than Elvis in my book. Palm Springs may have swank, low-lit supper clubs, but in the high desert, casual dinner parties are part of the community spirit—social without the snobbery. Wine flows, and the talk turns to Save Our Desert, a grassroots organization trying to keep turbines—the justoff-the-highway windmills outside Palm Springs—off the buttes of Pipes Canyon. “This can’t happen,” Goff says. “Not in my backyard.” To the high-desert dwellers, Palm Springs is the big city. Dinner is simple yet delicious here, considerably tastier than it is in fussier Palm Springs restaurants, if characteristically odd: the only Indian food in Joshua Tree is at Sam’s Pizza; beefy chili and barbecue that rivals the best in Texas can be found at Pappy & Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace, in Pioneertown; and I quickly become addicted to the fresh, chewy granola bars and Rock Climbers Revenge banana-date-cashew smoothies at the Natural Sisters Café. Go ahead, snicker at that name—I did—but it’s emblematic of the unrepentantly unpretentious high-desert ethos. I was also amused by the New Age–sounding Sacred Sands, the two-suite inn that Steve Pratt and Scott Cutler built from straw bales and rusted corrugated metal. Rough on the outside, the two rooms are cool and sexy, with dark, sparkly walls, beds with ironed linens, and light fixtures made from scrap metal, Moroccan lanterns and a burled wood lamp. “This is a place to disconnect from the static and connect to nature and to ourselves,” Pratt says. Which is exactly what I do after arriving from a day of Palm Springs celebrity-house sightseeing on the Modern Tour. Walking through glass French doors in my room, I find a hot tub, an outdoor bed and a refrigerator stocked with fresh lemonade. After trying them all, I drift off into a sunset siesta as the solid steel fence around the guest suites clangs in the wind. This is the essence of the high desert, the “aah” moment that leads to the “aha” epiphany. Here, there is a frequency—a low internal hum—that is not as easily received as the more high-pitched buzz of Palm Springs. That high-desert vibration fills my head on a trip to Pioneertown as I walk along Mane Street (the pun is intentional). At the end of the road, a witty stop sign perfectly captures the welcoming spirit and cosmic directive of both deserts, high and low. It reads simply: it’s your decision. I stay another night, to watch the stars and enjoy the silence. If I want excitement, after all, there’s always Palm Springs. ✚
guide to palm spRings sTay gReat value ace hotel
& swim club 701 e. palm canyon dr., palm springs; 1-760/325-9900; acehotel.com; doubles from us$120. acido dorado joshua tree; info@prettyvacant properties.com; rates available upon request. gReat value alcazar
palm springs 622 indian canyon dr., palm springs; 1-760/318-9850; alcazarpalmsprings.com; doubles from us$179. gReat value colony
palms hotel 572 n. indian canyon dr., palm springs; 1-760/969-1801; colonypalmshotel.com; doubles from us$179.
thehorizonhotel.com; doubles from us$169.
3600; lunch for
gReat value hotel
pappy & harriet’s
lautner 67710 san antonio st., desert hot springs; 1-760/8325288; hotellautner.com; doubles from us$250.
53688 pioneertown rd.;
Riviera palm springs 1600 n. indian canyon dr., palm springs; 1-760/ 327-8311; psriviera.com; doubles from us$259.
springs; 1-760/969-1801;
sacred sands 63155 Quail springs rd., joshua tree national park; 1-760/424-6407; sacredsands.com; doubles from us$299.
1-760/366-9511;
gReat value horizon
eaT and drink birba 622 n. palm canyon dr., palm springs; 1-760/327-5678; dinner for two us$60.
hotel 1050 e. palm canyon dr., palm springs; 1-760/323-1858;
natural sisters café 61695 29 palms hwy., joshua tree; 1-760/366-
joshua tree
two us$20.
1-760/365-5956; dinner
247
pioneertown
los angeles
for two us$45.
10
palm springs desert hot springs twentynine palms
purple palm 572 n. indian canyon dr., palm dinner for two us$100.
sacramento califoRnia
15
sam’s pizza & indian food 61380 29 palms hwy., joshua tree;
Pacific Ocean 0
dinner for two us$46. do christopher anthony
62
48 km
themoderntour.com;
sHoP
from us$150 per person.
Route 62 vintage
800 n. palm canyon dr.,
noah purifoy outdoor
palm springs; 1-760/322-
desert art museum of
market place 55635 29 palms hwy.
0600; christopher
assemblage sculpture
shag: the store 725 n.
anthonyltd.com.
joshua tree; 1-213/
palm canyon dr., palm
destination pipes
382-7516.
springs; 1-760/322-3400.
canyon destinationpipes
stephen archdeacon
stewart galleries 191
gallery 865 n. palm
s. indian canyon dr.,
the modern tour
canyon dr., palm
palm springs; 1-760/ 325-
1-760/904-0904;
springs; 1-760/673-7520.
0878.
canyon.com.
travelandleisureasia.com | january 2012 95