A little over a year ago we spent a week in the Indio-Palm Springs area. You can read about it here. But this year we were invited again. Petra’s parents offered use of a two-bedroom condo, once again. It was cold in Sacramento and warm in Indio so we headed south. Our friends Larry and Robin were going to join us there for part of the trip. Here’s a short summary of what we did, and I’ll get some photos on the site soon.
Friday March 19
It’s a long drive to Indio. With a stop for brunch and a couple pit stops, it took about ten hours of driving. Petra actually drove the whole way, though I did my part, helping out by taking a nap. We had a pretty good brunch in Kettleman City on the way and made it to our destination in Indio in time for dinner with Petra’s parents, who were staying about a mile or less away. We talked and visited a while then she and I made it back to our condo and called it a day. Which it was.
Saturday March 20
We went on this trip to relax and have some downtime. But we still wanted to see
and do a few things. Plus, you gotta eat or you’ll die!! So, well rested, we went out for brunch to a mexican restaurant that Petra’s co-worker had recommended. The vegetarian choices were slim but of course we found some things. Then, totally stuffed full and happy, we went to get some groceries to take back to the condo for the week. After that we walked over to the pool for some rest and relaxation. Later on, we drove over to the mexican market for a few more supplies. We also checked out a local flea market but there wasn’t much to see there. When we came back we went for a bike ride, right around sunset. The ride was nice and the sunset was very pretty. We came back and wanted to chill at the condo so we played a game of “Beatles Monopoly”. It was all fun and relaxing and all of this made for a nice day.
Sunday March 21
We had some leftover mexican food from yesterday’s brunch, so we turned it into today’s brunch. Twice the tasty treat! Today’s destination was the street fair at the College Of The Desert. We wandered around and shopped for a while, finding a few small items. Not enough, though, so we went to few nearby thrift stores. Tell me this is not a classic find: I found a record called “Music To Eat Pizza By” and it is performed by 23 accordian players! And they had it in mono OR stereo! For only a dollar each! I bought the stereo version along with a hard to find Groucho Marx record for a few bucks. Score!! Anyway, our friends Larry and Robin were due to come spend the rest of the week with us and right about this time they called , saying that were getting close. So we headed back to the condo and met them there. Of course we had to visit a bit. Then we headed out the a delicious dinner at nearby Ciro’s. The manicotti I had was really, really good. Stuffed again after we ate we went back to the mexican market. We got some fresh-made corn tortillas and a few other items. Larry was on a mission to find some mole sauce and they had lots of different kinds and brands. Then we headed back to the condo to visit the rest of the evening.
Monday March 22
We had a very leisurely morning and then went to hang around the pool. The water was warm and Petra loved swimming in it. In the later part of the afternoon, we all went to some nearby thrift stores to shop and explored a little, and of course by then we were all hungry. We went to a mexican restaurant nearby that we had visited last year, called La Pinata, where they have the big “Margarita Country” sign. We each had a big dinner and some margaritas. Life is good. Then back to the condo to hang out the rest of the evening.
Tuesday March 23
Today’s destination was the town and artists community of Idyllwild, nearly 6000 feet up in the nearby mountains. A friend of Larry and Robin’s had moved there and invited us all up for lunch and to visit. They fed us and then gave us a tour of and arts school there, along with some art galleries. On the way back, we stumbled across a large public art “farm”. Not sure if that is a good term but there were a few acres of public art to explore. So we did. As we got close to Palm Desert, we noticed the high-end Imago Gallery that we had visited last year. The awesome Chihuly glass piece was in the tower and we did a quick visit to see some expensive and cool art. Seriously, $140,000 for a painting? We didn’t buy anything 😉 but it was nice to look at. Before we headed back down the one-eleven to Indio, we remembered a great vegetarian restaurant that we visited last year, Native Foods, so we went went there and had another good dinner. Everything in the place is vegan but you’d never know it. The menu has tons of stuff and everything we tried was good. On the way back we stipped at the grocery store and got some ice cream for desert. Yow! Are we having fun yet?
Wednesday March 24
Larry and Robin spent most of the day at nearby Joshua Tree State Park on a hike, while Petra and I opted for lounging around the pool. We also went to a store called The Alley and looked around a bit. All four of us went to Petra’s parent’s nearby rental house and they made us a really good dinner. We visited there the rest of the evening.
Thursday March 25
We had a light snack at the condo to get us started and then went to nearby Cathedral City. Our destination was the Imax theater. We saw the super-large screen, 3-d version of Tim Burton’s “Alice In Wonderland“. It was very impressive. The visuals were awesome and it was delightfully weird but sweet at the same time. Then we headed to Palm Springs for a few things planned later in the evening. But first was lunch at a different location of Native Foods. It was great too. Wish there was one in Sacramento! Then it was time to visit the Palm Springs Art Museum. Admission is free on Thursday afternoons so we took advantage of that. It’s a really nice gallery, check it out if you get down there. After that was the Villagefest, a big street festival with lots of booths and local merchants. After that, we were hungry again so we went to an Italian place near the condo called The Naked Noodle. It was good too. Then back to the condo to call it a day.
Friday March 26
It was time to leave Indio. We had a great week! Technically, we were spending tonight in Hollywood, on the way back home, so the vacation wasn’t over yet. We gassed up the car at Costco and said goodbye to Indio (adios, Indio) and drove to Los Angeles. We stopped on the way at a Shakey’s Pizza for lunch. Funny thing, that pizza chain started in our town of Sacramento but all the ones here have closed down. The hyperactive, yelling kids in the next booth put a damper on it but what the heck. We got to Hollywood in the afternoon and checked into out hotel. We had some free time so we took a wark down Sunset Boulevard, grabbed a coffee drink, and checked out the area. It got to be dinner time and we had already decided to visit a place we had been to once before on a visit, Toi “Rockin’ Thai” Food. The place is funky, open until 4AM, with rock posters decorating the walls everywhere. Then we headed to our actual destination, Club Largo, where we went to see Jon Brion. He’s a very talented musician, multi-instrumentalist, producer, etc. We’d seen him years ago at a Bumbershoot Festival and were really impressed. He uses electronics to record himself doing pieces of a song and then “looping’ them together to sound like a full rock/pop band. You have to see it to see how great he is at it. Oh, he can also just stand the with guitar and sing/play too. He did that on a couple originals and a great cover of the Kinks classic “Waterloo Sunset”. He did a noise-fest version of The Beatles “Tomorrow Never Knows” that was a nicely shaped wall of electro-pop. And then there was the marimba and loops version of The Cars “Just What I Needed”. Great stuff. There were also original songs from his solo CD and some of the soundtrack songs he’s done too. Great show, very impressive. There was an after-show announced in the nearby “Little Room” (about 60 people) and we got in line for that. We were way back in line but when I went up to ask the guy at the door, he suggested that we come back the next night. I said “we’ll be 500 miles away then”. He looked concerned and told us to stand “over there”. A little later he came over and let us in, he gave us the last two seats in the place. Sweet!! This show was totally different. Jon had a bunch of friends with him and he let them do a lot of the show, but still playing and singing with them. This was more folk and even bluegrass. Very different from the main show, but still entertaining and the musicians were really talented. How fortunate that we were able to see both shows!
Saturday March 27
It was the day to head home, but we weren’t quite finished yet. We had brunch at the nearby the Hollywood Mel’s Diner (it was OK), and then went to the world’s biggest independent record store, Amobea Music. They have an unbelievable selection of new and used CDs, records, memorabilia, and other music items. It’s a huge place, they even have maps of the store if you need them, but the staff is helpful too. It’s so big it would take a day (or more) to look at everything. But we did spend a few hours and did some dollar damage, finding some rare things, some very good bargains, and some other stuff too. I’ll list that stuff in a diffent post when I get some time. But after all that time in the record store, we were finally ready to hit the road and go back home. And that’s just what we did…
