by Marina Muhlfriedel

 

Chills Out in the Desert at Two Bunch Palms

Been working like a dog? Stretched to the nth degree by a nonstop schedule of personal and professional obligations? Do your “to-dos” extend longer than your Christmas card list?  Time, my friend, for a weekend’s breather, and I have the ideal place for you to take it.

Two Bunch Palms, a real live oasis nestled in the sun-bleached environs of California’s Mojave Desert, not far from Palm Springs.  Celebrity and everyday guests alike make the pilgrimage along Highway 10, a couple of hours east of Los Angeles, through a deceptively drab commercial area, to the aptly named Miracle Hill and its crowning Two Bunch Palms.  There, you too will find a cloistered spa paradise, where the rewards of nature and well-choreographed pampering, replenish and heal.

For  many visitors, the  star attraction at Two Bunch Palms is the opportunity to luxuriate in its shady, river rock grotto.  From deep beneath Desert Hot Springs, lithium rich waters fill the spa’s wells and are pumped into two pools  -- one warm, one downright hot.  Time slows as you perch, float, or glide slowly through, melting away your stress.

The water flows from the grotto into a pair of lakes filled with wildlife that also seem to thrive in the waters.  It then diverts to irrigate a citrus grove, a number of huge ficus, pines and even a stand of thirsty bamboo.
 
Many guests wear their provided robes as they make their way in a semi-dream state through the lush 256 acre grounds and speak, as is the way at Two Bunch, in gently whispered tones.  White owls, roadrunners, rabbits, turtles and ducks unselfconsciously coexist with the slow moving humans. Call it monastery light if you like.

During your weekend retreat at Two Bunch, you really must indulge in one or two of the seemingly endless varieties of massage, scrubs, rubs, facials, skin and soul healing treatments, many using the luscious natural product lines, Epicuran and Jurlique.  On a recent visit to Two Bunch I tried an Epicuran facial and was blown away by the new me in the mirror.

Did I mention the extensive menu of mud treatments, such as a Chai Soy Mud wrap and the massage and exotic water therapies?  Mmmmm.   Then, there’s your choice of “Well Being” therapies such as Reiki, color and crystal based sessions, and even a Native American Renewal Therapy which combines a sauna, blessings from the four directions, an aloe and sand scrub and an herbal oil massage.  There’s something for literally every body.

If you decide to share your well-deserved time-out with a lucky significant other, there are even variations on several of the treatments and therapies customized for couples.
 
All that stress?  Forget about it...   the girl you left careening along the fast lane will become a fleeting distortion of the real you that you’ll rediscover somewhere around midmorning after just one night at Two Bunch Palms.  Sitting lakeside, reading a good book, doing a yoga class and taking in the view soon reminds you of how good life can be.

This is a place of gentility and serenity, yet its roots are not without legend and notoriety.   While the oasis was initially discovered nearly a hundred years ago by a U.S. survey team,  those in the know, claim it got its real start during the roaring 1920s  when Chicago gangster Al Capone established a desert hideaway for himself beneath the two stands of palms on Miracle Hill.    Dubbing it “Fortress-West”, Capone found it to be an ideal locale for a low profile watering hole where his Mafia buddies and high styling Hollywood friends could eat, drink, and be merry beyond the scrutiny of the law -- a delicate matter considering those were the days of prohibition.  Capone and his illustrious show biz buddies including Charlie Chaplain, Rudolph Valentino and Mary Pickford spent many a weekend dancing under the stars and indulging in the Canadian booze that Al’s boys would liberate from L.A. Harbor. They would party hardy and indulge, even then, in waters of the celebrated grotto.
 
Capone’s girlfriend, starlet Gladys Walton, was a fixture at Two Bunch in those early days and her son, John Watson,  remains the resident historian who proudly shows off Capone’s lovingly maintained Duesenberg and his private villa which you can still rent -- legend, bullet hole and all.

Other accommodations range from spa suites and villas with private patios (and some with whirlpool spas) to smaller, charmingly rustic guest room castitas near the grotto.  The lovely Casino Dining Room near the entrance of Two Bunch Palms features a delicious array of healthy but substantial menu choices and, Capone’s spirit not fully exorcised, a full bar.

A weekend at Two Bunch Palms isn’t a cheap proposition, but as a once in awhile treat, it’s well worth the effort and cost to shake off everyday life, and take a bit of time to hear your own voice above the cacophony of our  21st century hectic life. 

Learn more at www.twobunchpalms.com

 

 

 

© Melt Magazine 2006