Architecture & Art, Dates and Margaritas

Friday morning: our scheduled "MidMod Architectural Tour" - an architectural/design tour to 1950ies places and architecture, for which Palm Springs (and the area) is famous for - unfortunately was cancelled, so we were on our own and made the best of it: Explored Palm Springs first, the Art Museum - great, not overwhelming modern art collection! - and the interesting Architecture & Design Center, checked out a couple of 1950ies buildings afterwards, and the boutiquey Rowan Hotel - symbolic for the changes currently taking place in the area. We looked at the construction site of the new Agua Caliente Cultural Center (the local Indian tribe's new museum), for which we have to come back once it's open.

Pics of Downtown Palm Springs:


Peter's new pick-up and a funny dog:

And, the PS Art Museum:

In the afternoon we drove out to Sunnylands Center and Gardens in Rancho Mirage. We didn't really know what to expect there and were surprised by the cultural and historical significance and the beauty of this place. The historic mid-century modern estate was the winter residence of Walter and Leonore Annenberg, completed in 1966 and considered a master piece of midcentury modern architecture. The Annenbergs entertained presidents, royalty, celebrities, and international leaders there. Several presidents enjoyed the natural beauty of the landscape and the gardens. Also, the Annenbergs were art collectors, philanthropists and very generous people. Need to do more research about them. The modern center and gardens are open for free to the public and explain about the family, their private mansion and the importance of the place.

Shield Date Gardens - our next stop, in Indio. Founded in 1924, the company became famous for its dates, some of them just available in the company store. Though we couldn't walk into the date grove, we at least could watch the film and sample many of their dates and date produce. Didn'T know anything about different varieties, like Deglet Noor, Medjool, Barhi date and proprietary varieties which they call the blonde and the brunette date.

Greater Palm Springs showed to be ideal for dates early. The crops were imported from the Middle East and North Africa in the late 1800s and the climate showed similar to those desert countries where date trees flourish. At the turn of the 20th century, the Greater Palm Springs was a Garden of Eden, and in the next decades date gardens were planted throughout the valley, of which a few are still left.

After a beer (and a chat with some locals) at Babe's Brewhouse, we had a great dinner (and Margaritas) at Acqua in Rancho Mirage - open-air, of course! - and called it a day afterwards.

GPS - Another World!

What a different world, what a comfy lifestyle, what a heat! "GPS" stands for the Greater Palm Springs Area, which consists of nine cities in the Coachella Valley, all of them a little different. When we've been here for the last time, in 2001, we mostly stayed in Palm Springs and didn't see the diversity. Now we are staying in the Miramonte Resort in Indian Wells, the town, where the famous tennis tournament takes place and where golfing is a big deal. We drove from one end of the Coachella Valley to the other end and, eventually, got to know the broad spectrum the area has to offer.


On Wednesday, all went amazingly smooth with our flight over to the U.S. No lines nowhere, our luggage always was among the first ten pieces to show up on the conveyor belt, car rental only took in 5 minutes,,, We lucked out! And, we had beautiful views on our short flight from SF to PS, all from snow covered mountains to dessert and the GPS area.



Arrived at the Miramonte Resort in Indian Wells - casitas on beautifully manicured grounds (pics above) - after a 30-minute drive from the airport a little after 7 pm. We were pooped, but - thanks to business class - not that much. Temps around 95 deg F. at arrival - what else could we wish? Cooled down with a shower and a local IPA from tap at the hotel bar, had a charcuterie plate in the room - courtesy of the hotel - before we unpacked and called it a (long) day.

Thursday morning we started early with a healthy breakfast of avocado-full-grain-toast and granola with yoghurt and fruit in the hotel, of course, outside, on the patio. First point on our itinerary this morning was the Living Desert Zoo & Gardens in the city of Palm Desert - a mix of a Botanical Garden and a Zoo. Really instructive! We learned a lot about the flora and fauna in different parts of the Sonoran & Mohave Desert, watched dessert animals and took pics of dessert plants.

It became hot in the course of the day, up to 100 deg. F (37 C). Next stop: the Palm Desert Art Museum & Sculpture Park (pics below), then on to the new Hotel Paseo where we had a cold Arnold Palmer with Jean-Paul from the GPS Tourism Office. Walked El Paseo, the main axle in Palm Desert with public artwork (pic), lots of galleries, boutiques and the fancy El Paseo Gardens, a mall with beautiful cacti gardens.

Out we drove (the many and slow red lights and some really slow cars - retirees? - are the only nuisance!) to Cabot's Pueblo Museum in Desert Hot Springs - a town with a different, less-mundaine character. Cabot's Pueblo is a pueblo-style architecture built by an adventurous trader by name Cabot Yerxa, "Mr. Desert Hot Springs". He was an adventurer, architect, artist, collector, explorer, visionary and writer, born in 1883, who spent a lot of time in Alaska and traveled the world. In 1913, Cabot arrived in the Coachella Valley and homesteaded. In need of water, he dug a well near his home and discovered hot mineral water, later a cold spring. In 1941 he began building the pueblo in its current location as a museum to display his impressive collection of Native American art and artifacts as well as souvenirs of his travels and his own works of art.

After our tour there it's only been a 10-minute-drive to El Morocco Inn & Spa - not at all your typical hotel or spa, but a place with an authentic Marocco flair. The owner, Bruce, gave us a quick tour on the property, proud of his little gem, furnished and decorated with authentic Northern African pieces - like a genuine Maroccan tent, original fabrics and lights. Afterwards, we soaked our stiff bones in the pool, fed by hot mineral springs, followed by a nice 45-minute-massage. We felt rejuvenated afterwards! With beautiful courtyards and only 13 hotel rooms nowadays, The El Morocco Inn & Day Spa was built in the late 1950’s directly on top of a vein of thermal hot waters in Desert Hot Springs - a feature for which the city became famous.

Had to hurry a bit to get to the Eastern end of the valley then, to La Quinta, for a tour of the famous La Quinta Resort with its spread-out Spanish-style casitas, some of them original from the 1920ies. The stars from Hollywood - like Greta Garbo (her house is on the pic), Ginger Rodgers, Clark Gable, Bette Davis, or Shirley Temple - were escaping to La Quinta, looking for a peaceful and luxurious retreat, a green oasis in the middle of the desert. There are 40+ pools, 5 public golf courses, tennis courts and whatever else you can think of. Pure luxury!




After a site inspection on a golf cart, we had a dinner invitation at Morgan's, one of several restaurants on the grounds. The restaurant was the place where the founder of the resort, Walter H. Morgan, invited the Hollywood elite. Besides excellent service (never available in Germany!) we had an excellent, creative meal of partly local ingredients, prepared by chef Camiel Henning from the Netherlands who introduced himself to us. The gazpacho and the dungeness crab salad as appetizers were followed by a Wagyu Zabuton Steak with lobster maccaroni & cheese and a duck breast on a heavenly compote of shallots and bacon with madeira sauce, with polenta and mushrooms. The steak was one of the best ones (or even THE best one) we have ever had. At the end we got a dessert platter with a Thank-You-note (see pic) - what a nice treat! Such an excellent meal, paired with excellent California wines - haven't had something similar for a long time!

A packed, but perfect day. In the heat. Which we love!

Golden State – here we come!

It's been a looong time at home, from beginning of March till end of May! Got cabin fever and are glad to get out again. It’s been a long day today: we got up at 6:45 am, a shuttle (mini van) service picked us up at 7:45 am and we arrived at MUC Airport at 9:15. Smooth traffic on the autobahn. Check-in and security went quick - a big advantage of MUC! - and our direct UA flight to San Francisco was very pleasant, though over 11 hours long (9.500 km/6000 mi).

We flew the new Dream Liner (B-787), and, best of all, we got an upgrade to Polaris (Business/First Class) with comfy seats, big TV screens and much better food. I even slept a little after lunch!






It’s been our 70th flight to the U.S., so, perhaps we have earned it! Not sure whether we’ll make the 100 flights still, but there is some hope. No turbulences, good views, first of Greenland and its massive icefields, then over Canada, Idaho and the Rockies, Oregon into the San Francisco Bay with great views of the city. Look a little closer and you'll see the Golden Gate Bridge on the picture!

Back home

The flight from Boise - the top picture shows Boise with the Sawtooth Mountains in the background - to Chicago was on time, even early. It's been a beautiful flight over the Rockies (2nd pic), no clouds and no turbulences. We even saw The Tetons and Devil's Tower!


Anxious, originally, about having only one hour transfer time in Chicago, we, fortunately, arrived early and had no problems to catch our direct flight to Munich. Chicago was cold, but there was not much snow. Flew on a new B777 and - yeah! - got upgraded to Polaris' BusinessFirst Class, where we not only could stretch out on a flat "bed", but also had the royal treatment and were wined and dined nicely. Flight was only (considering upgrade)eight hours, but despite of all the unexpected luxury we didn't sleep much. Arrived on time, 9:30 am to MUC, and were picked up by a friend there. Gray skies, clouds, about 5 deg C. (40 F). Welcome home!

Farewell to Boise - back home we go,,,

On Wednesday evening the Go West Farewell Party took place in a new event venue by name "JUMP" in downtown Boise. A big buffet was set up, no lack of drinks and good conversation. On the last evening people are usually more laid-back and glad that the conference is over.

Thursday was "Adventure Day" with a choice of different tours for congress participants. We choose the brewery tour, which was mostly about "tasting" and not so much about "touring" and gathering information about some of the 25 (!) breweries in town. We only went to two: Barbarian (a brewery which is experimenting quite a bit with over 20 beers on tap, see pic above) and Payette. Breweries here seem to not serve food in the majority, therefore we got lunch delivered into the brewery from a great Mexican food truck in front of the building and indulged in delicious Empanadas, Tacos and Burritoss. Last stop was a bottle shop, which had a great selection of beers from all over the world.

After the tour we explored downtown, the State Capitol and a view of Downtown:

Also, there are many murals in downtown, one even with a Bavarian theme:

In the evening the circle became complete: We met with a gentleman who we had met in Elko, at the Cowboy Poetry Gathering. He has a second home in Boise and though we already had doubts that he'll get in contact with us again, as promised, he did and we had a wonderful last evening with dinner at Bardenay Restaurant & Distillery. We found out that he is a retired FBI investigator and - being a big mystery fan myself! - it was fascinating to talk to him.

Another short night. My cold got worse in the last couple of days and my nose was clogged, couldn't breathe and therefore was awake quite a bit. Fortunately, we were not in a hurry this morning. Took a hot bath, packed and got ready for the hotel shuttle to the airport around 10 am. Boise has a clean little airport, very convenient, short lines, friendly employees.


Well, almost five weeks on the road now, and still not really happy to go home. It's been three (or even four) trips in one this time: Nevada's Cowboy Country, tropical Hawaii, the Pacific Northwest and Boise/Idaho for the conference. It's been a smooth trip, very interesting, though, also exhausting in the end. Ten flights in total on this trip - don't need that, but it was not to avoid.