I spent a few days in Palm Springs, visiting museums, restaurants, coffee shops and the botanic garden. The good times started at check-in, where the desk clerk saw from my ID that I live in Claremont and asked: “Don’t they have a junior college there?” My weekend getaway was off to an excellent start, and it’s the subject of my carefree Sunday column.

I was back in Palm Springs for the opening of the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum, an impressive new facility that tells the story of the tribe and the Cahuilla people and their age-old presence in the region. It seemed important. That’s my Sunday column. And after that, I’m taking a week off (but at home, not in Palm Springs).

When in Palm Springs a few weeks ago, I checked out the new bookstore I’d been told had opened. Its name: The Best Bookstore in Palm Springs. It’s also, to be technical, the only bookstore in Palm Springs. But it’s pretty good on its own merits. Read about the store and its origins in my Sunday column.

Have you ever seen Palm Springs’ Plaza Theatre downtown, or been inside? The 1936 theater has been closed since 2014. But a “Save the Plaza Theatre” campaign is close enough to its $16 million goal that construction bids may go out next month for a renovation that will allow the theater to reopen. I got a tour for my Sunday column.

A short backstory: I’d noticed the theater on my two previous visits and followed the campaign online from afar. Before my visit earlier this month, I looked for updates, saw that things had really picked up steam and thought the timing would be better for a column. My thinking was that surely some of my readers, especially in Riverside County, would know the theater. So I emailed the campaign to gauge the interest in coverage by the Press-Enterprise (etc.) and got an affirmative reply within an hour.

This is the first time I’d set up an interview in the Palm Springs as a vacationing journalist, and I have to say it was a success.

I still have one more Palm Springs column to write based on more reporting from my visit. Look for that soon.

I was going to Palm Springs anyway, for what has become my annual visit, but I made a point of finally attending the Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival, an annual weekend of noir thrillers, purely to see a newspaper-themed movie. It was great fun. Also, the weather in Palm Springs was just how I like it, and you will find more from Palm Springs in my columns shortly, in a mini-preview of coming attractions. That’s my Sunday column.

On vacation, I visit Palm Desert’s Living Desert Zoo, a fantastic place. Have you been? I didn’t get to see Cole, the baby giraffe, but I have pictures and info anyway. That’s the subject of my Sunday column.

I return to Palm Springs, where I eat salads, walk around, see some sights and follow up on reader tips. My visit last week unfortunately coincided with the SoCal heatwave. On the plus side, I felt comfortable in early April in a T-shirt and shorts, even at night. Here’s how I spent my time, as recounted in my Wednesday column.