Trip to Palm Springs and San Diego
We had wanted to go to the Dinah Shore weekend in Palm Springs for some time. It is the ultimate lesbian event of the year and we enjoy LPGA golf. It has been featured on the L Word and is not something we wanted to wait and do in our golden years. The weekend started 17 years ago and has been through many changes. As of 2007, there were about 30,000 women who come to Palm Springs and participate in various ways. You can choose the golf tournament as well as different packages of entertainment. We decided to buy the Girl Bar package and steel ourselves for a very busy 5 days. We also decided to follow Palm Springs up with 5 more days in San Diego.
So off to Southern California we went.
We landed in San Diego and on Wed. March 28th. We hopped the Enterprise shuttle and picked up our rental car, a gray/green Chrysler Sebring convertible including a Garmin navigation system. One of the perks of working at Enterprise is 50 % off of any rental including all the extras. We plugged in the hotel address and headed off to Palm Springs. But first, we made a quick stop to sample some of the best Mexican food that we have ever had. I had the special of the day, chicken tacos and they were out of this world and all of $5.99. The shell had a wonderful crisp to it and Carol's burrito was awesome as well as the guacamole on the side. We enjoyed lunch on the patio and over-hearing what sounded like a "it's just lunch" date. The gal on the date was a dolphin trainer, working for the Navy in San Diego and though she talked a mile a minute, it was interesting to hear about a job like that.As we approached Palm Springs, we saw a most magnificent site of all the energy producing windmills in the valley. There were thousands of them and it was a windy day. It was breathtaking.
Once we arrived at our Palm Springs hotel, we checked in and checked on the Girl Bar weekend schedule.
We then headed for dinner at our hotel, the Wyndham. Before leaving, we had decided that the next 10 days would be all about Mexican food and seafood and we were in luck. The menu was really awesome but we both chose the the lobster ravioli which was rich with a cream sauce, mushrooms and blue cheese.
The first event of the week was Wednesday evening, a welcome party right at the Wyndham.
Our hotel is traditionally one of the main host hotels. It was interesting because we met a few women from all over the country that night but never saw most of them again. We met an interesting character from New York city who surprised me with her political views. We also talked with a woman who works at "Go Magazine", a NY based lesbian monthly. She was originally from Nebraska and probably still in her late twenties. She was quite impressed with our story, that we have been together for 9 years and that we were married in Canada. She was also interested in our careers and that we are both out at work which anyone would agree is no small accomplishment. There was some talk of interviewing one or both of us for the magazine and Carol did give them a business card so we will see what, if anything comes of it.
Thursday was our first full day in Palm Springs and we were off to visit downtown. We walked along and looked into many of the trendy shops. We stopped for lunch at Laas Casuelas, where I had an awesome spice burrito and Carol had an excellent enchilada. The margaritas were also very good. We stopped into a photography gallery that really impressed us. This photographer, aside from being very friendly and “family” was incredibly talented. His photos captured the essence of his entire subject. He had them hung in thematic groups and our favorites were his windmill photos, which had to be difficult to take because as we drove by them on the way in, we saw no place to pull over. He told us that he got stuck in the sand taking some of them in the early morning hours. We didn’t buy one because of the cost but as we still cannot get them out of our head, I believe at some point, we will.
On the way back, we stopped at Hotel Zoso to check it out since lots of our Girl Bar events would be held there. While having a drink at the bar, we met an interesting lady from Texas who had worked with Ann Richards and told us some interesting stories.
Thursday evening was the comedy show which featured Michele Balan and two other great comedians, Page Horowitz and Poppy Champlin. They were all hilarious and seeing them was one of the trip highlights. We had seen Michele on the reality TV show, "Last Comic Standing" and loved her. Earlier, at the Hotel Zoso bar, we had met her briefly while she was checking out her TV coverage on the local news.
After the show, we had a late dinner at Hotel Zoso in their Backstage Bistro. There, we had the most sensational waiter who was totally enjoying the Dinah Shore event from the perspective of a gay man. From there, we stopped in at Hunters, a Palm Springs nightclub, for the evening event. We had good time talking with Michelle Balan and an LA friend of Sandy and Robin's. Sandy and Robin are the Girl Bar party organizers and live part time here and part time in L.A. She told us some interesting things about lesbian life in L.A. and we are just really glad that we don't live there. Experiencing something like this weekend is really wonderful and yet, this is not our life. And that is quite ok with us.
Friday morning, we were up early and off to the golf tournament. It is now called the Kraft Nabisco Classic and is a major on the LPGA tour. It is held at a beautiful course in Rancho Mirage. Just after we walked in, we were able to see Annika and Julie Inkster tee off. Julie was paired with Julie Creamer, who was one of the golfers we recognized that ended up having a good day. We walked over to the 15th, which had an interesting dog leg and watched there for a while. Then we ended our day at the 18th, watching a number of golfers finish up for the day.
Friday evening was the White Party at Hotel Zoso. It was incredible to see 3000 or more women, mostly all in white dancing and having a wonderful time at this event. The music was great and Lucy Lawless performed.
Before the party, we stuck with the Mexican theme and went to a restaurant my friend at work suggested, La Casita.
At the White Party we talked to an interesting young couple from Fresno who thought we were wise older sages, HA!! And we met a couple that we kept running into from Austin, Texas. We danced and danced and danced...................
Saturday, we were up early for the pool party but not early enough to get a nice comfortable lounge chair but we did find a nice spot by the Jacuzzi with a nice view of the goings-on. By 3:30, we were ready to lunch and walked back to downtown to enjoy dinner at an Italian joint where I had the mandatory Palm Spring steak and Carol stuck with our theme, having the salmon.
We were starting to run out of steam, so we had to take a power nap in order to be up for the evening event at the Palm Spring convention center with a performance by Carmen Electra.
On Sunday, there was another pool party. We found our same spot and enjoyed another day in the sun. Later that day, we hopped over to a nearby Mexican/Sushi place called Margaritas for lunch. This was my time to have fish tacos as it just seemed to fit and Carol enjoyed tacquitos and sushi.
NO, we were not tired of Mexican food yet!!
The evening event was back at Hunters and we stopped by for a few minutes but had run out of steam and decided to make it an early evening.
Monday morning we left Palm Springs and headed for San Diego after eating breakfast at a classic Jewish deli. I even ate a classic Jewish breakfast if smoked salmon and whitefish. We took a more scenic route back and avoided the freeway as much as possible.
The route took us through some beautiful desert and mountain regions of southern Cal. With our trusty Garmin, we easily found the hotel Kona Kai on the tip end of Shelter Island and it was as beautiful as it looked online.
We were still dragging from our busy Palm Springs schedule so we didn’t do much more than unpack and enjoy a wonderful dinner in the hotel dining room. I had halibut that was extremely fresh and Carol had the scallops which were huge as well as tasty.
We decided that a massage was in order for Tuesday morning as we still need some relaxation time. After that, I spoke to the concierge about options to get out on the water, maybe an excursion of some kind. He suggested a sailing charter with Mike. So by 2 PM, we were on the sailboat with Mike and his sailing assistant. Mike is a retired military guy who actually flew planes for the Navy and has had a lifetime passion for sailing. His buddy was a younger guy that sails out of the local marina and was going to take the boat out for charters during Mike’s upcoming vacation. They let both of us do some sailing, basic stuff only, and we enjoyed the heck out of a private tour past Coronado, past the San Diego downtown area and seeing a few military vessels. We paid for 2 hours and got to stay out for over three as both of them enjoyed sailing so much. Since he was officially off the clock, at the 2 hour mark, Mike offered us a glass of wine while he enjoyed a Mexican beer. It was a major highlight of our trip and something that we will both always remember.
After our sailing trip, we stopped by the bar to watch the women's NCAA finals. I am a Tennessee fan and had watched most of their games during the season so this was the big one. A Tennessee grad dressed in orange and her husband joined us as we led the cheering section. They won after a close, exciting game and it was a great time. From there, we stayed with the nautical theme and enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Umi Sushi.
On Wednesday, we were off to the zoo, which is located in Balboa Park, a beautiful feature of San Diego. Although our hometown also has a wonderful zoo, we don’t have panda bears. They were so fun to watch. We photographed one laying against a log, chomping away on a favorite food, bamboo. We also saw koala bears, wallabies and lots of exotic pigs that we had never seen before. We rode the zoo shuttles, walked a lot, did the sky ride and pretty much saw it all.
After the zoo, we had dinner at the Fish Market which had been recommended by Mike. Carol had the halibut and I had the scallops.Our table overlooked the waterfront and Coronado. Seated at the table next to us was a football player and his date. We spied his superbowl ring and he was definitely a big guy. There was also a nearby table of folks speaking Spanish. All in all, it seemed to epitomize San Diego.
Thursday, we were off to Tijuana for the day. We decided to take an organized trip because going without a group was a little scary. They picked us up at our hotel in a shuttle and took us to downtown San Diego where we all boarded a bus and headed south. We were at the border crossing in a matter of minutes and passing into Mexico was a non event. From there, our driver who had once lived in Tijuana and was a native of Mexico, took us for a brief tour of the city. We saw numerous statues of local heroes as well as Abe Lincoln. He then took us to Revolucion Ave which is the tourist strip.
There, we were immediately bombarded with Mexican salesman pushing everything. We could barely get away and duck into one of the restaurants that was recommended by our driver. We ate there because he told us that we could safely have a drink with ice in it. We had our authentic Mexican food and Carol enjoyed her fish tacos but the margaritas were not that great. They were clearly made with a cheap mixer that made them look very lime green in color. I guess we were spoiled with the Cadillac margaritas we had enjoyed in Palm Springs. We shopped and made a good deal on leather sandals, a good quality T-shirt, two small Chihuahua T-shirts and a small sombrero. We bargained for a much better version of kalua that is sold only in Mexico and our top purchase, a silver bracelet. We felt comfortable that we did get real silver made in Taxco, Mexico for a decent price.
As we headed out of the city, we found the main border crossing to have a 2 hour wait so our driver took us to an alternative crossing. On the way there, we drove through some incredible poverty on the outskirts of downtown. Our driver had also told us that right now, they were averaging 7 murders each night due to gang warfare.
We later talked to a waitress who told us about the busboy who lived in Tijuana and commuted over everyday. When he went home, he had to stay indoors at night because of the danger. It is sobering and understandable why someone might break the law and do anything to escape to America where there are jobs and some hope for a better life. We finally got to the border crossing and each of us had to disembark from the bus, carrying our purchased items and pass through a security checkpoint. It was similar to what you see at the airport. Then you went to the customs agent who asked what you were carrying across. As of this time, only a driver’s license was required but that will be soon be changing. We all then waited while the bus passed through inspection and we could be reunited and on our way.
Once back at the hotel, we decided to take a quick drive up the coast and see the beautiful ocean waves of LaJolla. It was gorgeous, even without any surfers. For dinner we opted to go to a neighboring hotel on Shelter Island that we had nearly booked instead, Humphrey’s Half Moon. Dinner was more wonderful seafood, and the ambience was awesome. We also found out that Humphrey’s has the most incredible list of musical acts booked to play each summer. They were to have the Indigo Girls, Ani DiFranco, and more. We just wished that we could visit there for the music, but we were still glad we stayed at Kona Kai. We both enjoyed the sea bass with a butternut squash risotto and had the best waitress who we chatted with for some time.
For our last day in San Diego, it was time to enjoy some pool time. We relaxed all morning and afternoon until it was time to head out to Petco Park for the Padres season opener. We took a taxi down to the stadium and had plenty of time to walk through Gas Lamp Square, the old historic district, before the game started. We had a snack of fresh oysters and marinated sirloin tips at one of the very trendy restaurants, Lou and Mickey's, in the Gas Lamp district. We also enjoyed a phenomenal glass of James West pinot noir.
This was the 5th stadium that we have visited on our MLB stadium quest and it was really beautiful. They had a very nice opening day ceremony and lots of military presence since San Diego is such a military town. We sat next a very savvy baseball guy who was a lot of fun to talk with, especially since the Cards were the reigning world champs and the Padres merely the western division winners.
We also sat next to a group of Marines and that was not so fun. It was hard to see their youthful exuberance and know that unless things change in Iraq, some of them would be dead in a year.
The next morning, it was time to go home and we knew for sure that San Diego was a place that we wanted to visit again. Before leaving, we spent a few more minutes enjoying our bay view as a family of ducks waddled by. We heard sea lions every day and night and it was a very special place.
Becuase the hotel is on the tip of Shelter Island, it is so much more private and quiet than bustling Humphrey's. When we do return, we definitely want to stay at Kona Kai.
Click below for Photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/80676803@N00/collections/72157603748372588/
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