Hailed as "America's Desert Playground" and a refuge for Hollywood's brightest stars, Palm Springs offers miles of palm-lined canyons, cascading waterfalls, desert flora, and big horn sheep. The city blends a rich heritage — steeped in Indian, Mexican and Western cultures — with world-class entertainment and a sophisticated business district. Palm Springs is referred to as "The Golf Capital of the World," with more than 100 championship courses. As you know from my previous post, Palm Springs Aerial Tramway takes sightseers from the sun-drenched desert to snow-capped mountains. The popular Village in Palm Springs is alive with a variety of restaurants, trendy shops, historic sites and annual festivals. Towering in the background, of these cities is the majestic Mt. San Jacinto offers hiking and horseback riding. As I am sure that you remember that this is also at the top of the Arial Tramway.
As for the best season to visit... Palm Springs is said to be sunny and warm 354 days a year. If you are so inclined, you can take a tour in Palm Springs to see how the rich and famous live via a tour of the Palm Springs Celebrity Tour. This glamorous tour drives past 30-40 homes of the celebrities. If you can only imagine yourself living in abodes formerly occupied by the likes of Frank Sinatra and Walter Annenberg. The tour also includes a great commentary and a bit of Palm Springs history thrown in for good measure.
You can also visit the cities of Cathedral City (The re-born city), Rancho Mirage (The Playground of the Presidents), Indian Wells (The wealthiest city in the nation), Palm Desert (Home of El Paseo Drive). This street is often called the “Rodeo Drive” of the Desert and could actually been a post in and of itself. But most of the stores that you see on Rodeo Drive you weill find on El Paseo Drive as well . But the closest Mrs. LZ and I actually got to entering one of these stores, was a trip to the Rudy’s Resturant for a large Strawberry malt!
Palm Desert (which by the way, is where we just happened to be staying our week on our visit to the Palm Springs area). While on this leg of the tour, you can see the estates of Frank Sinatra, Walter Annenberg, and even the church that Dolly Sinatra re-furbished. You can also walk through a nature garden and much more. We happened to be staying at the Marriott Resort Villas there in Palm Desert.
The tour takes a short break to experience the natural Dates of the Coachello Valley. The Coachella Valley is a large stretch of land in Southern California that is populated by close to a million people and which includes the famed tourist mecca of Palm Springs. After this short break, you will head into the heart of the “Old Movie Colony” of Palm Springs and the Las Palmas area of Palm Springs. You can even get up close and personal with the stars on the second leg of their tour. You also get to see the homes of stars like Bob Hope, Dina Shore, Alan Ladd, Elvis, Liberace, Celine Dion, Arnold Schwartzenagger, Ronald Regan, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and several more.
I have never seen so many golf courses in such a small area in my life. There may be some, but I sure don’t know where they are. It is amazing to me just how all of these perfectly manicured golf courses were so green and beautiful, when the truth about that particular area of California is more adept to the Sand Traps than it is to beautifully manicured “greens”. If you go just a few miles from any of these beautiful resort golf courses, what you find is a nothing more than a stark desert.
Even though the desert can also be beautiful, but perhaps the next time we go there, we’ll wait until winter. Palm Springs, California has been called a desert oasis with a cosmopolitan twist and LZ agrees! Well... and where else can you get a "Ruby's" Shake, an "In & Out" Burger and an "Island's" burger and a "Karl's Jr.'s" burger all in one afternoon?
"Not to have known- as most men have not-either the mountain or the desert is not to have known one's self. Not to have known one's self is to have known no one."- Joseph Wood Krutch
