<p>If you want a nice restaurant with a fantastic view, reserve a dinner table at the Orange Hill restaurant in Santa Ana (next door to Anaheim and just 10-15 min from the SNA airport). In the fall and wintertime, you will be able to see the fireworks above the Disneyland in the distance. Typically, the better the view is, the more mediocre the food gets (Space Needle Restaurant in Seattle, Peaks in Palm Springs, Gondolen in Stockholm, etc.), but Orange Hill’s food and impeccable service excedeed my expectations.</p>
<p>In Palm Springs, if you want to splurge a little and hate to drive, I highly recommend Elite Land Tours. No wonder TripAdvisor reviewers gave it 5 stars out of 5!</p>
<p>[Hummer</a> Tour - Review of Elite Land Tours, Palm Springs, CA - TripAdvisor](<a href=“http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g32847-d602631-r59322327-Elite_Land_Tours-Palm_Springs_California.html]Hummer”>http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g32847-d602631-r59322327-Elite_Land_Tours-Palm_Springs_California.html)</p>
<p>OP, in addition to the desert tours, they also offer a guided tour of Palm Springs - something for your mom to consider. And if you are into shopping, the Outlets at Cabazon are hard to beat: Gucci, Prada, Loro Piana, and so on!</p>
<p>Sorry, I cannot recommend a house to rent, but we stayed at the Marriott Villas (and Westin Villas a few of years ago), and we liked it. Marriott’s property is wrapped around a golf course, has beautiful grounds, and is not far from the zoo, etc. The units are like furnished apartments: in 1 and 2 bedroom apartments, there is a full kitchen and a living room, and there are outdoor grills for making dinner (if you prefer to make your own). Westin’s property is beautiful, too, but it is located on the outskirts . Palm Springs and its surrounding towns is not a huge area; everything is within a short drive.</p>
<p>And I highly recomment the Living Desert Zoo - it is a beautiful zoo/botanical gardens park with hop-on-hop-off trams for people who do not feel like walking.</p>