Joshua Tree National Park

Indian Wells, CA

BNP Paribas Living Wall

I am a huge tennis fan, a Roger Federer groupie to be more exact. One of my all-time favorite vacations has been to Indian Wells, California to watch the BNP Paribas Open each March. I have had the opportunity to attend this professional tennis tournament several times and would go again tomorrow if given the chance!

What makes this tennis tournament so special? How long do you have?

Roger Federer – greatest of all time

The location is spectacular! Indian Wells is located in Southern California in the gorgeous Coachella Valley. You can fly into Palm Springs or Orange County and easily drive to beautiful Indian Wells. This is the perfect setting for tennis in early spring and includes snowcapped mountains, blue skies, palm trees, citrus trees, colorful bogainvilleas, and dessert breezes.

on the grounds at the Renaissance

The hotels and resorts located around the Indian Wells Tennis Garden are all top-notch. We have had the opportunity to stay at the Renaissance and the La Quinta resorts and both were enjoyable in their own way. The Renaissance is a favorite of the tennis pros and coaches and you get to “rub elbows” with some of the world’s top players on a daily basis. A beautiful pool, fantastic breakfast buffet, firepits, ping pong tables, and great restaurants make this a great choice. The elegant La Quinta is more spread out and provides you with a private “casita” and beautiful desert-landscaped grounds. Each set of 8 casitas surrounds their own private pool. There are several restaurants, bars, and grills on the property as well as nightly music in the common area. The spa and tennis center are both very upscale and everything here is near perfection.

fire pit at the Renaissance

view from our room at the Renaissance

Transportation to and from the tennis matches is a breeze. This tournament has been going on since 2000 and travel options around the event are well-orchestrated. The local resorts offer bus service every 20-30 minutes. When staying at the Renaissance, we walked right out of the hotel lobby and caught a bus that dropped us at the gate. We purchased a parking pass when staying at the La Quinta and drove our own rental car and parked in VIP parking each day. We pulled into the designated lot and our car was valet parked for us – very nice! We left the grounds one day just to go have lunch in the town of La Quinta and enjoyed the freedom that a car provided us.

behind our casita at La Quinta

La Quinta Tennis Center

The Indian Wells Tennis Garden is one of the best on tour. The 29 courts, the 16,000 seat main stadium, the grounds, the shops and restaurants, and the activities make this my “hands-down favorite” tennis venue. Try out tennis racquets, watch some pros warm up on the practice courts, buy some new tennis clothes, get some great vendor “freebies,” take photos in a special photo booth, register to win prizes, or sip champagne under the palm trees. When you tire from all those activities, pull up a chair and watch matches on the big outdoor screen or grab a bite to eat from one of the various eateries and sit at a picnic table and enjoy people-watching. You may also see James Blake signing autographs, the Bryan brothers on stage with their band, Rod Laver walking around, or Chrissie Evert having a question-and-answer session with the crowd. The grounds are alive and happening!

night tennis

maybe I can hit the ball with this!

practice courts

Chris Evert

Now for the best part – the tennis! I have had the opportunity to see my favorite players play (and win!) only a short distance from me. Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovich, and Juan Martin Del Potro, etc. all speak about how much they enjoy this tournament every year and it is easy to see why. The stadiums give you the feeling of being “up close and personal” with the top players in the world. After having attended Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, I can honestly say this is by far my favorite tennis venue.

Roger Federer

Juan Martin Del Potro

enjoying a match

Rafa Nadal

There are also many interesting and fun things to see and to do while in the Indian Wells and Palm Springs area, so be certain to add a few days to the beginning or end of your tennis time here. Check out all the little restaurants and shops in Old Town La Quinta. Ride the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway for great views of the Coachella Valley. Explore Joshua Tree National Park for great hiking and rockclimbing opportunities. Drive into downtown Palm Springs for a great meal, a museum visit, and see the Walk of Stars. Drive a few miles to The Cafe at Shields Date Garden for a great meal on the patio, see the “date sex” movie, and have a delicious date shake. Take a day and drive over the mountains to Temecula and enjoy exploring and winetasting at some of the finest Southern California wineries. Take a guided jeep or ATV tour and visit a desert oasis. Many possibilities await you!

enjoying chardonnay in Temecula

bacon-wrapped stuffed dates at Shields Date Garden

view of Palm Springs from the San Jacinto Mountains

cozying up to Sonny Bono in downtown Palm Springs

the Palm Springs Aerial Tram

a joshua treet in Joshua Tree National Park

For all of you tennis fans, I hope that you get the opportunity to visit Indian Wells for the BNP Paribas Open at least once. We have had four great experiences and loved each and every visit (we book through Steve Furgal’s Tennis Tours and let them handle the hotels, additional days, and tennis tickets).

If you are interested and or would like more information, I will be glad to give you my two cent’s worth.

Go Roger!!

sunset at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden

near Palm Springs, California

Smile!

an old Joshua tree

As a Mississippi girl, I can readily identify kudzu, cotton, soy beans, and peanut plants – a Joshua tree…..not so much! I had seen one pictured on U2’s 1987 Album of the Year (Joshua Tree) but that was all the knowledge I had on the subject. The “twisty” trees look like something out of a Salvador Dali painting or a Dr. Seuss interpretation of a tree. When we visited Palm Springs for a tennis tournament, I could not resist the opportunity to visit Joshua Tree National Park and see these odd trees first hand.

entering the park

Joshua trees in the park

We booked a concierge tour of the park and were promptly picked up at our hotel in Indian Wells. The tour guide was named Dave, a retired American Airlines pilot from Dallas. Already we had something in common! The large white Suburban was comfortable and the ride in to the park was very enjoyable. Dave told us a lot about the history, the ecology and geology, and about the wildlife in the area. He questioned us on what we were interested in and customized our trip accordingly. The entire tour was most enjoyable and I could not think of a better way to learn about Joshua Tree National Park.

Rockclimbers

Hanging Rock

David climbs the boulders

The desert landscape in the park is dotted with huge granite boulders, Joshua trees, and other heat tolerant plants. There are many hiking trails inside the park and several areas popular with rock climbers. We got out and scrambled around on a few of the granite croppings and believe me, they are much bigger than they looked from afar!

a young Joshua tree

a rare white bloom

After a couple of climbing and exploring stops, Dave took us to a popular trail head for hiking. This was the Barker Dam Trail and there were several vehicles in the parking area when we arrived. Armed with plenty of water, sunscreen, hats, and closed-toe shoes – we were off on 1.5 mile desert hike. This was a great adventure! We experienced the desert heat first hand. We saw a bit of this area’s history and the old dam that provided livestock and settlers with much needed water. We walked through desert plants, cacti, yucca and brush while seeing scurrying lizards and other small sunbathing reptiles. We walked in the shade of more huge granite boulders and noticed holes, caves, and Indian petroglyphs. I loved every minute of this hike!

petrogylphs

cactus

black lizard

small desert flower

When we arrived back at the trail head, Dave had a well-stocked vehicle and offered us several snacks and drinks. After a quick break, we were off again and headed to a high overlook in the park that looked down into the valley around Indio and Palm Springs. On this clear sunny day, we had fantastic views of the towns below. There were several more trails in this area that led down to lower terrain. indain-wells-2012-020

We had a wonderful experience the day we explored Joshua Tree National Park and I will never forget all the sights of the Mojave Desert. If you are ever in the Los Angeles or Palm Springs area, take time to go see this wonderful desert park. It is a very unusual, almost prehistoric, setting. Words and photos do not give you the true scope of this beautiful landscape. Go experience it first hand.

Many scientists think that Joshua trees will be reduced by 90% at the end of the 21st century due to environmental and ecological changes. What a shame. I hope you get to see these unusual trees in their natural habitat before they are gone.

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Tag Archive | Joshua Tree National Park

BNP Paribas Open

Indian Wells, CA

What makes this tennis tournament so special? How long do you have?

If you are interested and or would like more information, I will be glad to give you my two cent’s worth.

Go Roger!!

near Palm Springs, California

Many scientists think that Joshua trees will be reduced by 90% at the end of the 21st century due to environmental and ecological changes. What a shame. I hope you get to see these unusual trees in their natural habitat before they are gone.

Indian Wells, CA

What makes this tennis tournament so special? How long do you have?

If you are interested and or would like more information, I will be glad to give you my two cent’s worth.

Go Roger!!

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near Palm Springs, California

Many scientists think that Joshua trees will be reduced by 90% at the end of the 21st century due to environmental and ecological changes. What a shame. I hope you get to see these unusual trees in their natural habitat before they are gone.

Share this: