California’s ecosystem, including the desert wildflowers, the Golden State’s populace and it’s hoteliers, are nothing if not enterprising. The Californian Desert’s wildflowers are blooming because of the Santa Ana and the unexpected storms that tore through California and the Southwest in January and the rain in February. And taking advantage of this heavenly blessing is the La Casa del Zorro Desert Resort and Spa, Borrego Springs, 90 miles east of San Diego, with it’s Anza-Borrego wildflower package.

Hat tips to Stan Sesser, Wall Street Journal, and Mary Forgone, Los Angeles Times staff writer. Excerpts from both below. First the WSJ’s wildflower update. Americans can leave their passports at home. In a good year, desert wildflowers are in abundance a short drive from some of the nation’s major Western cities, including Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas and Tucson….witness the wildflowers in the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, about 70 miles northeast of Los Angeles…

Iran can’t supplement the attraction of wildflowers with that of casinos, however, which can be found within a 10-minute drive of Red Rock Canyon [Vegas]. Jed Botsford, Red Rock’s lead outdoor-recreation planner, says that the area, which is administered by the Bureau of Land Management, gets a lot of “windshield tourists” — people who get bored with gambling and sign up at their hotel excursion desk to see Red Rock through the windshield of a tour van. “You hear them say, ‘I wish I knew about this earlier, because I would have spent my four days here.’”

So there you have the options for blooming with the blooms - California, Vegas or Iran. I’ll take California, thank you. Maybe Vegas, if my editor is drunk and agress to let me get within 50 miles of a slot machine on a company paid travel review trip. I mean, experiencing the ka-ching of the casinos would be a definitive must-have experience if you’re writing about a trip to Vegas, right? As for Iran, me thinks it might be a tad bit safer to leave the blooming to President ‘I’m a dinner jacket’ (Ahmadinejad, by any other name). Anyway, before I go too far off-topic, let’s get back to the hotel packages blooming along with the wildflowers of the Mojave Desert.

So, the second part of this flowery post is the wildflower package deal offered by the La Casa del Zorro Desert Resort, aptly named the Anza-Borrego wildflower package, since the four diamond resort is located in the heart of the majestic Anza Borrego Desert.

According the LAT, the hotel package runs March 6 to April 4. Prices start at $315 a night Sunday through Thursday and $395 a night Friday and Saturday nights. (Prices don’t include tax.)

And according to the hotel website, the resort has forty-four deluxe poolside rooms, each with marble bath, service bar, sitting area with fireplace and patio or balcony; and 19 private casitas, each with its own pool or spa, ranging in size from one to four bedrooms.

La Casa del Zorro’s dining options include the Butterfield Room, with both traditional and California cuisine. It’s a snotty affair, with dress codes for dinner. There’s also a lounge called the Fox Den for drowning your sorrow and a Wine Room with an extensive wine list with 7000 bottles and 600 labels.

Info: La Casa del Zorro Desert Resort & Spa - 3845 Yaqui Pass Rd,  Borrego Springs, CA 92004; (800) 824-1884.

Web Links: Borrego Springs - Hotels, Things to do, Anza Borrego Desert State Park, Red Rock Canyon

Posted on March 3rd, 2008 by PLing
Filed under: Spa Vacations