Palm Springs used to be a popular destination for movie stars. Frank Sinatra, Kirk Douglas, Bob Hope, and Elvis to name a few. It is a beautiful oasis in the middle of the desert. The city is full of palm trees, shops, and restaurants. It is a popular tourist destination. We were hoping to ride the Aerial Tramway up Mt. San Jacinto, 8,500 feet. But, unfortunately it was being repaired while we were there. So, instead we headed to the visitors center to get advice on the best things for first timers to do in a two hour time slot. We were told about the Marilyn Monroe and Lucille Ball statues. We were also given tickets for the art museum.
This “Forever Marilyn” sculpture is 26 feet tall. She has only been in Palm Springs since May of 2012. Marilyn was discovered in Palm Springs in 1949, at age 22.
Here is the family sitting by the bronze statue of Lucille Ball. Lucy was a frequent visitor to Palm Springs and often rode in a convertible in the parade. Her and Desi had a house in the area. Summer and I were thinking how much fun it would have been to see Lucy and even visit with her, back in the day. But, at least we can still enjoy her work!
The Palm Springs Art Museum. The free tickets we got from the visitors center saved us over $30.
There were so many great pieces to see, we couldn’t resist taking lots of pictures. Smooth lines, colors,and composition. I always get inspired and want to create something.
We walked several blocks of the downtown area and saw lots of interesting shops. I was disappointed that this one was already closed for the day. Don’t you love that name! And an olive oil and vinegar tasting room ! Yes, Please!!!
As we drove out of Palm Springs, we were surprised the number of windmills we saw. Miles of windmills. It turns out that this area is quite windy and the San Jacinto mountain range creates an effective wind tunnel. During all of our traveling we have seen several large semi trucks hauling just one windmill blade, and they are huge, almost 100ft long! They say that all these windmills can power between 140,000 to 190,000 homes.
I remember how excited we were to visit Palm Springs just before Jeff was born. Those statues weren’t there then, 26 years ago. They had lots of cute shops and good restaurants, but our first sight of Palm Springs was the windmills and we wondered why it was so famous. I guess our expectations were of something totally different.