On our way there we met two really nice Canadian ladies who kindly showed us the way to the party, and being Dinah old hands gave us a run down of what to expect.
It was a rather pleasant low key affair with a stand up comic doing the rounds breaking the ice, and a DJ playing loungy house music as the back drop. The breaking the ice seemed to go well as it didn't take long for people to start giving random strangers lap dances to the admiring cheers of the onlookers.
We hung out there people watching for a little while and then went back to our over sized king bed (with 9... yes 9 pillows) for a lovely night's sleep.
The next day was one of pure bliss. We hung out by the pool read our books and generally chilled out in glorious style. I had found a really good swimsuit the day before (amusingly enough I went all the way to Palm Springs to buy a New Zealand made bikini!) so felt that apart from my whiteness I at least had appropriate attire!
There was a hugely funny stand up comic show on that night which we got the best seats in the house at, due to being VIPs of course, and that would have started off a great night if the sun and drinking hadn't caught up with me and I had to go to bed with a headache! Amanda, being the sweetheart that she is, stayed in with me and it turned out to be an earlier night than expected.
Friday arrived and with it the need to finalise our White Party outfits. Amanda had noticed an outlet mall on our way into town (her mind is often on shopping) so we jumped into the car a headed up there. This place was HUGE and packed with all sorts of shops and it was cheap. We spent a lot of time and not to much money there, leaving with many outfits including the all important White Party one.
The White Party seems to be a bit of a tradition at the Dinah and as it was at our hotel we certainly got to see it in all of it's glory. After dinner and a wee rest we put on our glad rags and headed down to our pool side cocktail party. The pool had a rather large fire pit that was roaring when we got there, so we grabbed a couple of seats near by, picked up the first of our complementary cocktails and settled in for some serious people watching.
We spent a few very pleasant hours sipping drinks and chatting to a woman from Philly about gender politics, queer culture in the US and all sorts of other things besides. Eventually it got a little bit chilly so we decided to head inside to the dancing. At this stage we realised just how strong those free drinks were and should have started on the water. However we decided to have just one more... this was not the best of ideas. The go-go dancers started to perform and we watched in admiration but it soon became apparent that the best course of action would be to head back upstairs and call it a night. Which is just what we did.
Saturday dawned bright, hot and sunny. Just the type of weather you don't want when you have a hangover. Saturday was a very low key day spent mostly in bed and by the pool. We managed to rouse ourselves as the sun set and had a very lovely and romantic dip in the spa and a swim. This seemed to refresh us enough to head over to the Palm springs convention centre for the Mardi Gras party. After following a few other women, only to find they didn't really know where they were going either, we eventually made it to the party. The venue was huge and decked out to accommodate 4000 odd parting women. There was a karaoke room, a salsa room, a chill out area, a mini casino (with texas hold'em being played... I was to much of a wimp to sit down though) and of course the main room with a stage for the Go-Gos to play, (a band I didn't know much about other than that Belinda Carlise was in it) as well as mini stages for yet more talented go-go girl dancers. We were still feeling pretty mellow so spent a lot of time up in the VIP section (are you noticing a theme?) watching the gyrating dancing below.
It was with sadness in our hearts that we went do to the Gospel Brunch on Sunday morning, our last morning in Palm Springs. Gospel isn't really the thing that jumps to mind when I think about a hotel full of lesbians but the singers were great, as was the food. It was also a fantastic end to our first visit to Dinah Shore and Palm Springs.
There were a few things we didn't make it to this time, but even if we had made it to every party and seen all the golf we wanted I know that we would still be just as keen to come back. Not next year, but hopefully the year after.
Next stop San Francisco, but I'll save that for another post.
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| '08 Trip - Dinah Shore and Palm Springs |
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