I have a buddy, Matt, in Chicago who I can call a very close friend for the better part of eight years now. When I think about travelers, he easily is one of the first ones to come to mind. When Chris and I were planning out our European Adventure (don’t worry, we have plans to write all about this in the near future) he was the first person we ran our final itinerary through as a sanity check. He had travelled to several of the cities on our list and was more than helpful in letting us know if we were being too ambitious. As I write this, he’s currently on a trip in Africa. He just sent me a picture of him having a drink and an elephant right outside. You could say his trips inspire me on some of my travels. Our birthdays are mere days apart and last year we combined them into one celebration by getting friends to rally into an AirBnB in Las Vegas. It was an amazing experience. We loved it so much that we decided to do it again, and since I picked the first one, Matt chose this year to gather us in Palm Springs.
Chris and I have traveled to Palm Springs before with one our friends who came to this birthday gathering. I can easily say this is one of my favorite retreats in the US. It was also serendipitous as he had scheduled the date on a weekend we were already going to be in San Diego. So instead of flying in to the desert paradise, we opted to rent a car and drive. From where we were staying in Del Mar, Palm Springs is about a two-hour drive. We left Thursday mid afternoon to try to avoid traffic, but that didn’t fare well for us. We had cut over to I-15 and could see the parking lot unfold in front of us. Thankfully, our handy friend Google Maps suggested we detour off to save time.
I’m always a fan of going off the beaten path. You end up getting to see much more than just sticking to the highways. This path took us through a good part of California’s farmland, a piece of the San Bernardino National Forest, and up over Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains. The view up there was breathtaking! More interesting, though, was the twisted turns of Highway 74 as we made our way down the mountain toward Palm Springs via Palm Desert.
We stayed at La Dolce Vita on the recommendation of one of Matt’s friends. This place is so relaxing! The pool was nicely heated, so even when the desert cooled we could enjoy some time in the water. The hot tub and adjacent steam room took away all the cares in the world. The room we stayed in had full window French doors that opened right into one of the main lounge areas. It was just heaven! In the morning they have a quaint breakfast nook and in the early evening, the resort hosts a welcoming happy hour with drinks. The staff were absolutely friendly and inviting. One of the features there that really appealed to me was the onsite spa. Chris booked us a couple of 90-minute massages, and I could have stayed for 90 more. It was fun just to hang around in our terry cloth robes and sip on homemade Manhattans. Ok, I get why this place came recommended!
Since we had all been to Palm Springs before, we weren’t really trying to get a feel for the city. For the most part we knew what we liked in town. Each of us took turns in suggesting a restaurant or bar for the evening or a strip to do some shopping to kill some time. Matt had planned for us to make the weekend whatever we wanted it to be, but there was one request that he had for all of us to be together. He asked that we had one dinner as a group somewhere nice. So the eight of us had dinner together at Mister Parker’s to celebrate Matt’s special day. This place is something special. It’s a dimly lit restaurant inside the Parker Hotel and carries with it an air of mystery. The feel of the restaurant and the surrounding hotel gives you a feeling as if you were about to rub elbows Frank Sinatra and Liberace. The decor inspires a feeling as if you were in the 60’s, and everybody wants to be seen there. The hotel lounges were almost at standing room only. For dinner, I had the Steak au Poivre, served with their House Made French Fries. The beef was cooked to perfection. Solid recommendation on Matt’s part to make this the highlight of the trip. Mister Parker’s list their hours for dinner as 6PM until the Chef goes home, so make sure you have that reservation handy.
There was one other new thing that we got to try. The first time I visited Palm Springs was with Rodney, and the one highlight he wanted to experience was to take the tramway up to Mount San Jacinto. Unfortunately, the tram was undergoing renovations and were closed when we were there, so this was the opportunity to make it up. I recommend making this part of your trip here if you have a day. There are a few suggestions I will share with you if you do want to make this part of your adventure, and take these as lessons learned from practice. Tip #1, get your tickets online and in advance if possible! You can do this on the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway website. Advanced tickets are available as early as 24 hours in advance and no more than 6 weeks early. Tip #2, in the event you can’t get tickets online GET THERE EARLY! We got there around 2PM, and the next available tickets were for around 5:30 PM. We ended up changing some plans around as a result. No harm and no foul, since the plan was shopping! This relates to Tip #3, drive if you can otherwise plan on being comfy in their cafe or gift shop while you wait for your appointed time.
On the way up, we were treated to an amazing view of Palm Springs at twilight. The tram each way takes about 10 minutes and at the top you’ll find two restaurants, a bar, a few observation decks, a gift shop, and around 50 miles of hiking. Go prepared though, as the temperature at the peak will be 30-40 degrees cooler than what’s on the desert floor. We were...not so prepared. It was also pitch black when we got to the top. We did make the best of it though as we sipped on Hot Butter Rum Toddies at the Lookout Lounge. Also be prepared to wait a while for the way down. You have a reserved time for the tram up, but the way down is a first-come-first-served line. We waited in line for two hours for the trip down. Thankfully, the snackbar was there when we needed a quick nosh. At a couple of moments we experienced brown-outs. I’ll admit that I was a tad nervous wondering what would happen if the power goes out and we’re stuck at the top of the mountain. Luckily that wasn’t the case, and there is a hiking trail that goes off the mountain, so nothing to fear.
This was definitely an eventful and memorable trip and I can’t wait for my next visit to Palm Springs. I often say that this is one of my favorite cities in the US to get away from the stress and decompress. What I really hope for is that Matt and I make our birthday trip a tradition each winter and we take on a new destination as a group. I’m thinking Puerto Vallarta for my birthday next year, what do y’all think?
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