The Great Getaway: Part 4

On the third and final day of the Rose and Peach’s weekend excursion to the Rancho Las Palmas Resort & Spa (www.rancholaspalmas.com/) in Rancho Mirage, Calif., between Palm Desert and Palm Springs, the early-rising Peach once again awoke before the Rose and waited for her trip mate to stir from her deep sleep (courtesy of eye mask and ear plugs).

By mid-morning, the Brit finally had arisen and taken her usual five minutes to prepare for the day and we were ready for our final event of the resort’s first-ever Eat. Drink. Savor. Epicurean Weekend — a 10 a.m. Bloody Mary Brunch at the bluEmber restaurant that included a sampling of 10 unique Bloody Mary concoctions.

Knowing that the non-drinking Peach already had experienced a little too much of the weekend’s imbibing activities, the Rose suggested that we head instead to the property’s Palms Café for some coffee and bagels. So, we walked across the way to the café, ordered our breakfast fare to go and headed to our pond-side patio for our last resort meal of the weekend (with the Rose even managing to feed a portion of her bagel to the Peach’s feathered friends, who had stopped running away from her by this time).

When all of the food was consumed by human and bird alike, we loaded up our bags and went on our way.

Finding ourselves with a good five hours to fill before having to return home, there was only one place to go! We had vowed to head back to conquer the previously unvisited sections of the Desert Hills Premium Outlets (www.premiumoutlets.com/deserthills), as well as the smaller Cabazon Outlets (www.cabazonoutlets.com) next door.

On a sunny and much less windy day, the Rose and Peach perused the outdoor mall, starting off at the Oakley Vault store and ending with a trip to Starbucks and a rest on a bench with a view looking out over the magnificent snow-capped mountains.

The highlight of the day for the Rose was, believe it or not, unrelated to shopping. The Peach once again gave the Rose a couple of new experiences — the Icee and a soft pretzel.

“Such a wonderful food substance … fresh, sweet, warm, soft and with a slightly salty taste,” said the Rose of the prezel (unfortunately not as enamored with her cola-flavored Icee).


“What a wonderful way to finish a perfect weekend away with a true friend,” she added ... with, of course, more purchases being made!