyed a healthy stretch of the legs to get to the pool, bar, store
and main reception area. It was a fair trade-off. The hotel does employ a security officer deployed in a golf cart to patrol the property. Whilst he was keeping the guests safe from boogiemen, he was quite solicitous offering rides to and from your room. We only used his service once, just for the experience mind you.
Directly on Country Club Drive are a couple points to note. A very nice "California style" restaurant, the Cork Tree,
sits on the corner of Country Club Drive and Cook. We celebrated our nephew's 25th birthday at the Cork Tree and the food and service are both excellent. In the same strip you will find a Ralph's grocery and a pharmacy. Skip these and head down Country Club Drive until you find Bristol Farms grocery. I'll call this a "gourmet" grocery store with prices that match. I think it is worth it for the quality of prepared foods. We had freshly carved turkey sandwiches that were both easy and tasty.
Besides our main goal of total relaxation, we did manage to fit in a few activities. I’ll details these out in no particular order.
Shopping at El Paseo. El Paseo is basically a street in Palm Desert lined on both sides by lovely high-end retail and unique dining choices. Overall, it is a pleasant stroll through brands such as Kate Spade, J. Crew, Cole Haan, Burberry, Coach, Saks, Gucci, Juicy Couture, and Ralph Lauren, to name a few. You should look around closely while here shopping because you will likely be back at night to dine so its best to get acquainted with the location. Don’t think you must find impossible parking along the curb possibly adjacent to a Rolls Royce (expect to sight a few) because there is plenty of parking lots behind the stores on the south side of El Paseo.
As I mentioned, El Paseo offers many unique dining opportunities. We tried the Ruth Chris Steakhouse, which is always terrific quality. But get excited about dining at Tommy Bahamas. The restaurant is above the retail store and our visit was outstanding! We were seated in the upper outdoor patio and had a view overlooking the activity below on El Paseo. Quiet, understated live music made for memorable dining experience, but the food was out of this world. I recommend the goat cheese appetizer and chicken with
Palm Canyon
Along the Victor Trail roasted red peppers.
Palm Canyon Trails. This is a “must do” activity for any able bodied people. We embarked on a three-hour hike through a beauty spot in the middle of a desert. A stream created from snow run off twists through the Palm Canyon giving life to beautiful California Fan Palm trees with rugged desert terrain as a contrast. The overall effect is quite breathtaking. Basically located 10 minutes outside of downtown Palm Springs, a short drive takes you to Indian Canyons Park ($9 Admittance) and up to a trading post that marks the hub of many trailheads. Bring plenty of water.
VillageFest, Palm Springs. Every Thursday evening the fine folks of Palm Springs shut down South Palm Canyon Drive in downtown area and allow local vendors to set up tents and sell their food and crafts. While the people watching was top notch, the event was pretty much a dissent. They had a booth for kettle corn, tamales, and hotdogs, but lacked a beer/wine vendor. The bars along the streets were packed as was the VillageFest itself. It goes from 6-10pm and is well attended (that’s nice for crowded). Parking was not a breeze as we
VillageFest
Interesting character playing some home-grown instrument at VillageFest. What's he been smoking? arrived at 7 and the event was well underway. Our pristine parking spot was a few blocks away. Our recommendation is to go a bit early, park stress-free, poke around the crafts a bit, then bag it all and end up at Las Casuelas Terraza for the fabulous atmosphere, live music, margaritas, and Mexican food. Voted in the top 50 Hispanic Restaurants in America, this place rates high with us too.
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