If you are planning to enjoy the fabulous shopping you've heard so much about in Palm Springs, don't go in the summer. I went mainly to golf, but I did want to spend some time in the great shops. I found that most have very…Read More

If you are planning to enjoy the fabulous shopping you've heard so much about in Palm Springs, don't go in the summer. I went mainly to golf, but I did want to spend some time in the great shops. I found that most have very limited hours after Memorial Day, if they are open at all. Many close until after Labor Day. If there is somewhere in particular you want to go, call them ahead of time to be sure what hours they are open.Close

We were very happy with the golfing opportunities at this time of year. We had temperatures around 90 degrees F for most of the time we were there, but with a cart, it was quite pleasant to go golfing. We golfed at several…Read More

We were very happy with the golfing opportunities at this time of year. We had temperatures around 90 degrees F for most of the time we were there, but with a cart, it was quite pleasant to go golfing. We golfed at several courses and plan to return as the deals were fabulous ($20-60 for 18 holes with a cart) at various courses in the area. The courses we played were all in good to very good condition, so what a deal!!! There are several booklets you can pick up at the airport and various places around town that give you a lot of information on the courses and their prices. Most have a lot of tee times available, but if you want to play at specific time, I'd call at least the day before.Close

If you're a film buff and planning a trip to Palm Desert, see if you can make your trip coincide with the Film Festival, an annual event in January. It's an entire week of films from all over the world. The routine is simple: just…Read More

If you're a film buff and planning a trip to Palm Desert, see if you can make your trip coincide with the Film Festival, an annual event in January. It's an entire week of films from all over the world. The routine is simple: just purchase the Palm Desert Sun newspaper (a treat in and of itself) each day, and you'll see an entire listing of the day's films, their countries of origin, synopses and screening locations--they're shown all over town, from local theaters, including one that was giving out free crasinettes, to a local high school, to the Palm Springs Art Museum. A free shuttle ferries folks from location to location. Tickets cost $11.00 and may be purchsed in advance or at the theatre, but films that have big name actors in them (this year Helen Mireen, Morgan Freeman and Jim Carrey were among the stars) are likely to sell out quickly. And, as with most things near LA, there's an incredible pecking order involved: platinum pass holders get reserved seating and the rest of us queue outside about 30 minutes before the film begins.

There is also a screening of a super secret movie--so secret that they don't release the name of the film or its actors or anything about it and those who attend must sign a confidentiality agreement that they won't even discuss the film. We didn't even try to attend this film because at least one of us would have exploded if she had been sworn not to discuss the film.

We wanted to spend most of our time outside, so we saw only one film, Waiting for Eric, a UK/French film about a downtrodden postman who has visions of footballer Eric Cantona. It was great fun and we left feeling we had seen something we normally wouldn't catch.Close

We arrived on a Sunday and headed straight for the old town area of La Quinta, which is known for its weekly fabulous farmers' market. Every Sunday, the town closes off about two blocks of streets to cars and opens it up to food vendors…Read More

We arrived on a Sunday and headed straight for the old town area of La Quinta, which is known for its weekly fabulous farmers' market. Every Sunday, the town closes off about two blocks of streets to cars and opens it up to food vendors and local musicians. It's a must-see if you're going to be in the area and are a foodie. If you're looking for fresh, delicious and unique--this is the stop for you. Note: health regulations prohibit dogs, so fido will need to stay home.

Like most farmers' markets, this one closed at noon (12:30 to be exact), so we arrived in late morning to give ourselves time to wander and even sample the fresh fruit, vegetables, nuts and honeys sold by local purveyors. We were not disappointed: $3.00 got us a beautiful four-pound sack of sweet navel oranges. After sampling some of the roasted almonds from Stackhouse almond orchard we splurged and spent $9.00 for a pound--worth every penny. We've never tasted almonds with such real flavor. We ended the morning with lunch at one of the restaurants in the market--Viva's--where we planned out the rest of our week.Close

My family and I decided to go to Palm Desert to do something fun as a family. While heading down to the restaurant that we were planning to eat, we decided to stop at a the Palm Desert Park.ExperienceSet Up- This park is wonderfully placed…Read More

My family and I decided to go to Palm Desert to do something fun as a family. While heading down to the restaurant that we were planning to eat, we decided to stop at a the Palm Desert Park.

Experience
Set Up- This park is wonderfully placed in the center of Palm Desert. The park is surrounded with an IMAX theater as well as a regular theater as well as a variety selections of restaurants to chekc out. Across the park is the Civic Center where the city police is stationed. When we were there, we saw that the Civic Center was being used to celebrate a sweet-16 party.
The park is beautifully designed. My first impression of the park was how colorful and imaginative the park was. This park was aimed for not only children, but the inner child in all of us.
This park had a fountain shooting water towards the sky. While the fountain was shooting out water, a nice breeze of mist would cool me off. I know now that I should definitely come to this park when it gets 120 degrees in California.
The plants and flowers in addition of animal statues, which was shooting out water as well gave the park a Garden of Eden feel to it.

My Thoughts/Feelings
I enjoyed going to this park very much, but I enjoyed it the most knowing that my daughter had a blast. I plan on taking my family back here again. If you are ever in Palm Desert, check this area out.Close