Escape to the Desert.

As I mentioned before, after the performance I had to go on a little adventure. So I asked two of the most adventuresome ladies (Beverly Norriss, a colleague and board member and Karen Foster, mum of Chelsy) I could think of if they wanted to do a quick jaunt to... Palm Springs.

I have lived in San Diego most of my life and never made it out to Palm Springs until last year. We went on a spur of the moment pilgramige (day trip) to see the grave of Frank Sinatra. While we were there I saw that they do a program every year, the Palm Springs Follies.

www.psfollies.com



Known around the world because the chorus girls are all between the ages of 57 and 83. So of course, I HAD to go back and see it. Bev and karen were up for it so they could see what they had to look forward to in the coming years.

So I booked a suite at the Hyatt (decent rate and sofa city for me) and off we went.

After a morning of IHOP and fruitstands, we arrived at the promised land. After I convinced Beverly that I would not enjoy the panoramic revolving aeriel tramway, due to my claustrophobia, fear of heights and tendancy towards motion sickness, we settled in.

Afternoon walkies. Found a nice place called AZUL where we ate on a large table swing sort of thing and then off to the Follies.

Every year they do a new show. This year's was appropriately called...



Made for us. We were thera a bit early so we went to the Italian Restaurant next door, Enzo's. The very nice bartender, Christian, made Karen her favorite blue frothy drink consisting of Blue Cuarcao, Cointreau and pinapple juice.

The Follies was a fabulando concoction of high brow low brow entertainment. During the actual "follies" section the women came out in AMAZING one of a kind feather, bead, sequin rhinestone creations. They then each gave us their stories from youngest to oldest. I teared up.

Afterwards, we went back to Enzo's where the were nice enough to keep the kitchen open for us (even though they were really closed.

I went back to the hotel and Bev and Karen had a few more adventures without me. Call me crazy, but I actually enjoy sleeping alone on a hotel sofa.

Next morning, I hit the pool before the deluge of parents and children. I didn't know it but we went smack dab in between the Dinah Shore Invitational Golf Tournament (which has turned into a huge lesbian gathering) and the White Party (which is a huge gay party weekend). We almost stayed at the Wyndham, because it had the biggest pool, but chose the Hyatt because of its central location. Turns out the Wyndham is the nerve center of the White Party, because it has the biggest pool.

But as it was Thursday, we were there for the closing of the main drag for the downtown street fair. Karen purchased a Frank Sinatra tile and a dragon made from wire. Beverly got a sunshade cover for a deck chair and I bought two pieces of art from a LA artist (more info to come)

In between, we ate on the treeace of a wonderful bistro named Matchbox...

www.matchboxpalmsprings.com

which had the BEST pepperoni pizza I have had in a long time and then back to Enzo's to say adios to our friendly wait staff.

Sleepy sleepy.

We woke up the next day and said adios to our desert oasis and drove back to the cool ocean breezes of San Diego. Oh and Karen had her first bagel ever on the way back. Of course, being an Austrailian, she had it with vegimite instead of cream cheese, so I don't know if that really counts.

Tomorrow, I'll talk about our last performance and photgraphs taken there.