Locals can always expect The Coachella Valley to be packed with snowbirds and tourists this time of the year, but this weekend promises to be extra-crowded. So, better start planning ways to escape the madness now.
With warmer than normal temps, a holiday weekend, and a shitload of events scheduled in town (or as The Desert Sun calls is it, “a flurry “ of events), hotel rooms are becoming very hard to come by. Aftab Dada, GM of The Hilton Palm Springs and chairman of of P.S. Resorts told The Desert Sun, “This will be the busiest weekend in the history of the city of Palm Springs. Every hotel room in the city is booked and we’re sending visitors to Banning and Beaumont. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Oh, how happy those tourists will be to stay in Banning instead of Palm Springs (assuming they really like all-you-can-eat KFC buffets and monkeys hanging out at pizza joints).
But what about the locals? What are they to do with the out-of-town crowd hogging up the roads, restaurants, and events like Modernism Week, Tour of Palm Springs, and The Date Festival? Here are 5 ways to escape the madness:
See “Jupiter Ascending”
This movie, by all accounts, is terrible. Good news for you as you should find Desert theaters showing it to be pretty empty.
Go For a Hike (Just Not The Bump n Grind)
Most tourists do not like to participate in a bunch of physical activity (can’t really blame them, they are on vacation.) – so the trails around the Coachella Valley should still be pretty sparse. That is except for The Bump n Grind which will be busy, as in “hey girls, let’s go hike the Bump n Grind, get cosmos, and then see Fifty Shades of Grey“.
Eat Dinner After 8pm
Snowbirds do not like to eat dinner late (which for most of them is after 4pm) – so, if you wanna go out and grab a bite, go after 8pm. Just make sure your restaurant of choice does not shut down their kitchen early, as The Coachella Valley as a whole is still learning how to make nightlife happen.
Go to The Salton Sea
The Salton Sea was once a huge tourist attraction, but that was long, long ago. Now, the place is like a “ghost town” which, of course, means not a lot of people around. In addition to The Sea, you can also check out Salvation Mountain, bubbling mud pots, and take plenty of Mad Max themed pictures.
Hunker Down
Make a Trader Joe’s run and buy several boxes of these…
…then just put on Netflix and get fat.
Did I leave anything out? Let me know with a comment below.
