PALM SPRINGS #2

Resort Life - Day & Night

Things have changed in the Palm Springs area in so many ways over the years. There used to be no high rise resorts, now there are several. Marriott's Esmeralda Resort looks like it would be right at home in Hawaii.

Same place but different in the evening. If the resort looks empty, it's because it was. In the lull between the Christmas holidays and the first big sporting event, most properties experience less than 30% occupancy. As we were leaving it was obvious that things were already ramping up. Once called the Bob Hope Classic, golfers and spectators were now arriving for the Humana Challenge.

To stand out now, some older properties feel that they have to be really noticed. I love it how this palm tree still upstages the building.

Add a little light at night and you've added even more magic to the desert.

This stylish structure is a clubhouse and restaurant for a 36 hole golf course.
Most everything of recent construction vintage was sleek and stylish, very little retro.

Though there were guests at our resort, cold nights kept many indoors. Usually temperate, even in January, we experienced cooler daytime highs than usual with the thermometer never getting higher than the mid 50s. As the sun fell on those extra cool nights, a highly mobile army of hotel groundskeepers rolled out to place shrouding on all the seasonal flowers.

Even the bar crowd was sparse.