After such a busy day yesterday I promised myself a sleep in today - but...it didn't happen. I woke up early and took advantage of the hotels sole computer to upload some things!
We checked out and then headed for brekkie. Simi had the breakfast taco while I indulged in the brekkie burrito. Was deliciously, steak, egg, tomato salsa, potato and avocado and cheese. Really really good!
With that under our belt we headed into town, then quickly back out of it in the car - seriously it's tiny. There are a few streets that are cool and some cool isolated places around I have heard of, but it's not really a buzzing city.
We drove out about 10-15 miles to Scottsdale until we got to Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd. We were heading out to his Taliesin West, perched up in the foothills of the mountains. As it was a Saturday there was lots of people but we were lucky enough to get on the 90 minute tour of the whole place.
This was another building I had studied heavily in Uni and was another tick on the architectural bucket list. Was really awesome being there and seeing all the intricate details again, more importantly experiencing the spaces in relation to the Desert climate and the natural surroundings. Simi really enjoyed it too.
The visit was all the more exciting by the tour guide, an elderly lady who had so much enthusiasm and passion that the tour ran over time by nearly an hour. We got to see everything too. Every room in tge whole place, the offices, the studios, hes living room hes bedroom. I was that guy who was taking photos when youre not supposed to, admittedly I didn't hear when she said no photos in this room please as I was still in the previous one getting photos. The tour woman didn't seem to mind my enthusiasm tho, she was really great! Anyway, j won't bore you all with anymore architecture speak!
It was now 1:30 in the afternoon and we had a long drive ahead if us back to California to Palm Springs.
Was a fun drive tho, Sim and I alternated song choice on the iPod and had to have a relevance to the trip - the best choice was Rolling Stones 'Ruby Tuesday' - that's where I got so drunk in NY on new years.
Crossing the border we gained an hour in time, bit not necessarily on sunlight. We detoured into Joshua Tree National Park. We drove for ages trying to understand what all the fuss was about this place. Couldn't see any of those giant rocks and boulders yet. We did see some really cool cacti and Octillos. The fading sunlight made for some awesome shots again - was a good time of day to go through. We kinda felt like we were racing the sun however, trying to see as much as we could before it set.
We drove for ages, crossing lots of roads that take you to different trails, all unmarked though so we ploughed on. Perhaps this is where U2 got the idea for "Where the treets have no name" from for the Joshua Tree album. Im with you Bono; they need better signposting.
We then spotted our first huge rock formation and then all of a sudden they were everywhere. So weird in terms of how they got there and why they're concentrated in this small area within the park. Things kept getting more and more spectacular, we saw lots of Joshua trees and other palms and the landscapes were amazing. The sun was starting to set - it became a magical place.
It was now dusk so we thought we better get out of the park and head for Palm Springs. Driving in at darkness was quite disorientating.
We arrived at our hotel, The Horizon. All I can say was that it's stunning. So cool! Designed by Desert Modern architect William Cody in the early 60's, it's a cool resort like hotel - with private villa suites interlocked around a central pool, bar and spa area. So fancy! The amazing thing is the palm trees shooting up. Really felt like we were getting the quintessential Palm Springs experience.
We drove back into town (not really a walkable place, but boy is it easy to drive and park right in front if where ya wanna go). We ate at an Italian place, was ok, nothing special tho.
Were really excited about spending a couple of nights here, the most exciting part I'd you fill out s card for yr brekkie order and leave it on your door and they deliver either in room, on your patio of by the pool. (we went patio as were right by the pool).
See ya tomorrow peeps on the patio!
- Blog from iMat
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