Remember that the Grand Slam Tennis Tours folks have invited TennisWorld readers to their daily, evening drinks reception (6-7 PM, starting March 10th); it's as good a place as any for you to meet independent of us. If you see somebody wandering around in a blaze orange "Winchester" cap, or a brown fatigue cap that says "Belize", come up and say "Hi."
Beyond that, General Headquarters for TW will be The Beer Hunter sports bar on Highway 111 and Washington Ave. in La Quinta - the ideal place to unwind after a long day (and night) of tennis at the nearby tournament site.
You'll need a car or cab to get there, but you'll need transport to get anywhere from the IWTG. The place is as close as you can get, though (see the map at their website), and while the crowd can skew heavily toward the college set, there's lots of room, spacious booths, and a good atmosphere where you can actually hold conversation despite the numerous giant TV screens and other customary sports bar amenities (Pop-a-Shot, anyone?). I'll call it cozy.
A few other tips: one place you ought to visit if you can is The Living Desert zoo in Palm Desert. It's a nicely done, low-key facility, nestled unobtrusively at the very end of a nice residential neighborhood. I make it a point to go every year, and wrote a New York Times Outdoors column about a wolf, Cisco, living in captivity there. Go early in the morning, before the tennis begins, and spend a contemplative hour or two there; I always find it restorative. And if the natural world is really your thing, *Joshua Tree Natonal Park* is a pretty easy drive from the Coachella Valley communities. It's a spectacular place that will change any preconceptions you have about "desert."
The main drag in the valley is Highway 111; it runs right through all those storied communities, from Palm Springs right out to Indio. It is, of course, a maze of shopping malls, and the prices can be very reasonable - I know, because I go on shoe-buying sprees for Cowboy Luke every year when I'm there. It's a way to kill time in the early morning during the late stages of the event. Steggy also has some additional information for you, so I'll turn it over to her.
Steggy's Notes on the Palm Spings Area
First and foremost for anyone interested in modern architecture, Palm Springs is a great town to explore visually. Take a leisurely drive through the town and its neighborhoods, and you will run across the best of what Modern design is all about.
The air museum, located on the grounds of the Palm Springs airport, is currently running a Leonardo DaVinci exhibit.
If you're the kind of traveler who would like to relax, head on over to Desert Hot Springs and soak off your day of walking around the IWTG at one of their many Spa Resorts. Aptly named, the town has several naturally occuring hot mineral springs and is famous for its bottled water.
Indian Wells is a good place for indoor and outdoor activities. From Bowling to covered wagon tours, this town has it all. If you have a chance, visit one of the many nearby Date Palm farms and watch the Palmieros do their death-defying fruit-picking act.
