Holidays should be relaxing but not if you start with a 28 hour journey which should have only been 16 hours ….

 

 

What a great start to the holiday not, as I had a journey from hell thanks to British Airways and delays and missed flight connections.   

However, at the end of the 28 hours and my body not knowing if it was 2am or 10am the next day, I ended up at Colony Palms Hotel which was a gorgeous boutique hotel and this great bed which was very welcome.

The next day my friend, Lara arrived in Palm Springs and picked me up on route to ‘Little Red’ in the dessert near Joshua Tree.   I was glad of air conditioning in the car as it was 100 degrees however the dessert was slightly cooler at 80 and already I had had a taster of the heat as I sat by the pool for an hour.

‘Little Red’ was absolutely gorgeous, slightly isolated but the views were amazing, the walks invigorating and the best bit was no wi fi so my holiday was about to begin.

Little Red, Joshua Tree 

This was our shack in the desert

 

The view from the front door so you can see it was isolated

Next stop was Villa Grand, former home of Christina Onassis in Palm Springs for four nights which was divine.

From here it was a base to walk in Indian Canyon and take the Palm Springs Aerial Tram to over 9000 feet to see some stunning views of Palm Springs and neighboring valleys.

Views over Palm Springs from over 9000 feet on one of the walks

We did have time to relax around the pool playing games with the noodles which was interesting!

On the Friday night it was party night to celebrate Kelley’s birthday which was a ‘70’s Wig and Disco Night’ and yes we all had to get into the spirit of things.

Yup we all had to wear a wig

Then it was back to the desert for more adventures, and the five girlies were to stay at ‘Spin and Margies ~ Desert Hideaway’.

Where we had fun and games on the last night when Lara and Maria where in the small courtyard behind our room managed to get between two coyote’s so you can imagine the scene!

We visited Joshua Tree and found the perfect place for a coffee fix at Crossroads Café before heading into Joshua Tree National Park which was simply stunning.

We visited the Integratron which is located in Mojave Desert, founded by George Van Tassel following a meeting with a UFO (for more details check out http://www.integratron.com)  where we had a ‘sound bath’ which was certainly an interesting experience and described on the literature as ‘it’s kindergarten naptime of the third kind!’.  

And, then it was off to Pappy and Harriet’s for dinner, dancing and pool in Pioneertown Palace where we were given an exclusive performance by Spike who is a professional musician with SAS and formerly Queen.

Then, the birthday, the reason I was away and we had an action packed day organized by Kyle for Lara.   We started with a champagne breakfast at ‘Giant Rock’ at Landers where numerous UFO’s landed on the Alien Air Strip in the 50’s and 60’s.   

Giant Rock on the Alien air strip

Then we went to Garth’s Place and visited the caves

The caves at Garth's Place

 Then back to Little Red for tea at Bernie’s for a Mosaic party

The creation of the mosaic water feature for Little Red

 This was to become a water feature for Little Red. 

Then, finally it was dinner at the Love Shack and the infamous performance of Zac Brown’s ‘Fried Chicken’ by the girls.  I am awaiting the video coverage and will upload in due course as it was rather embarassing with five girls forgetting the words and the routine well after a few it was rather on the ropey side!

My holiday was coming to an end as the party got smaller with people returning home to New York and London and my last night was spent at Bernie’s having Taco’s and more wine watching the stunning sun set.

The journey home was less eventful and so it was just the jet lag to contend with but all in all it was a great holiday and I came home 100% relaxed and can highly recommend a shack in the middle of the desert.