Worth the Drive: The Palms Hotel

Worth the Drive is NBCLA's twice weekly look at nearby getaways

Your job: Decide to get out of town and fast. Our job: Help you find where you're headed. This week, NBCLA's Worth the Drive takes us to...

The Palms Hotel: It's a beautiful and funky mid-century inn located in the town of Borrego Springs, which is plum in the middle of the Anza-Borrego State Park, which is due east-ish of San Diego. Will we call movie-ready The Palms "cool"? Yes, we will. Not annoying cool, but old-school cool. A grown-ups' getaway.

Anza-Borrego State Park: The roomiest of all the California state parks, which is saying something. And, come spring, the desert-flower-iest.

Borrego Springs: Could this Southern California outpost be our own Marfa, Texas? It's got the remoteness. The wild vistas. The glorious heat. The growing art scene, and a few amazing, much-written-about restaurants. We won't compare one to the other, since every city should stand on its own, but we'll say that Borrego Springs has a certain Marfa-ness to it.

We just Googled... "Marfa" and "Borrego Springs" to see if others were saying the same. Not yet, apparently. But maybe soon?

Springtime: That's busy time for the Anza-Borrego area. Photogs, flower watchers, hikers. We called The Palms to see if there are any rooms left, and they have a few mid-week. Prices start at $189.

No phones at The Palms: Phonelessness is so fantastic and so rare these days. Picture it: you, a cocktail, the shimmering pool, and no one yammering at you about the inconsequential gossip back home. Happiness.

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