Peachhead™ Approved Vacations: Palm Springs/Rancho Mirage Rancho Las Palmas August 2008

I visit Palm Springs frequently, but I usually stay with family. This time, however, I stayed at a resort. I arrived at Rancho Las Palmas (www.rancholaspalmas.com) first thing in the morning and went directly to the fitness room. It is a nice sized room and all of the cardio machines have individual tvs. My kids couldn't wait to get to the pool. The hotel has an adult only tranquility pool and then there is also a family pool. The family pool is a nice sized pool that the kids have fun playing in and then another area adjacent to the pool has a lazy river and 2 slides. You must be 48 inches tall to use the slides and if you are under 48 inches you need to have a parent accompany you on the lazy river. The hotel provides the inner tubes for the lazy river. There is also a water play zone area with fountains and sprinklers to play with. They even have a little beach area. There is also Kidtopia (the kids camp) if you want to take some time for yourself. If you are traveling without kids (or you put them in Kidtopia camp) there is an adults only tranquility pool and another pool in the spa area for quiet relaxation.

The rooms are great. They are all 2 story bungalows. Once you find out where your room is you can park your car right next to your room which is very convenient when you have kids. My room was not ready yet so I had them take my luggage and deliver it to the room when it was ready. They even brought my room keys to the towel bar at the pool so I would not have to walk back to the lobby to retrieve them. We had a room that had a pool view which was great because it was right near the pool so we had easy access from the room to the pool. The rooms are a very nice size with a great flat screen tv, free internet service, and a nice patio to hang out on. 

We had dinner at the Resort's BluEmber restaurant. Everything was fantastic. The crab cake was light and fluffy. The Caesar salad and Bibb salad were very tasty and refreshing. Since my family are all meat eaters we were able to taste all of the different steaks and every steak was fantastic. The New York, Ribeye, and filet were all incredible and the scalloped potatoes were so tasty. The desserts were a hard choice but the winner was the buttermilk chocolate cake. They also have a variety of cupcakes to choose from. The service was great and the ambiance was upscale, yet comfortable. They put us in the section with other families, but if you don't bring the kids, I am sure they will seat you in the more "romantic" area. They have a kids' menu with everything from New York Steak to Pasta, and if you eat there between 5 and 7:00 PM, kids eat free with each paying adult.

If you decide to venture off the property, there are many places to visit. I went with my family to Agua Caliente for their Sunday brunch. Talk about a deal. Breakfast is only $7.95 and kids are 1/2 price. Breakfast ends at 10:30. We got there at 10:15 and because we were still there when they started serving lunch at 11:00 we were able to enjoy the lunch as well. Started the morning with omelettes and waffle bar and ended it with prime rib, turkey, leg of lamb, crab legs, shrimp and, most important, chocolate-covered strawberries. Hence why I needed to go to the fitness room first thing in the morning.

The hotel is across the street from The River which has shops, restaurants, and a movie theatre. You can stay at the hotel the entire stay or venture out and explore.
Rancho Las Palmas www.rancholaspalmas.com

Other fun places to take your kids include:

The Living Desert www.livingdesert.org
Children's Discovery Museum of the Desert http://www.cdmod.org/about/visitor.php
Palm Springs Aerial Tramway http://www.pstramway.com/
Boomers http://www.boomersparks.com/park/palmsprings/index.html
Palm Springs Village Fest http://www.palmspringsvillagefest.com/
Knott's Soak City www.soakcityusa.com
The River http://www.theriveratranchomirage.com/
El Paseo http://www.elpaseo.com/

- Linda Perry 
Peachhead2@aol.com
peachheadfamiles.com
August 2008