Palm Springs Festival Of Lights Parade

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!


The Palm Springs Festival of Lights Parade started on December 5, 1992 and has become a favorite Palm Springs Holiday Tradition. It is always held on the first Saturday in December (which usually coincides with the Annual Tamale Festival in Indio).



The Festival of Lights Parade was the vision of a small group of community members who wanted to offer the community an event that would allow everyone to enjoy the holiday season. Many of those individuals are still involved with the parades’ production.



Every year the parade grows bigger and better. When it started, there were approximately 12,000 spectators and only 32 entries - mostly lighted automobiles and marching groups.



Now the parade attracts well over 80,000 spectators and hosts over 100 entries of all types. Fabulously lighted floats, big rigs, equestrians, bands, autos, and celebrities now entertain crowds of spectators from all over Southern California. You will also find visitors from around the world enjoying the Palm Springs Festival of Lights Parade.



The 2009 Parade Title Sponsor is The City of Palm Springs, and the Presenting Sponsor is the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians.

Naked Yoga Retreat coming to the Triangle Inn Palm Springs in December

In just a few weeks, we'll be hosting our December Naked Yoga retreat, and we're really excited to be featuring two incredible yoga instructors from San Diego (in addition to our own local favorite - Scott Sarber). 

Our longtime friend Peter Smith joins fellow San Diegan, Paul Tucci for some incredible yoga classes that will help take the stress out of the Holidays!

Peter Smith has practiced yoga for 9 years and taught for 5.  His classes consist of hatha yoga asanas and focus on alignment. In addition, Peter adds intention to the asana practice so that students develop sensitivity and a discriminating body mind awareness. His classes are good for beginners and more advanced students!

Paul Tucci, Hatha Yoga Teacher, has been doing yoga for 10 years and has studied yoga with both Ana Forrest (Seattle)  and Eric Schiffman (LA). What brought him to yoga was his curiosity. What kept him there was the path of healing his body & mind. Years of back pain receded as he learned the yoga poses. He brings this compassion to both the new and experienced students, as well as the  students with injuries. He currently teaches for FIT-X, the SD Yoga Loft, The La Jolla Sporting Club, and is the director for the SD Men's Naked Group in San Diego.

Scott Sarber teaches yoga in Palm Springs, and has a regular weekly class at the Triangle Inn Palm Springs on Saturday mornings. His yoga influences include Kundalini, Iyengar, Ashtanga and Anusara. He says his Greatest Teacher has been his beautiful, compassionate daughter, Jacquelyn. Scott is a devotee of AMMA, and is Yoga Alliance Registered. He is also a AFAA Certified Personal Trainer and  AFAA Trained Spin Instructor.

Event Details are as follows: 

Dates: December 11-13, 2009

Location: Triangle Inn Palm Springs

Cost: Special rates are available. Call for details and to book your reservation.    

THREE NIGHT PACKAGE:
Three nights lodging (Fri., Sat., Sun.)
Six yoga classes (a la carte - sign up on arrival), plus individual instruction as available
Breakfast

Lunch (optional add-on)
Social hour

TWO NIGHT PACKAGE:
Two nights lodging (Fri., Sat. or Sat., Sun.)
Four yoga classes (a la carte - sign up on arrival), plus individual instruction as available;
Breakfast

Lunch (optional add-on)
Social hour

Reservations and information:

800-732-7555 or 760-322-7993

2009 Nearly (OK, mostly) Naked Halloween Party!

This year's Nearly Naked Halloween Party ended up being mostly naked (which suited everybody just fine!). Mark, Dan, Stephen, David and I shopped, decorated, and costumed ourselves into oblivion but the result was a FABULOUS Party! Lots of fun and lots of great guys.

It was really great (for me) to get to meet some local guys. Stephen and I tend to get tied to the hotel sometimes, and often miss out on the locals scene. What a blast, though. Dan set up a Crime Scene with Yellow Caution Tape and Mark marked out bodies (and body parts) with black tape on the pavement. The rest was a combination of skulls, jack-o-lanterns and everything else Halloween.

We were all also quite happy that this year the weather worked in our favor ad gave us a nice warm (ish) night. Last time we had a Nearly Naked Halloween Party we all just about froze to death (and trust me, naked men and cold weather do not make for good eye candy - can you say turtle?). :)

One of the very best parts of the night was the Shadow Dancing. Dan brought over his set-up (from his Birthday Party). It was really fun (to be a viewer - I left the dancing to the folks (like Andy, Jallen and more) who were good at it.

I have to say it would be an excellent TING event (HINT. HINT.) for Spring TING 2010. Michael and Clyde got a bit of it on their iPhone so hopefully they will send it to me and I can post it.

Pictures (the ones I took) are up on the Triangle Inn Social Network. If anybody eldse took some, feel free to post them!

Best,
Michael

PS - Next week is PRIDE, then there's LEATHER PRIDE, then Perry is visiting, and then it's Thanksgiving! Did I mention that last night was NEARLY a full moon? :)

Autumn Dilemmas in Southern California - or - What to wear to a Nearly Naked Halloween Party...

Autumn has arrived in Southern California! I know this because the nighttime temperatures have dropped below 75 degrees, the gardeners are scalping the lawns in order to plant Winter Rye, the Farmers' Market is open again, and election signs are sprouting up everywhere.

There are other things. Stores are putting out long sleeved shirts and sweaters, Home Depot has started clearing space for their Christmas display (even before Halloween, mind you), and all the restaurants are changing their menus to include things like Winter Squash Soup, Roasted Pumpkin Souffle, and Sauteed Leeks.

Without true Autumn weather, SoCal has to signal the change of seasons as best it can. And for those of us who moved here expressly FOR the warm, wonderful and mostly unchangeable weather, those are exactly the sorts of signals we like to see. When everyone else is starting to look for snow flurries, we're wondering if we should start heating the pool. While everyone else is worried about the next big Hurricane, we're planting our Fall Gardens. All in all, Autumn (and Winter, for that matter), is a strange and wonderful thing.

Here at the Inn, we're preparing for Autumn pretty much the same way everyone else is. We've got beans, potatoes, tomotoes, carrots, beets and eggplants growing in the garden, the fig tree is loaded down with figs, and the fruit on all the citrus trees is ripening. We're also getting ready for the Autumn holidays - Halloween, Greater Palm Springs PRIDE, Leather PRIDE, and Thanksgiving. It's one special event right after another, starting with our Nearly Naked Halloween Party.

This year, Halloween falls on a Saturday, the party is taking place on Halloween itself. Our friends Dan and Mark are co-hosting it with us and our friend Geno is coming over to do a (naked) book signing an hour before we start the party. Geno's just published his first novel, and the fact that the book signing is particularly appropriate, given that it's about a naked dick (errr., detective), and because Geno's an avid naturist. The book signing commences at 7pm, and the party starts at 8pm.

There's only one problem I'm struggling with at the moment - what to wear, or, more specifically, what to wear to a nearly naked Halloween Party? Now don't get me wrong. There have been years when we've hosted this party that I had no trouble deciding what to wear. But this year, for some reason, I'm just having what, in any other situation, might be described as writers' block.

Suggestions? Photos to share from your own exploits at similar events? I could use the input and/or the inspiration.... Email me.

Best,
Michael
Triangle Inn Palm Springs

My Takes from the MegaMuscle Photo Expo

I wanted to share some of my shots from the Mega Muscle Photo Expo we hosted this past weekend at the Inn. I should probably call them outtakes because all the photos the photographers took are so amazing, but some of mine actually turned out pretty good considering that they were behind the scenes candids taken with my ever-dependable (as long as I remember to charge the battery) Canon Powershot SD550.


I have to say that the weekend was absolutely amazing. Brian, Kenny, Anthony, Jason, and everyone else on the MegaMuscle team are absolute sweethearts, the models were great fun as well, and gracious to us as well as to the guests, and, of course, my buds Tal and Ron from Sweat UnderGear were fun as well. 

I'd have to say that a good time was had by all, especially the photographers who came to the expo to shoot. I cannot wait to see some of their work, having watched their set-ups. We had incredible weather all weekend - perfect Palm Springs sunshine, blue skies and warm but not too hot temperatures.

Sunday was especially fun around the Inn because the photographers were shooting here and at our house next door. There were definitely plenty of reasons for (Canadian) Thanksgiving around the pool, as everyone who was here will gladly attest.

Handsome Lucas gave our friend Gage a copy of the Playgirl that has him on the cover. He's also on the inside in a scorching photoshoot that's part of the annual 2007 calendar.


Brian was also a hoot. Even though he shared stories of all his exploits with the ladies he was completely comfortable hanging out with all the guys and had as much fun as everybody else.  

Eric was also a favorite and quite a cut-up. He definitely gets the "Best All-Around Bud" Award. 

Then again, all the guys were great. Not a one that wasn't fun, friendly and professional. 

I only have one question. When can we do it again? ;)


Michael
Triangle Inn Palm Springs

Clothing Optional YOGA for men.

We've got YOGA on our minds. We're working with nationally known yoga practitioners to put together monthly YOGA get-aways (three nights, breakfast, lunch, and two yoga classes a day).

We've got a variety of visiting instructors as well as our regular instructor Scott Sarber (Sat. AM class). Call or email for more information.