LA QUINTA
by
Jessica Rule
- September 16, 2017
The summer adventures continue... in La Quinta!
When telling family and friends that Tyler and I would be celebrating our anniversary in La Quinta, most people looked at us with confused expressions. "La Quinta? Where's that?" was the most common response I got.
A couple years ago when I went to Stagecoach, we decided to do a hotel + ticket package. My friend was in charge of plans, and it was to my happy surprise when we arrived that we were staying at a gorgeous resort. I remember thinking how much of a bummer it was that we couldn't spend more time there, with how beautiful the resort was. That hidden gem was La Quinta Resort & Club! The resort is about 22 miles outside of Palm Springs, and about 5 miles to Indio. The place is breathtaking - with 41 pools, and absolutely gorgeous landscaping.
When we were discussing trip ideas, the La Quinta Resort popped in to mind. I assumed it would be out of our budget, but decided to check it out just for the hell of it. By some miracle, I had happened to find that they were doing a special discounted summer rate - and of course, immediately booked a casita!
We decided to drive down and make a day of the 7 hour drive. We have Disneyland Annual Passports this year, and wanted to stop by and say hello to Mickey for a few hours. After our pit stop, we headed toward the desert and checked in to La Quinta. We were both pretty exhausted by the time we arrived at the room, so we decided to just unpack and chill out (literally - it was 95 degress at 9:30 PM! CRAZY!) while watching TV for the night.
Whenever I take a vacation, I find that it is more of a "go-go-go" kind of thing where every minute is planned out, instead a "sit back, and relax vacation" - don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not complaining! I am so grateful for all the vacations I get to take, but I have yet to take a vacation where we have no plans and can do whatever we want. We decided to make this one of those "lazy" vacations.
The first morning we slept in, which felt heavenly. I woke up earlier than I wanted to, but it was so nice to just lay in bed without any obligation to get up! The room, or "casita" as they called it, was more like an apartment than a hotel room. Because we had arrived mid-week, the little court yard that our casita was in was super quiet and we had it to ourselves for pretty much the whole stay.
By the time we were ready to leave the room for the day, it was lunch time. There are a few restaurants located on site, so we went to check one out - Twenty6 - for lunch. After lunch we decided to explore the resort, despite the 104 degree weather. It really is just so beautiful!
After food and exploring, we put on our swim suits and went pool hopping until we found our favorite pool. Like I mentioned, there's 41 pools here. 41 freakin' pools! I really wanted to check out as many of them as I could - mostly because some of them were gorgeous, and others were just your standard lap pool. We pool hopped for a few hours until we came across the prettiest pool I have ever seen. It was surrounded by greenery, palm trees, and bougainvillea-covered arches. I mean, come on?!
I think my favorite part of the huge amount of pools was that if you came across a pool that already had someone in it, you could walk another minute or two and find an empty one. Not that I mind sharing a pool, but just the feeling that you have your own private pool makes it feel even more like vacation!
After our pool adventure, we walked to find a place to watch the sunset. I have been lucky enough to check out some pretty awesome sunsets while at Coachella, and was hoping this would be no exception. It did not disappoint!
We had been dying for ice cream all day, so we checked out Nitroinfushions, which was delicious. We were feeling pretty tired, so just grabbed pizza for dinner and had a quiet evening in drinking wine and watching Friends (what else?!) until we fell asleep.
We weren't planning on checking out Palm Springs, but when I realized it was only 22 miles away I figured, why not?!
We woke up early, and headed to Twenty6 again to have breakfast. I already knew that I wanted to check out the Moorten Cactarium, but wasn't sure what else we would do. Working in the PR industry, I follow A LOT of bloggers. I have always seen this iconic pink door being posted over and over again throughout the summer, and was surprised at how easy it was to find just by a simple google search. The door was on the way to the cactarium, so we checked it out!
I was worried that there would be a crowd, and considering that it is someone's home - I wanted to be as respectful as possible. Luckily, there was no one there and we were able to quickly snap some shots of #thatpinkdoor! (also somehow managed to snap a hummingbird flying by, which you can see in the first picture at the bottom left of the door!)
Next stop was the Moorten Botanical Garden and Cactarium. For less than $10, you can take yourself on a self-guided tour of all the cacti. If you love cacti as much as I do, the cactarium is for you. I couldn't stop taking pictures! Of course, I had to take a little succulent home with me at the end - which now sits on my desk at work!
The interior was very aesthetically pleasing, with lots of pastel colors and hexagon-shaped marble tiles. I was all heart eyes! There was also a cute little section with art prints, mugs, and other fun souvenirs. Naturally, I was drawn to the pool floats and found the cutest pastel-pink heart floatie fron ban.dō!
I was so excited to use our new pool float, we went back to the La Quinta and got ready to jump in the pool. Tyler offered to blow up the float for me, which he was obviously thrilled about ;)
We drove about 24 miles in to the park and found a turnout to watch the sunset in. It is so eerily quiet out there...and for someone that lives and breathes busy city life, it's such a huge difference. Another perk is that there was no cell service, which really forces you to be in the moment. I love that.
By the time we left Joshua Tree it was well after 9PM and we didn't feel like going back to the resort yet, so I suggested we check out the Empire Polo Grounds. We were so close anyway, and it's one of our favorite places because of all the good memories we've made there over the last 3 years. I don't know how to explain it, but just seeing it was exciting! It was also so odd to see it so empty, without the energetic atmosphere you typically feel there. It felt like a good way to end our little getaway :)
The next day we woke up early, packed, and headed home (which is never fun). I am so grateful we were able to take the trip, and hopefully we can make it back very soon! I highly recommend visiting if you get the chance.
When telling family and friends that Tyler and I would be celebrating our anniversary in La Quinta, most people looked at us with confused expressions. "La Quinta? Where's that?" was the most common response I got.
A couple years ago when I went to Stagecoach, we decided to do a hotel + ticket package. My friend was in charge of plans, and it was to my happy surprise when we arrived that we were staying at a gorgeous resort. I remember thinking how much of a bummer it was that we couldn't spend more time there, with how beautiful the resort was. That hidden gem was La Quinta Resort & Club! The resort is about 22 miles outside of Palm Springs, and about 5 miles to Indio. The place is breathtaking - with 41 pools, and absolutely gorgeous landscaping.
When we were discussing trip ideas, the La Quinta Resort popped in to mind. I assumed it would be out of our budget, but decided to check it out just for the hell of it. By some miracle, I had happened to find that they were doing a special discounted summer rate - and of course, immediately booked a casita!
We decided to drive down and make a day of the 7 hour drive. We have Disneyland Annual Passports this year, and wanted to stop by and say hello to Mickey for a few hours. After our pit stop, we headed toward the desert and checked in to La Quinta. We were both pretty exhausted by the time we arrived at the room, so we decided to just unpack and chill out (literally - it was 95 degress at 9:30 PM! CRAZY!) while watching TV for the night.
DAY 1
Whenever I take a vacation, I find that it is more of a "go-go-go" kind of thing where every minute is planned out, instead a "sit back, and relax vacation" - don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not complaining! I am so grateful for all the vacations I get to take, but I have yet to take a vacation where we have no plans and can do whatever we want. We decided to make this one of those "lazy" vacations.
The first morning we slept in, which felt heavenly. I woke up earlier than I wanted to, but it was so nice to just lay in bed without any obligation to get up! The room, or "casita" as they called it, was more like an apartment than a hotel room. Because we had arrived mid-week, the little court yard that our casita was in was super quiet and we had it to ourselves for pretty much the whole stay.
By the time we were ready to leave the room for the day, it was lunch time. There are a few restaurants located on site, so we went to check one out - Twenty6 - for lunch. After lunch we decided to explore the resort, despite the 104 degree weather. It really is just so beautiful!
After food and exploring, we put on our swim suits and went pool hopping until we found our favorite pool. Like I mentioned, there's 41 pools here. 41 freakin' pools! I really wanted to check out as many of them as I could - mostly because some of them were gorgeous, and others were just your standard lap pool. We pool hopped for a few hours until we came across the prettiest pool I have ever seen. It was surrounded by greenery, palm trees, and bougainvillea-covered arches. I mean, come on?!
After our pool adventure, we walked to find a place to watch the sunset. I have been lucky enough to check out some pretty awesome sunsets while at Coachella, and was hoping this would be no exception. It did not disappoint!
We had been dying for ice cream all day, so we checked out Nitroinfushions, which was delicious. We were feeling pretty tired, so just grabbed pizza for dinner and had a quiet evening in drinking wine and watching Friends (what else?!) until we fell asleep.
DAY 2
We weren't planning on checking out Palm Springs, but when I realized it was only 22 miles away I figured, why not?!
We woke up early, and headed to Twenty6 again to have breakfast. I already knew that I wanted to check out the Moorten Cactarium, but wasn't sure what else we would do. Working in the PR industry, I follow A LOT of bloggers. I have always seen this iconic pink door being posted over and over again throughout the summer, and was surprised at how easy it was to find just by a simple google search. The door was on the way to the cactarium, so we checked it out!
I was worried that there would be a crowd, and considering that it is someone's home - I wanted to be as respectful as possible. Luckily, there was no one there and we were able to quickly snap some shots of #thatpinkdoor! (also somehow managed to snap a hummingbird flying by, which you can see in the first picture at the bottom left of the door!)
It was so cool! I definitely need a pink door at some point in my life. A few doors down was another awesome home with "party lions" out front. The family that lives here frequently switches out the inner-tubes to other fun colors! I would love to go back and do the Palm Springs Door Tour and check out all the other colorful doors!
Next stop was the Moorten Botanical Garden and Cactarium. For less than $10, you can take yourself on a self-guided tour of all the cacti. If you love cacti as much as I do, the cactarium is for you. I couldn't stop taking pictures! Of course, I had to take a little succulent home with me at the end - which now sits on my desk at work!
As awesome as the botanical garden was, it is not fun to be outside in Palm Springs in the middle of summer. We found a cute ice cream shop in downtown to cool off in called Ice Cream & Shop(pe).
I was so excited to use our new pool float, we went back to the La Quinta and got ready to jump in the pool. Tyler offered to blow up the float for me, which he was obviously thrilled about ;)
Is it not the cutest pool float you've ever seen?! Had to.
Tyler is usually pretty easy going and up for whatever I want to do when we travel, but his one request for this vacation was to stargaze in Joshua Tree. Neither of us had ever been before, but with the promise of seeing the Milky Way - we set out for the national park.
We drove about 24 miles in to the park and found a turnout to watch the sunset in. It is so eerily quiet out there...and for someone that lives and breathes busy city life, it's such a huge difference. Another perk is that there was no cell service, which really forces you to be in the moment. I love that.
I would love to go back when we have more time to explore and check out the other side of the park with all the Joshua Trees. After the sun set, it took about an hour for the sky to become dark enough to see the Milky Way.
The stars were so breathtaking. I always forget how much I love stargazing - because it is usually so long in between opportunities that I really get to see the stars without light pollution from the city. We sat and stared at the sky in amazement for a long while, and also were lucky enough to see more shooting stars than I could count! It was so quiet, beautiful, and surreal. We were so pleased to check off a bucket list item.
By the time we left Joshua Tree it was well after 9PM and we didn't feel like going back to the resort yet, so I suggested we check out the Empire Polo Grounds. We were so close anyway, and it's one of our favorite places because of all the good memories we've made there over the last 3 years. I don't know how to explain it, but just seeing it was exciting! It was also so odd to see it so empty, without the energetic atmosphere you typically feel there. It felt like a good way to end our little getaway :)
xx,
Jess
