Sunday in Palm Springs!

One of our favorite day escapes is to Palm Springs. Combine it with a friend's birthday and it becomes even more enchanting!

Our first stop tends to be koffi. There are several of these coffee shops in town but only the North koffi, in the Uptown Design District, offers a lush oasis in which to savor one's beverage while in the desert sunshine! From our door to its welcoming store front is only 63 miles. It is so worth the drive.

Our destination was the Riviera and meeting up with Brady and family for her actual birthday. This was our third visit to this iconic hotel. Original architect and visionary, Irwin Schuman, fashioned the resort after major Vegas hotels like The Sands, The Flamingo, and The Stardust. Opening in 1959, this resort immediately became the go-to hot spot for celebrities and sophisticates like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, who would lounge by the pool and in the Presidential Suite.

Elvis Presley was a frequent visitor at here and sought both refuge and rehearsal space in the Mediterranean Room for his band before leaving for tours and shows in Las Vegas. It was the only hotel in the United States, at the time, to be built in a spoke wheel layout, a unique design which would fit into the psychedelic culture of the 60s because of its communal shape. Groovy, indeed.

We began our celebrating at the pool.

A must stop was the home made most famous by one of its guests. The House of Tomorrow is a mid-century modern home by architect William Krisel. It was originally designed as a family home for Robert and Helene Alexander, but became famous after Elvis and Priscilla Presley honeymooned there in 1967. It features four circular pods, a boomerang-shaped roof, and state-of-the-art electronics.

My goal is to one day tour the interior... one day!

After lunch at Elmer's, another MUST, we headed to the Palm Springs Art Museum for their free and quite fabulous FAMILY+. "Presented as part of our Public Programming offerings, every third Sunday of the month artists, creatives, makers, and musicians will produce activities and workshops throughout the museum. Families, friends, and all are welcome."

We were offered numerous opportunities in which to create and all were very unique.

Some of those opportunities were nostalgic! Who didn't make sun prints as kids? By placing objects on special paper and exposing the paper to sunlight, early photographers created blue images, called cyanotypes or sun prints. We were given a table full of things in which to craft our own masterpieces.

With a spirited six year old in tow, the Yoga, Breathing, and Movement was the place for Brady.

Another creativity opportunity involved the moiré effect, an optical illusion that occurs when two repetitive patterns overlap or are misaligned, creating an unwanted (or is it artistic?) visual pattern. It can appear as wavy lines, stripes, or rainbow patterns that aren't part of the original image. We were asked to watch the effect that was on a video screen and create a work of art from it. I couldn't quite grasp it but this artist/quantum physicist could. I loved how organic his piece was. Very cool.

We only did a cursory explore of the exhibits because Steve and I will be back next month with more time to ogle it all. We did hit on some highlights, however.

I wrote of the artist, Viola Frey, in January after seeing a lecture about her. I like her stuff!

It is always an amazing day when one has the chance to gaze at a wall of Henri Matisse. I look forward to being able to appreciate all his works with more time.