Palm Springs International Film Festival starts today

From Thursday Jan 4th thru Monday Jan 15th, the Palm Springs International Film Festival runs. It is a major star studded event. In the past, guests of The Terra Cotta Inn have seen celebrities at the movie screenings and walking around downtown. Most of the time you will see the celebrities midweek as they are trying to be anonymous. Our you will see them at the parties which you can pay to attend.

It is the 2nd most important Film festival in the US, right behind Sundance. And as far as the studios executives are concerned, it is the most important as Oscar voting will be occurring in the next month and they will be hobnobbing with the academy members to try to get votes.

This year, the big celebrities that have announced that they are coming to Palm Springs are Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Kate Winslet, Sydney Pollack, Cate Blanchett, Jessica Biel, Jennifer Hudson from Dreamgirls, Lawrence Fishburne, and Sissy Spacek. There will be many more celebrities that will just show up.

The Film festival runs everyday of the week. It is lots of fun. Regular people can even pay to be at some of the charity functions and you actually get to meet some of the celebrities.

For more information visit http://psfilmfest.org or call 800-898-7256 To learn more about Palm Springs visit http://palmsprings.com

And if you want to come to Palm Springs to see the Film festival and have your best vacation ever, stay at The Terra Cotta Inn clothing optional resort and spa. Just last week they were named one of the best places in the world to go nude sunbathing at by the Vancouver Sun newspaper in Canada. Los Angeles Magazine picked them as one of their 4 favorite vacation resorts for couples in Palm Springs. You will have a blast and maybe you will see some celebrities in town. Call them at 800-786-6938 and visit their site at http://sunnyfun.com You will be glad that you did!

Who knows, you might even get to meet your favorite celebrity.

Vanity Fair Magazine calls Palm Springs, CA "Hot, Hot, Hot!" And in keeping up with that hip image, Starwood Hotels just announced that they have signed an agreement with the town of Palm Desert to develop a W brand luxury resort on the Desert Willows golf course in the city of Palm Desert. W hotels are famous for attracting high end vacationers who are looking for more than just a boring cookie cutter chain hotel vacation. Construction should start in 2007.

"Palm Springs is becoming the ultimate vacation experience," says Tom Mulhall past President of the Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce. "Palm Springs already has the best clothing optional - nudist resort in the country with the popular Terra Cotta Inn http://terracottainn.blogspot.com They are the most mainstream nude resort in America according to CBSmarketwatch.com Palm Springs is getting a Hard Rock Hotel with completion set for 2009, and now the W hotel in Palm Desert. There is something for all fun loving travelers who are looking for more than a typical dull hotel stay.

Make sure your next vacation is in Palm Springs. You won't be sorry.

Picture compliments of Palm Springs Dept of Tourism.

Summer is fantastic in Palm Springs. Even though it is nice and warm here in the summertime, it is good to know that we are not considered "sweaty".

According to Procter & Gamble, Palm Springs is such a comfortable summer vacation spot, it doesn't even rank among the 100 sweatiest American cities: "Phoenix retained its spot as the nation’s No. 1 perspiration producer (it was No. 1 in 2005 and 2003), with the average resident losing 26 ounces per hour during a typical summer day." Among California cities, Fresno was #25, Sacramento was #69, L.A. was #92, San Diego was #94, and San Francisco was #100.

How come it is so comfortable here in Palm Springs and so sweaty and miserable in other cities during the summertime? As all the locals know, it is our famous low humidity. It is a major misconception that Palm Springs is uncomfortable in the summer. It can be 100F, but yet in the shade you are very comfortable due to the low 10-15% humidity. Maybe you have heard the expression, "but it's a dry heat." Well it is true. Palm Springs is the driest city in the U.S. with less then 3 inches of rainfall a year. So why vacation in one of the sweaty cities on this list when you can relax in cool Palm Springs. http://palmsprings.com

Or maybe Palm Springs is comfortable because everyone hangs out in the pool.

Sweatiest Cities list 1. Phoenix, AZ 2. Las Vegas, NV 3. Tucson, AZ 4. Dallas, TX 5. Corpus Cristi, TX 6. San Antonio, TX 7. Austin, TX 8. Shreveport, LA 9. Houston, TX 10. Waco, TX 11. Miami, FL 12. New Orleans, LA 13. Orlando, FL 14. Tampa, FL 15. West Palm Beach, FL 16. Honolulu, HI 17. El Paso, TX 18. Memphis, TN 19. Fort Myers, FL 20. Baton Rouge, LA 21. Little Rock, AR 22. Mobile, AL 23. Jacksonville, FL 24. Tulsa, OK 25. Fresno, CA 26. Jackson, MS 27. Savannah, GA 28. Montgomery, AL 29. Nashville, TN 30. Columbia, SC 31. Oklahoma City, OK 32. Raleigh, NC 33. St Louis, MO 34. Birmingham, AL 35. Huntsville, AL 36. Richmond, VA 37. Louisville, KY 38. Chattanooga, TN 39. Washington DC 40. Wichita, KS 41. Omaha, NE 42. Norfolk, VA 43. Springfield, MO 44. Virginia Beach, VA 45. Atlanta, GA 46. Greensboro, NC 47. Charlotte, NC 48. Philadelphia, PA 49. Albuquerque, NM 50. Knoxville, TN 51. Columbus, OH 52. Kansas City, MO 53. Evansville, IN 54. Lexington, KY 55. Wilkes-Barre, PA 56. Cincinnati, OH 57. Harrisburg, PA 58. Baltimore, MD59. Charleston, WV 60. Springfield, IL 61. Moline, IL 62. New York, NY 63. Roanoke, VA 64. Indianapolis, IN 65. Des Moines, IA 66. Bristol, TN 67. Salt Lake City, UT 68. Detroit, MI 69. Sacramento, CA 70. Chicago, IL 71. Dayton, OH 72. Toledo, OH 73. Cleveland, OH 74. Minneapolis, MN 75. Hartford, CT 76. South Bend, IN 77. Syracuse, NY 78. Providence, RI 79. Pittsburgh, PA 80. Albany, NY 81. Buffalo, NY 82. Asheville, NC 83. Grand Rapids, MI 84. Milwaukee, WI 85. Rochester, NY 86. Boston, MA 87. Denver, CO 88. Madison, WI 89. Flint, MI 90. Youngstown, OH 91. Burlington, VT 92. Los Angeles, CA 93. Green Bay, WI 94. San Diego, CA 95. Colorado Springs, CO 96. Portland, ME 97. Portland, OR 98. Spokane, WA 99. Seattle, WA 100. San Francisco, CA

Vanity Fair Magazine called Palm Springs, CA Hot, Hot, Hot! Conde Nast Traveler sees Palm Springs as "the new home of hip."

One of the major reasons for the revival of Palm Springs as the cool vacation spot of the country, is the mid century modern, intimate, boutique hotels and resorts.

One of the more popular of these charming resorts is The Terra Cotta Inn Clothing Optional Resort and Spa shown here. Designed by the famous architect Albert Frey in 1960, according to the local newspaper, The Desert Sun, the resort was originally called the Monkey Tree. it was the hot celebrity hangout of that era. In 1994, Tom and Mary Clare Mulhall from Chicago, purchased the resort and after restoring it, turned it into a chic clothing optional resort, where guests go nude sunbathing. This popular romatic hotel has been featured by Los Angeles Magazine as one of their 4 favorite vacation resorts for couples. Phoenix's City Magazine featured them as one of the 10 best independent resorts of the western US. Newsweek Magazine featured them as one of the best small businesses in America. And on the Travel show "Ultimate Hotels," the Terra Cotta Inn was selected as one of the 10 ultimate hotels of the world that all couples have to vacation at at least once in their lifetime.

Only in Palm Springs and America is one of the most popular places to stay, a nudist resort. To learn more about this fun vacation destination visit http://sunnyfun.com