Palms Springs: La Quinta Resort

Best wishes from La Quinta Resort. We are very happy here. The weather is great, and the sun is burning. The food is Mexican and delicious. The margaritas are organic and also fantastic. Last night I had two of them, big ones with straws, and slept very well afterwards.

A little history about the resort: it opened in the 1920s, built for $150,000 by the San Francisco-based businessman Walter Morgan. The hacienda-style desert retreat became a relaxing oasis for Hollywood's elite. The brightest stars came, each seeking the solitude of La Quinta, which grew and expanded into a laid-back playground for championship golfers and world-class tennis players.



 

Nowadays the property resembles a small town, with restaurants, a little shopping area, 41 (!) pools and 53 hot spas. Lemonade-ready citrus fruits hang on trees, ready to be picked, which can sometimes cause a family dispute. The guests are mostly Americans on spring break from LA and San Francisco and San Diego. Viewed from my outsider perspective as a European, they seem a bit like puppets. Everyone looks the same and does the same thing. In the morning, you have to queue to get your cafe latté to go and a smoothie. The impotant thing is to wear a sports outfit, something made out of black breathable nylon, and sneakers. As a woman, don't forget the baseball cap with a smooth-ironed ponytail coming out through the adjustable hole in the back. 
 
Deck chairs should be blocked early in the morning so that you can have a nice sunbath after breakfast and your 2-hour tennis sessions. And make sure no one else (i.e. me) will have a chance to get a chair during the whole day. No joke. There wasn't a single deckchair free all day. I know the deck chair issue can be tricky, but seriously, I can't understand how a hotel can accept this bad behavior. 
The best way out is to mingle with your pool´homies and build alliances on deck chairs, as we are in america, a mission easy to accomplish with the support of your kids.

But long story short, it is a very good resort with quite a good mix of people and a lot of children. Our kids have  found friends after seconds, and it will be hard for them to leave tomorrow.



I’m always happy to be in America, not only because of the food and the fact that everything is kind of oversized, but also because of the friendly people. No matter what situation you are in, you will always find people to talk to, and especially in my case, being curious about the country and its people, it is very easy to access locals.



For all those who like to go running in the morning, there is a 7-mile trail. You can get a running map from the concierge. It goes through the desert valley around the village of La Quinta, which is named after the hotel. It’s quite hot for running, so you should start very early. The many water dispensers make it bearable – I’m hoping to do the whole round tomorrow.

(note to self: more sports)
 
Happy Easter  
best Mrs. Trip

P.S.: The big kids highlight is for sure the candy store at La Quinta. If you are into Pippi Longstocking it is very much the store where Pippi and her friends would go and spend their gold coins.