24th July 2016 / Vegas to Palm Springs

Warning: long post ahead.

After about three hours sleep Tashy and I awoke knowing we had a long drive (which we’d opted to do so we could experience a bit of a road trip) but feeling a bit worse for wear. We had some regret about not being able to stay longer as we’d finally gotten the hang of the whole Vegas nightlife situation  (also because we really wanted to see Major Lazer at the Night Swim) but knew that we could fully relax in Palm Springs.

We are breakfast at Avenue Cafe as we’d enjoyed the breakfast the day prior and at this point we know that we stick to the places that serve good food as there are some awful food places in America. Afterwards we bid adios to our room and then we went to wait in yet another line for the taxis.

Our taxi driver was really lovely and told us tips and stories about Vegas on the way to the airport. Also we may have forgotten to note that we actually had flights to LA from Vegas but we had decided we’d rather road trip to check out the Mojave Desert and the Joshua National Park. Annoyingly we still had to pick up the car from the airport, ugh.

Luckily it was actually at a different part of the airport and the lines were nowhere as bad as all the lines we’d been in all weekend! We did get one of the most sour faced AVIS representatives though – I think that she had been sucking on some lemons just before she started her shift and we were the unlucky first recipients of her mood.

We picked up our little sedan which was actually really cute and big enough to accommodate all our bags. Which are becoming a situation to be honest – we packed light (for us) but our bags are not light any longer. Whoops.

We got on the road and had to blast air con, which sucks as we both hate it with a passion. But, you guys, it was so freaking hot outside – while we were driving the highest temp on road was 118 Fahrenheit  / 47.7 Celcius. What the actual F.

The thing you need to know about this road trip is we were dehydrated and tired from both drinking and dancing last night and having had only three hours sleep. Going to bed at 4.30am before a 7.30am alarm and long road trip isn’t a great idea. You’ve been warned!

The drive is so intense as it’s incredibly got so at any time we got out to take photos you had to be careful not to touch the car or risk getting third degree burns – spoiler alert, we still got out quite a few times 🙂

After you hit the Mojave desert it gets even more intense – it’s just miles of barren, unforgiving and foreign landscape for our kiwi eyes. However while it’s weird and fascinating it’s also kind of terrifying as you realize how easy it would be to die in these conditions if you got stranded. There were huge stretches where it was just us on the road. It was relentless though and I was getting pretty itchy feet and just wanted it to be over.

After you get through the Mojave Desert you start hitting an area called Wonder Valley. Oh. My. God.

It’s the stuff from horror movies, we honestly didn’t know what we were looking at. Huge expanses of land and then a tiny shack would be plonked down here and there that had Windows smashed or doors hanging off a hinge. It was like an apocalyptic vision of the world after Skynet had blown shit up (Terminator reference for those not in the know).

We were kind of afraid to stop and take a closer look as with some it wasn’t apparent as to whether people might be living there or not – although I honestly don’t know how anyone could. It was so weird and I wasn’t as creeped out as Tashy was but more because I could just see so many picture opportunities.

But we did research it later and it was an interesting read, that’s for sure. I’ve put a few links at the bottom of the post if you wanted to read more about it. Otherwise, here is a good section out of one of the write ups that we found:

• For many people Wonder Valley is the end of the line, the bottom of a vortex where those shaken loose from society roll, spiraling downward. And once you’re there, if you’ve no one to throw you a rope, you may never climb out. The little cabins out there are all former recreational homesteads, land made available in the ’40s and ’50s to anyone who wanted it for the price of the filing fee and the sweat to “prove up” the parcel. By the ’80s, however, the place had slumped into a sort of decentralized ghost suburb.  Slowly, though, squatters pushed to the edge of town after town found the abandoned cabins, welfare offices convinced recipients to relocate there, institutions consolidated mental patients, criminals on the lam and convicts on parole found a place to lay low. Retirees came for the cheap real estate, and artist who, out there, could afford to live on the proceeds of their art. These groups live out there like separate competing species of humanity.

So you get the gist. This place is a little weird. We read a few things such as most places don’t have running water or electricity so people who are squatting there are doing it in the most stark and harsh conditions you can imagine. So eerie. What is even more bizarre is that they have street signs that look fresh and nice but then just dirt roads leading to nowhere or to one house in the far far distance that is half collapsed. I don’t think you can really ever understand how unreal it was till you saw it.

Once we finally got past Wonder Valley, you hit 29 Palms which is also a little creepy but mostly because it’s a populated area but full of people who look like they have lived hard and probably aren’t too gay friendly. Nor coloured friendly. Were we judging it harshly? Didn’t stop to find out!

We continued our drive and at this point we were hellishly over it and paranoid that Palm Springs was going to be like all the weird little towns we’d seen but when we finally started pulling into town we breathed a sigh of relief. It was a sleepy, deserty, resort town version of LA with palm tree lined streets and little local stores.  Everyone looked a little older but much more ‘normal’ than some of what we’d seen on the road.

Also, it looked a look nicer and safer than what we’d seen so we were relieved. We were staying at the Ace Hotel and Swim Club and it was once a 1950s motel that has been done up and hipster-fixed. Very quirky, cool and laid back and everyone who was working there was kind of alternative hipsterish or super chill types.

We’d paid for a higher level room so we had a whole outdoor area with a fire, not that we’d ever be able to use it as the temperature was about 46 degrees when we arrived at 5pm.  The room was really cute, but you can tell it was just a motel once and has had a wash of ‘cool’ over it. Also we think the best way to describe it was akin to extremely fancy glamping – but with a big tv and all the mod cons.

We immediately dropped everything and put on our bikinis and headed to the pool where we found out that it was open from 6am – 2am. Oh. My. God. The day just got really awesome. Like, the best.

We got some loungers (there are loads of them) and we ordered food and frozen Pina Coladas, which were amazing! It is so hot in the desert in July that even late at night it is stiflingly hot but being poolside is just bliss as you just jump in the pool and float around for a while then hop out and within 10 minutes you are dry. Amazing.

We also did a sense check of our environment and came to the conclusion that the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs is where all the hipsters come – maybe even just to get out of LA. Loads of alternative types, tattoos and Instagram photo shoots happening all around us. Also overhead a few conversations about people working on writing some scripts and web series shoots that were being planned – all very LA industry type conversations.

The cool thing was that with the exception of a couple of too cool for school types it was a very chill and cool vibe. Mellow and really relaxed, with a friendly vibe. Also all our servers were really nice and cute. Another thing we noticed was how gay friendly it was – mostly picked up from the many gay boys and one girl who straddled her girlfriend and started making out on a lounger. So that was nice after the aggressively heterosexual frat boy vibe we’d been surrounded by in Vegas.

We just chilled out and it was hands down the best feeling I’d had in ages. I am clearly in my element when I am warm, by a nice pool and can have food and drink brought out to me.  We stayed poolside till about 9.45pm and it was beautiful.

Good things were coming our way at this place, I could feel it in my bones like the warmth wrapping me up like a snuggle blanket.

Couldn’t wait till the next day when we can just lay poolside all day. YAY!.

Ju

Links about Wonder Valley:

Telling True Stories – An Interview

Wonder Valley – Place and Paradox

William Hillyard Article – Wonder Valley

William Hillyard Article 2