I had only been in LA twice for a short period of time. The last time I was there before this trip, spent only a couple of days. So when my husband Steven asked to me join him a trip to California for business and a tennis tournament for a week - I said yes!
We stayed in Beverly Hills LA. It is an undeniable beautiful place. I love the Spanish style homes and what I love most is that each homes has beautiful landscape with mostly roses grown on the front garden. Not only in front of private homes - you can find roses growing on the side of a street where hundred people walk by. What I do not like about LA is the traffic. It seems to be a problem here because during rush hours traffic is really bad.
I also took the opportunity to see a good friend of mine who lives and works in Beverly Hills. She took a day off and took me lunch in Malibu Beach and went to Huntington Beach after. It was so much fun to see her because we have so many friends that are now living in the US and Australia. So our conversation always about these people, how they are doing, and good old memories when we used to live in our country, Indonesia, etc.
From LA, we drove to Palm Springs. Our hotel was in the middle of a desert. I was immediately disappointed because it was ugly with grey and dry desert of sands as far as eyes could see. The hotel itself "The Agua Caliente Spa and Casino Resort" was nice. It is a resort with a spa and a casino. I wanted to see the pretty homes, town and landscape just like people told me, but where is it? One day, Steven and I drove around Palm Springs and found the strip where stores and restaurants are located in one boulevard. It was fun. Then we found an area called Las Palmas where the stars used to live back in 1970s I think. They are, Marilyn Monroe, Dean Martin, Liberace, Ronald Reagan, Dinah Shore, and many more. All of the stars that used to live here are deceased now even their children has grown old like Michael Douglas. This area is very pretty although the homes are small with a very low roof. I guess that is the style at the time. It is so different than a star's home these days. But it was very interesting to see. You can not see the house but only the gate because the plants grows very tall and the high wall between the beautiful entrance door. With the mountain in the background, no wonder that this area was popular back in the days. And I am sure still is.
Unlike Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage is a new town. And the homes located surround the little town are beautiful, big, gated and new. You can see that this town built exclusively for rich people. Because all building looks new and some constructions are still going on. There are a lot of high end restaurants, shops, high end car dealers and hospitals. A sign that this town would be a popular destination in the future. We drove up in the mountain and saw some beautiful homes overlooking the sprawling hills of desert mountain. I can only imagined how it is being in the inside with swimming pool over looking the hills. But most of the homes are gated community which we can not go and see the inside.
The climate was very hot the three days when we were there. It was 96 deg and someone told us the climate could reach up to 120 deg. I must be honest that I am not fond about a desert. May be because I am used to a dry land with a hot climate for being born and raised in a tropical country. All and all it was a fun and interesting trip.
The Ocean.
This is Malibu Beach. My friend Tineke took me here to have lunch. You probably know already that there are many restaurants along this beach situated overlooking this beautiful beach/ocean.
Farmers Market, LA (here)
If you happened to be in LA, please do stop by at the Farmers Market. It is so much fun. This place is a traditional market with food, fruit and many other vendors inside and under one roof top. There is a Singaporean and Indonesian food vendor which a must for me to stop by as I was craving for Indonesian food. There are stores specifically sells tea, hot sauce, candy, chocolates, etc. What a fun market this is.
Adjacent to this is market you can walk through a promenade into a row of modern fashion stores like Banana Republic, Top Shop, Zara, etc. And there is a beautiful fountain in the middle. It was a beautiful day that day since it has been a cold day when we arrived. So while my husband Steven went check out the stores I saw a small grass field right in the center where people were laying down. There is a booth where you could get a free blanket to lay on. So I helped myself and laying down for a while. It was nice. I then stole some portrait of the people sitting around me.
Palm Springs, California. (here)
Where the "stars" used to live.
Flowers around Palm Springs desert.
Some of these flowers are grown by man and growing wild on the desert.
Rancho Mirage.
Mission Hills Country Club is one of the most prestigious country club in Palm Springs. This is where the most important golf tournaments and tennis tournaments take place. And this is where Steven battled the tennis game under the grueling 96 deg sun of Palm Springs.
The Ritz Carlton Palm Springs
Thank you so much for reading!
