Oh the Places You'll Go: Palm Springs & LA

While the FG runs around a lot for work, this time it was for fun. (OK, it was fun on the way to work, but you get the idea.) It's not called tailgating, exactly, but I road the coattails of of a friend attending a convention and headed to Palm Springs, via LAX. The trip from the airport to The Viceroy was longer than anticipated due to the legendary Southern California traffic, but we filled the time.

I've been asked by several people, why Palm Springs? Are you a closet golfer, FG? (As with many such activities, I can golf, but that was not the purpose of the trip.) Are you actually a senior citizen? (Of course not, not that there's anything wrong with that.) It was a chance to get away to a hot place to lie in the sun and do little, if anything.

And indeed, little was done. While we attempted to transport our own luggage to the room twice, we were prevented on the third attempt by Dave, who functions as the concierge. He removed my hand from my suitcase handle. The room was beautifully decorated, and we got the complete rundown on opportunities for spa treatments, exercise (ha!), bicycle rentals, restaurants, room service, etc.

We headed out to find food, and ended up at a cheap little Mexican place with over-sized and delish margaritas. The next morning featured banana and nutella stuffed french toast and a berry smoothie for breakfast on the balcony followed by a trip to the on-site Estrella Spa to book a massage. While there, we opted for a spray-on application of suntan lotion. Perhaps the spray machine was broken, perhaps the word /spray/ has a different meaning in Palm Springs, but what happened was that two women appeared and applied sunscreen to the parts of us not covered by bathing suits. It was a little awkward. I didn't burn, but awkward.

The rest of the day was spent by the pool, adjusting the sun-brella to keep the sun off my face, and slipping in and out of the pool. Dan the pool waiter stopped by around 11:30 and the procession of cocktails featuring fresh pineapple juice and stirred with grapefruit popsicles began, punctuated by a light lunch. The massage was much needed, although a little scent in the lotion would have been nice. We'd wanted to visit the Belgian restaurant for dinner that night (Pomme Frite!) but they were closed, so we ended up at Matchbox for wood oven fired pizza.

The following day we had breakfast and lunch pool-side, and just sat in the sun, reading, swimming, talking and rotating. It was blissful. We went to Pomme Frite for dinner, and went to bed early so as to be up to spend the morning at the pool before the return to LA. We took the long way back, driving south west around Lake Elsinore and above it, through the Cleveland National Forest and Laguna Niguel to the ocean. We stopped at El Adobe in San Juan Capistrano for a late lunch and to check out the photos of former President Nixon and his lovely wife Pat (apparently they dined there often). It was a long but beautiful drive.


We checked into the Chamberlain Hotel in West Hollywood and headed out for dinner, stopping by the Sunset Marquis for cocktails served by a lovely and lithe waitress. She recommended we go to the Bar Marmont for dinner - apparently her sister is the only bartender there with a tattoo on her arm - but we weren't up for the cab ride, so we walked on to The Standard.

The next day took us to LAX to catch flights home and to Austin, Texas, respectively. Stay tuned.