Page 104 - 2020 Travel Guide to California

JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK, top;
young buck mule deer in the high desert,
above; family fun in Palm Springs, opposite
left; vintage car show during Modernism
Week in Palm Springs, opposite right.
INSIDER’S
»
TIP
SOCIAL CYCLE—a 16-passenger,
pedal-powered cycle steered by a
professional guide—lets you tour
Palm Springs while partying and
without fear of losing your license.
It plies a route through downtown
with stops at a selection of top
bars and restaurants. You can hop
on a public tour or reserve it for
you and a group of friends. Two-
hour tours depart Friday-Sunday;
departure times vary by day.
socialcycleca.com
desert landscapes of Anza-Borrego Desert
State Park and Joshua Tree National Park,
where boulder formations prove an exciting
challenge for climbers.
Fabulous winter weather spells nirvana
for hikers, rock-climbers, cyclists and other
outdoorsy folk. Incising the slopes of the
San Jacinto Mountains, the three Indian
Canyons tempt hikers with 30 miles of trails
and picnic sites. Fed by natural springs,
stands of desert fan palms crowd the canyon
floors, providing sheltering oases for kit fox,
bighorn sheep and coyote. Ancient petro-
glyphs can be seen while hiking Andreas
Canyon and Tahquitz Canyon, with its spec-
tacular 60-foot-tall waterfall.
Cultural Connections
Culture vultures delight to find the desert is
far from dry. The Native American Agua
Caliente occupied the Palm Springs region
long before Europeans arrived. Their proud
legacy is on show at the Agua Caliente Cul-
tural Museum in downtown Palm Springs,
which in 2020 relocated to a spectacular
new venue. History buffs also delight in the
Palm Springs Air Museum, replete with
World War II-era warplanes from a P-51 Mus-
tang to a B-17 Flying Fortress. The monied
elite that pours into Palm Springs for the
winter is a huge patron of the arts. Holly-
wood star and long-time resident Kirk
Douglas was a major donor to the Palm
102 2020 TRAVEL GUIDE TO CALIFORNIA
Springs Art Museum, one of California’s
top regional art venues—its plein air,
Mesoamerican and contemporary glass col-
lections are outstanding.
Down valley, more than 150 unique
works of art decorate the streets of Palm
Desert, grouped for four self-guided tours.
Colorful murals grace historic downtown
Indio, painting a big picture on the city’s
past. And visitors can explore the vast Sun-
nylands Estate, in Rancho Mirage, where
billionaire Walter Annenberg hosted Presi-
dent Richard Nixon after he resigned in
1974, and President Ronald Reagan on a
score of New Year’s Eves.
Festivals to Casinos
Palm Springs has festivals to please every
taste. The season kicks off in January with
the Palm Springs International Film Fes-
tival, when Hollywood’s finest hit town. In
March, the world-class Indian Wells Tennis
Garden fills to overflowing for the annual
BNP Paribas Open. And in April, be there or
be square for the Coachella Music Festival,
hosted in the warm open air of neighboring
Indio. Almost 200 star performers rock half
a million attendees, and as usual, the 2020
festival is sure to be one hot ticket.
Higher culture? Palm Desert’s McCallum
Theater resounds to laughter and cheers of
delight with a lineup that can range from
Itzhak Perlman and The Vienna Boys Choir
to The Nutcracker ballet and the Peking
Acrobats.
Since the valley’s Cahuilla Indian terri-
tory is a sovereign nation, it’s exempt from
California’s state ban on gambling. Try your
hand with Lady Luck at any of half a dozen
casinos. Most have venues that host class
acts from world-title boxing to top per-
formers such as Kesha, Sheena Easton and
the desert’s own Barry Manilow. And shopa-
holics are in for a treat: Art galleries, haute
couturiers and boutique stores specializing
in retro modernist décor offer a dash of
retail therapy between your spa treatments.
HOLBOX/SHUTTERSTOCK; SIERRALARA/SHUTTERSTOCK. OPPOSITE: VISITPALMSPRINGS.COM; MIGUEL NORIEGA/CREATIVE COMMONS/FLICKR