A Desert Vacation, La Quinta CA

Looking for an absolutely beautiful oasis, a place of tranquility and relaxation but with lots to do if you choose? Look no further than La Quinta Resort and Club.

Wanting a place of luscious flowers, exotic plants, palm trees, splashing fountains, the bluest, clearest skies you've ever seen? That's La Quinta Resort and Club.

Looking for a place where the USA dollar's buying power isn't stripped by half like in Europe? Come to La Quinta Resort and Club.

Looking for a place that doesn't require traveling across oceans, where the time zone changes take days to adjust too? (Like Hawaii, Fiji, Australia, Cannes, Portofino, Mykonos) Come to La Quinta Resort and Club.

Looking for a place where the humidity isn't dripping from every surface (Florida) and there are no hurricane worries (Florida, again)? Come to La Quinta Resort and Club.

Looking for a tropical scent to the air, flowers wherever you look, friendly 'human-scale' rustic-casual architecture to surround your very luxurious, pampered days of ease and sunshine ... especially when winter's dreary cold permeates much of the USA? Come to La Quinta Resort and Club.

For those who've traveled the USA's interstate highways, it's not unusual to see, among the plethora of budget accomodations, the signs for La Quinta motels. THIS IS NOT WHAT IS BEING DISCUSSED HERE. That chain took it's name because of the gorgeous world class resort, but there is absolutely NO affiliation between them!

La Quinta, one of the oldest resorts in the USA, and especially in southern California, continues to 'top the charts' decade after decade with travel magazine writers, golf afficionadoes, and spa lovers. By car, La Quinta resort is about 40 minutes east of the Palm Springs, California, airport, and once you leave that car at the lobby building, you'll be entering into a cocoon that has been a source of luxury, beauty, privacy, since 1926. The resort is home to a world class tennis facility, the home to the world famous Mountain Golf Course, and affiliated with the famous golf courses of PGA West. It's spa, one of the newest amenities at the resort, offers a range of physical activities/classes both at the fitness center and out on the property. The resort also includes the treatments of a full medical wellness center for health, nutrition, lifestyle consultations, health examinations (blood pressure, cholesterol, tryglicerides, organ ultrasounds) and an array of 'no down time' cosmedic-medical offerings.

Between the golf, the tennis, the spa, the resort's accomodations, the beauty of its surroundings, the ideal winter temperatures, the offerings of evening restaurants and entertainment...magazine after magazine has noted La Quinta Resort as a winner. Robb Report, Conde Nast Traveler, American Airlines magazine, countless tennis, spa, golf magazines...you're going to find the La Quinta Resort at the top of the rankings.

The most basic element of a vacation is 'the room.' No matter how little time visitors actually spend in their rooms, the room itself is of paramount importance. The rooms at La Quinta will delight ... no huge monolithic tower at La Quinta, no elevators, atriums, towering soaring columns of hotel rooms...at La Quinta the rooms are little buildings, casitas, spread out over the property, each with it's own porch, many with fireplaces ... the smallest is 400 square feet!!! There are people with one bedroom apartments in Chicago, New York City and Boston whose don't live in that much space!

The decor throughout the resort's public areas and the casitas is a relaxing and beautiful mix of California/Spanish Colonial/Tropical. Visualize colorful tiles from Mexico that cover countertops, bath walls, outdoor fountains ...soaring Date Palm trees towering above all with tropical grace (and platters of fresh dates scattered around the resort for a sweet fruit treat) ... terra cotta red-tiled roofs for rustic-casualness that bespeak the leisurely charm of Spain, Italy, Mexico ... vibrant fuschia pink/red bouganvilla blossoms climbing over walls ... clusters of deep red chili peppers hanging here and there to hint at restaurant fare spices ... white stucco facades, often with bell towers or rustic wood arbors for shade, lend a crisp counterpoint to the stunning blue skys sparkling constantly overhead.

Part of vacation pleasure is getting out of the kitchen, and La Quinta offers several spots to dine in pleasure.

There's no prettier place on the whole resort to have breakfast or lunch than the Mountain Course clubhouse. It's views across the course, with ponds, fountains and the mountains beyond can't be beat. And the food's wonderful too! The clubhouse a lovely short walk through the resorts gardens and pools and casitas, but to stay closer to the main lobby and plaza, the Twenty-Six restaurant offers breakfast buffet to eat indoors or out on a patio that has beautiful intimate views of the plazas gardens and fountains. Gorgeous!

Specifically for lunch is the Spa Bistro, whose patio offers oh-so-relaxing views of the spa's lovely architecture and the resort's tennis club area.

For dinner, the Twenty-Six offers a pleasant menu and a fresh sushi bar area. Also on the plaza (and my favorite for dinner) is the Adobe Grill. With indoor and outdoor seating, live music and wonderful mexican offerings this place is just plain great! And before dinner, whether you choose Twenty-Six or Adobe Grill, there is live music and cocktail offerings on the plaza....such a relaxing pleasant way to start an evening after a day of golf, tennis, sight-seeing, spa or pool!

For full high dollar gourmet experience, it's the Azure (which suffered a fire over summer of 2008, but is scheduled to be fresh, new and ready by 'the season' -- about Thanksgiving to Easter). Also at the Azure is a cozy piano bar to enjoy more pleasant entertainment after dinner, regardless of which restaurant you chose.

If shopping is your passion, you'll be in heaven at La Quinta. The neighboring town of Palm Desert is home to El Paseo, one of the world's great shopping experiences. With stores as high dollar as Escada, Gucci, St, John's, Tiffany's, and Saks to 'mainstream' shops like Tommy Bahamas, Brooks Brothers, Ann Taylor, Talbots, William Sonoma and Pottery Barn, to tres luxurious shops for jewelry, fine art, home decor and antiques, to restaurants for every palate and pocketbook, it's all on El Paseo. Over 300 shops, and complimentary shuttles back and forth! Larger than Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, and MUCH better weather than Chicago's 'magnificent mile,' this place has any bauble, trinket or doo-dad you could desire.

In 1926, when the La Quinta resort was first built into a snug cove of the Santa Rosa Mountains, about 20 miles east of Palm Springs, it was in the middle of nothing! This away-from-it-all quality is what first attracted many movie-industry folks from Los Angeles who wanted the ultimate in privacy and luxury. It's a quality that still attracts many of it's visitors, famous or not. (Though 'star' sitings very common here.)

But this remoteness wasn't always that convenient for the staff of the resort, who started setting up homes in the desert near the resort...slowly but surely other golf courses, sprouted up, the nearby village of Indian Wells expanded, and more and more people were living around the resort. Finally the Town of La Quinta, named for the original resort, was incorporated in 1983. To celebrate it's 25th anniversary, the video below was produced.

OOPs, update, that video no longer available.

So, here's one that a couple put together of their visit to resort in December '07, nice shots of the cactus garden in one spot of resort. As you watch, visualize the weather your home town has in December, compared to the bathing suits and bermuda shorts of December in La Quinta.

The Joshua Tree National Park was officially formed in 1994 and is now managed and protected by the National Park Service.

A website, desertgold.com, did a great job of describing Joshua Tree:

The park encompasses some of the most interesting geologic displays found in California's deserts. Rugged mountains of twisted rock and exposed granite monoliths testify to the tremendous earth forces that shaped and formed this land. Arroyos, playas, alluvial fans, bajadas, pediments, desert varnish, granites, aplite, and gneiss interact to form a giant desert mosaic of immense beauty and complexity.

I can't say enough here to describe the effect of Joshua Tree on the visitor...the landscape is like nothing else in the USA and the tour guides offer so much knowledge about the plants, the ecology, a 'must see' while at La Quinta!

Besides Joshua Tree, the concierge desk can offer many fun activities off the resort. My two favorites are horse back riding and hot air balloon trips. Both are great ways to see the beauty of the desert and the mountains.

Re-Cap of the wonder of La Quinta Resort

Text below from the www.laquintaresort.com website.

With grace and charm, the legendary La Quinta Resort & Club has reigned over the Coachella Valley as a sought after refuge from the hustle and bustle of the world in the quiet of the Santa Rosa Mountains. Since its opening, La Quinta Resort & Club has been the favorite retreat of Hollywood legends like Garbo, Gable and Capra, and financial powerhouses such as Vanderbilt and Crocker.

Today, guests include the new generation of celebrities, athletes and CEOs whose first names alone are enough to identify them. The resort has been recognized by top travel, lifestyle, golf and tennis publications as one of the top destination resorts in the world. Through time and several changes in ownership, La Quinta Resort & Club has grown from its original 20 casitas (guest rooms), a lobby and a dining room to 796 casitas, suites and villas, vacation home rentals, nine championship golf courses, an award-winning spa, 23 tennis courts, 41 sparkling pools and 53 hot tubs, a children's program and more.

Can you readers tell that I really like it here??? For full disclosure, I have been visiting La Quinta Resort since December, 1997, and NEVER tire of it! (Even before the spa was built, I loved it, and with the spa...I can hardly tear myself away from the property!)