On Tuesday we left LA for Palm Springs, or more accurately, Desert Hot Springs, for a one-day stay at the Sea Mountain Inn resort - an adult-only, clothing-optional spa. We were greeted with margaritas at the front desk, shown around the small grounds, and to our room which was only steps from the heated pool. We enjoyed a day of nude sunbathing, hot tubbing, and swimming, and both got massages as well. The weather was just warm enough to be comfortable sans clothing during the day, but quickly turned chilly at sundown; we donned warmer robes, and chatted by the fire with another Bay Area couple. With our continuing computer woes, we couldn't connect to the resort's wireless Internet due to some misconfiguration on their end, but were able to get online at slow speed through my Treo. We also watched most of a laughably bad made-for-tv movie, Nowhere to Land, a pseudo-thriller about a bomb on a 747 that made use of every cliche in Hollywood's arsenal. (The resort had thoughtfully also provided a hardcore porn DVD, which
boyziggy accidentally discovered thinking it was a guide to services, but the subject matter didn't really suit either of our tastes...)The next morning we had a final hour of relaxation in the sun and pool, then headed to nearby Palm Springs to meet my friend Jack and his roommate David. Jack showed us his nice condo and then we enjoyed a delicious lunch at Native Foods. Though I'd been to the LA branch twice on this trip alone, I knew I could eat every day of the year at this restaurant and not get bored; this time I had the Tijuana Tacos, and carrot cake for dessert. Since we'd violated slightly at the resort, with chocolate cake that almost certainly contained eggs and dairy, it was great to remember how good well-prepared vegan food can taste. Jack and David then showed us around Palm Springs briefly, so we could see what to check out on our next visit. The Aerial Tramway definitely will be on our agenda next time, as long as we remember to pack warmer clothes!
We left mid-afternoon hoping to arrive in the quaint town of Julian before sunset, but we'd gotten on the road too late, so just made a brief stop in the desert before going on to San Diego. We checked into the hotel room my grandmother kindly booked for us, just down the street from her place at the Coronado Shores. We were too tired to do much that night other than say hello.
