Silly me, I thought Coachella was a music festival, which it is, but it is so much more. The Coachella Valley is located in the Colorado Desert of Southern California. Coachella Valley includes one great little town after the next: Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, Indian Wells, La Quinta, Desert Hot Springs, Indio, and Coachella. The weather is fabulous with very little rain, the lifestyle is sophisticated, the golf is world-class, and the vibe is well, vibrant.
We stayed at the Outdoor Indio Resort. This motorcoach community is one of the nicer RV resorts we have stayed in. There are over 400 lots, several pools, pickleball & tennis courts with numerous scheduled activities each day. Let’s not forget the 9 hole par 3 golf course, of which our lot backed up to. I can tell you that we gained a couple of golf balls donated by less than stellar golfers. Depending on your location, it could be a bit of a walk to designated dog parks. Many people use golf carts to taxi their dogs to the dog park for bathroom breaks.
Brian only scratched the surface on golf courses: SilverRock, Escena, PGA West Stadium(his fave), Desert Mountain, Rams Hill, and Classic Club. He was in heaven.
While Brian golfed, I was able to pick up some tennis drills and games at the RV Resort. I also took to biking around Indio. There are bike paths everywhere and very easy to get around.
We loved Thursday-night-out in Palm Springs with the main street closed down for food stands, art vendors and a farmer’s market. We also enjoyed viewing (from the car) the well preserved mid-century homes of the 60s and 70s Hollywood stars. Palm Springs has preserved a great mid-century atmosphere. It feels like you might bump into an old Hollywood legend who is there for a weekend getaway. We also visited the grounds at Sunnylands, the former Annenberg Estate. The house tour was sold out but still worthwhile.
We took the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway up Mount Jacinto. This is the largest rotating tram in the world, taking you from around 1,000 ft. elevation to around 8,500 in about 10 minutes. From the top, you can hike in the snow and view the Coachella Valley.
On our last day, we visited Joshua Tree National Park. It’s now safe to say that our National Park Pass has paid for itself. The park sprawls from the dry lowlands of the Colorado Desert to the cooler highlands of the Mojave, which is abundant with cool rock formations and Joshua Trees. Joshua trees are actually succulents. We skipped the hiking as the winds were up and temperatures were down. We did have a great time off-roading through the Berdoo Canyon. It was a little more technical than the paths we did in Sedona. Brian was in his element and I enjoyed it too.
That is a wrap from Indio,
Betty & Brian
