california – Page 3 – My Friend Staci

The Madonna Inn

madonna inn 3

Madonna Inn

Our friends got married at the Madonna, in San Luis Obispo, a month ago. Wow, The Madonna Inn is a hard place to photograph. I think it lends to its specialness… The whole inn is so sprawling, twisting, multi-tiered, that it’s impossible to get a photo of the whole thing at once, unless taken from the air!

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Madonna Inn

We left work on Friday at noon and made our way up to San Luis Obispo. There was a bit of traffic in Santa Barbara (which I hear is normal) but overall we made good time, especially considering the first night of a three-day weekend. We checked in while it was still light out and met up with a few friends in town for dinner and then made our way back to the hotel. One of the most fun and inspiring parts of the wedding weekend was the Friday night tour of rooms! Viewing the rooms on the Madonna Inn website is fun, but being inside them is so much different and awesome.

Madonna Inn

I am so glad that we were part of a large event because we got to see inside probably 10 or more rooms! Above, one of my favorites, the beautifully kitschy “Oriental Fantasy.” Many rooms had rough, dark rock walls and some even had rock showers! Below, the blue room is the famous circular “Voux” room.

Madonna Inn

We chose, in my opinion, the most striking (out of the cheap rooms), the Chestnut Foal. The paint was certainly green, the wallpaper- funny, and the light fixture was a show stopper! Oh yeah, and the bed was very comfy. An important factor in hotel choice, but here it pretty much becomes “a plus.”

Madonna Inn

Overall, the Inn seemed like a strange alternative universe. Sort of like a grown-up Disneyland. The exterior and interior were adorned with gingerbread trim and carved wood– details upon details! I didn’t have a chance to visit the pool or spa, but the breakfast cafe was underwhelming (yet packed full of guests). It’s worth noting that the wedding dinner was very delicious, much better than the on-site breakfast. It seems like the hotel is straddling the line between tourist-chic, luxury-aspirational, and nostalgic kitsch. It’s truly a one of a kind place, absolutely worth visiting.

I am so happy and grateful that our friends decided to have their special day at such a fun and unique place. There are so many cool places in California, let alone the whole US, that sometimes it takes a special event to bring you somewhere you otherwise wouldn’t know about. I would never have visited The Madonna otherwise, and now I am so glad I had the chance to do so!

Madonna Inn

Need a recommendation for where to stay? Check out my Your Turn section.

Palm Springs Part Two: Things to Do

We got up bright and early for brunch at King’s Highway, the restaurant at Ace Hotel & Swim Club. A little research revealed that before it was remodled, it was a Denny’s! I seriously loved the interior at King’s Highway. The mid-century fab stone on the wall? Yes please! It’s a dream of mine to own a home with that kind of crazy retro stone on the exterior or interior someday. My favorite thing was looking at the marks on the ground where I could picture the outline of the old Denny’s booths and fixtures.

The food was great! Our host was a little pretentious, and the prices a little steep, especially for the coffee ($3 for a non-refillable iced coffee?) but the pancakes and french toast really hit the spot. The food tilted the scale from “eye-roll” to “awesome.” To be honest… we should have eaten all of our meals here!

After our bellies were full, I did my duty as a design blogger and snooped around the Ace. Unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to look in a room… they look incredible on the website… but we peeked over the gate into the pool area and walked around the grounds. Definitely a different vibe from our colorful hotel, but everything seemed very cool and went nicely with the desert landscape. I really wanted to hang out at the Saguaro pool the first day and at the Ace pool the second day, but the day-pass was $20! Yikes!

The Ace, Palm Springs

We rode our bikes back to the Saguaro and drove downtown and walked around–just a little bit. The midday sun was roasting! So we grabbed some food at the grocery store and hung out at the pool for the rest of the day. All day! It was so sublime!

Later we got dolled up and went out for dinner–it was our anniversary celebration after all! We went downtown and found a really yummy place, Matchbox Pizza. We had a half Prosciutto and Fig and half “Q Special,” which featured chicken, portabello mushrooms and red peppers. A finer pizza was never had! However, we still had room for more so we followed it up with a little Ben & Jerry’s as we walked around downtown at dusk (it had cooled off some).

Palm Springs

For our last day, we checked out of the hotel and headed to the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. I had no idea what to expect but wow!! Heading from the desert floor to 8,000 feet of altitude was very, very cool! Of course, I was petrified on the tram the whole way up and down. I shudder to remember it! I’m not afraid of heights per se… tall buildings and such don’t bother me, but suspended on a cable? That’s another thing.

Here’s the tram. Can you see Palm Springs in the distance?

As some of you know, we try to fit it into the budget to take an anniversary trip every year. Travel is such a passion of ours and we make it a priority! For our first anniversary we visited St Louis (little trip), last year the whole family took a trip to Europe (big trip), and this year Palm Springs was our low-key destination. We were lucky enough to visit Kansas in May and this short but very sweet trip was the perfect getaway to feel refreshed and rejuvenated from work. Now, I guess we’ll stay put for a little while!

In case you missed it, Monday I shared some photos of our hotel The Saguaro.

Palm Springs (!!!) Part One: The Saguaro

Check one more place off of my dream destination list: Palm Springs.

Once known as the playground of movie stars, then later for being a place where old people went to Never Be Cold Again, the desert oasis has now become a cliché travel destination for hipsters and/or bloggers (such as myself, I suppose).

After a long day of work, we hopped in the car and headed out. Dropped off the pupster with my parents and were pleasantly surprised at how close PS is to my parents home in Temecula (just a couple of hours). We arrived somewhere around 7:00 and the evening was still young! We checked in to our hotel: The Saguaro.

The Saguaro is best known for it’s BRIGHT colors! The rainbow of spectrum filled me with endless energy. I definitely feed off of bright and vibrant colors and just being in our hot pink and tangerine room made me happy and bouncy. Don’t fear, dudes: not every room is as filled with hot pink as this one was.

The Saguaro Palm Springs

In the desert, the summer is the slow season, so the hotel was pretty empty. Therefore, we got upgraded not only to a 1st floor room, but to a walk-out! That is, we could step out the sliding glass door from our room right to the lawn and pool area. Swanky! We were close enough to the pool for it to be super convenient, but directly outside our door was a bocce court, which was much quieter.

The Saguaro Palm Springs

The mountains rising behind the roof of the hotel seemed unreal. Like a hollywood backdrop, or like I could reach out and touch them. During the day, they were stark and imposing, and as dusk fell, they faded away, as if they weren’t there at all.

Included with the room was use of their cute baby blue bikes! If it had been a different time of year, I would have rode that bike all over Palm Springs. However, we took the bikes .8 miles to breakfast and it was already TOO HOT for that kind of activity. We rode back after our meal and never touched them again! Perhaps if I come back in the springtime….

The Saguaro Palm Springs

Here are a few gratuitous shots of the lobby. If I hadn’t already been smitten with the hotel the moment I clicked “book,” well the lobby would have sealed the deal. A ping pong table right inside the front door? How fun!

The Saguaro Palm Springs

When planning this trip I really wanted to stay at The Ace Hotel, because that’s where all the “cool kids” seem to hang out, if you take a straw poll among famous bloggers. The Ace’s decor and vibe are totally different. Due to budget, we went with this hotel as our #2 choice. Well, we did spend a little bit of time over at The Ace snooping around. We had breakfast and wandered a bit (I’ll share photos Wednesday). Of course I would love a chance to stay at The Ace in the future, especially to make a well informed comparison. However, now that all is said and done, I am TOTALLY happy we stayed at the Saguaro! The grounds and amenities were so, so, so nice and the staff was really awesome. The bright rainbow of colors was totally my jam and the upbeat vibe was so great to be surrounded with during our little mid-week getaway. I would be very happy to return to The Saguaro again any time!

Need a recommendation for where to stay? Check out my Your Turn section.

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