This post is all about our fourth visit to the art exhibit in the Coachella Valley called, “Desert X.”
If you are new to my blog, you may not know about Desert X. It is an outdoor art exhibit spread throughout the Coachella Valley that takes place every odd year. It was started in 2017, and Cindy and I have been going since 2019. That would make this our fourth visit to this unique art scavenger hunt. This year Desert X started on Saturday, March 8th. We needed to get to our Missouri house by Tuesday March 11th, so we drove to Palm Springs on Friday, March 7th. We stayed at a classic old school motor inn called the Aloha Hotel.
Our room was pretty basic, but very clean.
From our parking lot, we could see some snow on the local mountains.
And our place was within walking distance to several restaurants and part of the downtown area. After we got ourselves settled, we walked to dinner at El Mirasol Cocina Mexicana.
The food was pretty good, but short of being link worthy. On the table, they had the biggest bottle of hot sauce that I have ever seen. And it was delicious and spicy.
The margaritas were pretty good too.
Cindy had the enchiladas, and I had the tamale and chili relleno combo.
After dinner, we walked back to our room and got some shut eye. The next day we hit the ground running. We had a lot of art to see in two days. Our first stop was at a piece called, “The Act of Being Together,” by Jose Davila. It was giant blocks stacked on top of each other. I don’t know if I understood it, but it was still interesting.
Next up was Alison Saar’s, “Soul Service Station.”
It was an uplifting display that we enjoyed. On the walk up to the art, there were inspirational signs.
And here is the service station. The artist had a life-sized self-portrait on the inside. Unfortunately, there was a glare on the glass making some of the pictures less clear than others.
The next two exhibits required a bit of a hike. First, we had to hike about a 1/4 of a mile to “To Breath-Coachella Valley,” by Kimsooja. Unfortunately for us, they were just starting to assemble the piece.
Hopefully it was interesting once they finished it. We had to continue on a slight uphill grade for another mile to reach the next display, “G. H. O. S. T. Ride,” by Cannupa Hanska Luger. G. H. O. S. T. stood for Generative Habitation Operating System Technology. The walk was well worth it. There was a docent there who told us about the artist and piece. The artist was a Native American and he build the piece to camp with his family completely off grid. He was going to move the piece every few weeks and he and his family would live in it a few days at each location.
We hiked the 1 1/4 miles back to our car and headed off to lunch. After lunch, we visited my favorite piece of the day, Sanford Biggers’, “Unsui (Mirrors).” It was basically two large shimmering metallic clouds on poles about 40 feet up in the air. I don’t know why, but I really liked it.
Our last stop before dinner was to see Ronald Rael’s, “Adobe Oasis.”
It was walls made out of a mud and straw mixture that were formed using a pumping type machine much like a cement pumper.
It was fascinating to think some technology like this could be used to make buildings in the near future. We returned to hotel, freshened up, and took an Uber to downtown Palm Springs. We dined at Al Dente, a delicious Italian restaurant.
I can’t remember what we ate, or took any pictures of it, but I do remember it was delicious. After dinner, we walked the approximate two miles back to our room. On our walk, we passed an art piece from Desert X 2021. It was a mural painted on the side of a business by Felipe Baeza named, “Finding Home in My Own Flesh.”
And so, our first full day of art viewing came to an end. The next day was our last day, so we hit the art trail early. Our first stop was to see “What Remains” by Muhannad Shono. It looked like a lot of broken tents at an abandoned campsite.
I’m sure there was some sort of deep meaning behind the piece, but it was lost on me. Our next stop was at “Truth Arrives in Slanted Beams” by Sarah Meyohas. This was a fun and interesting interactive piece.
The next exhibit, “Five things you can’t wear on TV,” by Raphael Hefti, was not interactive or interesting. It was a long flat cable strung across a canyon that sort of glimmered in the sun and made an odd noise in the wind.
The final art piece we saw of the 2025 Desert X display was “The Living Pyramid” by Agnes Denes. It was a pyramid built of wood covered in flowers and plants.
The display was located at the Sunnylands Center and Gardens, a peaceful and beautiful setting. The Sunnylands Center and Gardens is a must visit with or without a Desert X display. Use the link at the end of this post to visit it yourself. We returned to our room, freshened up, and walked to Miro’s Restaurant for dinner.
Miro’s is a nicer restaurant with amazing food. I started with the spiced carrot soup that was really tasty.
For dinner, I had the trio sampler with Chicken Paprikash, Cabbage Rolls Goulash, and Beef Stroganoff. It was out of this world.
For dessert, we split a decent sized piece of Baklava.
If you are in the Palm Springs area, this is a must dine at restaurant. Use the link at the end of this post to get your reservations. We left Palm Springs the next morning and were off on our two-day drive to St. Joseph, Missouri.
The next blog entry will cover the first half of our return to our house in St. Joseph, MO.
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