A Vintage Daycation in Palm Springs

Growing up in Southern California definitely had it's plus's &

one of them has always been Palm Springs.

In high school on a beautiful sun filled day, it would not be unusual for me &

my girlfriends to decide to have a ditch day. I'd wear my bikini under my clothes,

throw a towel in my back pack & when my girlfriend came to pick me up, instead

of heading towards school, we would giddily point the car towards Palm Springs.

{ps:I NEVER had the car, lol}

Our game plan was this:

We would park the car at a big, fancy hotel...

we would take our clothes off in the parking lot, grab our towels & then, as if we

belonged there, stroll casually to the pool gate. The gate was ALWAYS the scary part!

If we could be brave enough to open the gate, we knew we were in.

When the gate slammed behind us, with hearts pounding, we would jump into the

pool as quickly as possible trying not to look too obvious. We always figured once

we were wet, we'd look like we belonged there.  ;)

Silly Girls!

Palm Springs holds a lot of memories for me.

I hadn't thought about how many for years, until hubby & I decided to spend the day

there yesterday. In some ways the landscape has changed with the times. Now,

windmills cover the desert coming into town, like sprinkles on a cupcake. 

And yet Palm Springs has embraced it's history & golden era of the 50's & 60's,

when it was a hideaway for Hollywood Stars & amazing architect's like Donald Wexler

created the indoor/outdoor style of design which would come to be known as Desert Modern.

The Palm Springs Visitor Center is housed in what use to be an old Gas Station

as you come into town, right at the entrance to the tram.

Inside, we were delighted to find a wonderful collection of Vintage Palm Springs.

From vintage postcard collections to ashtrays from various hotels long ago closed,

this building was filled with memorabilia & I LOVED looking at ALL of it!

We got a map for another day trip that shows the location of Frank Sinatra,

Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Lucy & Desi, Bob Hope, Elvis Presley & many more stars,

Desert Modern vacation homes...I can't WAIT to share that with y'all!!

Looking towards the San Jacinto Mountains, we decided to head up towards

The Palm Springs Aerial Tram.

I haven't taken this Tram ride since I was in high school,

but it's a spectacular ride from the desert floor to the mountain top peak of 8,500'.

Here is the Tram Station which is at about 2,000'. The tempatures will vary

about 30 degrees from the valley floor to the Tram's drop off.

If you look to the center of this pic, you can see the Tram's support structure

& cables...

here it is just a little bit closer.

No, we didn't go up the Tram on this particular day...awwweeee. It's an all day event,

but what it did do is spark my imagination into thinking this might be the perfect

surprise anniversary getaway for me & hubby at the beginning of October.

It will be gorgeous down in the valley & cool & crisp & clear on the mountain top.

They have an excellent restaurant & we could spend the evening having a glass of wine,

a wonderful meal & watching a spectacular sunset...how romantic!

Well Sweeties, off for now...more Palm Springs to come I promise. This little

adventure was just what I needed to remind me that sometimes the greatest

adventures of all can be found right in your own backyard!!

XOXO

vintagesusie