We started planning a reunion weekend in Palm Springs, where Dick and Andrew are living, many months ago. Peggy Scott, Tina Scarlata and Debbie Maniace Ireland planned to fly from Boston and Margaret Deutsch who lives in Great Barrington was going to fly from Hartford. Of course the trip was planned with no thoughts about the weather. The anticipated Saturday morning escape from New England was right in the midst of a forecasted severe winter storm so plans changed. Peggy decided to fly from Florida, Debbie opted to come a couple of days early and Tina flew to Atlanta before the storm started. Margaret’s driver cancelled her early morning ride to Hartford and she had to cancel her whole trip. In spite of all that, we did manage to get seven of us together on Saturday the 7th of January for a long weekend together.
We drove the two plus hour trip to Palm Springs on the 7th and were greeted by snow on the mountain tops which had not been there when we drove up on Christmas Day. We think that these are the San Bernardino Mountains.Sandy took these pictures through the windshield while Jim was negotiating the furious pace of California freeways.Palm Springs windmills produce 600 million kilowatt hours annually. They provide enough energy to power the entire Coachella Valley.We stayed at a beautiful Boutique Spa Hotel in Palm Springs, La Serena Villas, which Peggy and Tina had found.Each individual unit had a front porch and a back patio which had an outdoor tub with fire pit and seating area.Lounging beds around the poolHotel pool at night.Our former Beacon Hill neighbor Peggy arrived safely from Florida.Palm Spring’s Hollywood walk of Fame street.Here is our friend Tina posing with the statue of Sonny Bono, 16th mayor of Palm Springs from 1988-1992. He then served as the US representative from California from 1995 until he died in 1998 from a skiing accident near Lake Tahoe. His wife Mary was elected to Congress to replace him.This 26 foot tall, 34,300 pound statue of Marilyn bares her backside to visitors as they exit the San Diego Art Museum.Forever Marilyn was designed by Seward Johnson and represents the image of Monroe taken from Billy Wilder’s 1955 film The Seven Year Itch. Initially unveiled in Chicago in 2011 it has been displayed in a variety of locations in the USA and Australia.It has faced criticism and controversy. Some argue that the artwork objectifies and sexualizes Monroe, focusing on her physical appearance rather than celebrating her talent and achievements.The downtown Palm Springs benches are being transformed into works of Art by various artists on North Palm Canyon Drive. There are 50 of them.We drove to Joshua Tree National Park with Tina and Peggy as Debbie was spending alone time with her brother Dick.With nearly 800,000 acres of mystical beauty this is undoubtedly one of the world’s most incredible natural desert treasures.There are countless trails suitable for all levels of hiking.It was a cold blustery day when we went so we opted to drive through with a few exceptions to get out of the car briefly for photo ops. Hard to believe that it was too cold for us to even take a short hike.The granite monoliths and voluptuous rock and boulder formations are amazing to see.Looks like a dangerous place to stand for a photo.The San Bernardino mountains have 4,000 separate windmills.We enjoyed a lovely dinner at Farm Restaurant in downtown Palm Springs. Both the food and service were outstanding. It’s interesting how many Palm Springs restaurants are open air even though the night air is quite chilly. We had four gas heat lamps warming us.We took a tour of past and current celebrity homes in the Mesa neighborhood of Palm Springs.This home of fashion designer Tina Turk is called “Ship of the Desert”.We took photos but could not remember for sure so this is possibly Sonny Bono’s home with wife Mary. Cher wrote her eulogy for Sonny while staying at one of the guest houses here.Possibly Robert Wagner and Natalie Woods home. Do not know whose home this was but we liked the flowered arch over the front door.Home of famous celebrity Dick Maniace known for stalking.Sunset seen in front of Dick’s house.Stopped in to see our friend Tom O’Toole. We met Tom through our friend Walter while we were living in Mexico City. He was on vacation there at the same time. After hearing our story he decided to follow our lead and sold his home in Boston and became a nomad until buying this home in Cathedral City quite recently..On our ride home from Palm Springs we took a scenic drive over the mountains which Jim enjoyed much better than the frenetic freeways.
Our weekend in Palm Springs definitely did not go perfectly, but in spite of all the weather related glitches almost everyone arrived on Saturday as planned and we all enjoyed exploring Palm Springs and just being together and enjoying each others company, but missed our dear friend and former Beacon hill neighbor Margaret who got snowed in; in the Berkshires. Next reunion we will take the weather into account.
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