Palm Springs California (part 1)

Palms Springs is utterly astonishingly beautiful and relaxing, extraordinary design and surprisingly affordable Condo's and homes. They say it is the capital of cool. The famous (and rich) and not so rich have an on-going love affair with this city. Downtown and uptown create a walk-able main street with hundreds of art, antique, vintage, trendy, boutiques and classic modern home furnishings shops. It is an oasis of eating places, golf courses, Spas's, Boutique and Resort motels  and beautiful landscaping. All located in the Coachcella  Valley with the high San Jacinto  Mts. on the west side and Chuckwalla Mtns. on the east side. Area attractions are plentiful with such things to do as Art and entertainment, hiking the Indian Canyons, World class Golf.Water Parks, Casinos, Aerial Tramway and much more. Since we both like mid century modern we enjoy the houses that represent that era, They are plentiful here and are very popular with the residents.

For those of you who may be interested they have an National/International airport that has 11 major airlines that come into and out of the valley on a regular bases. The weather can be hot but our experience has been with out much humility it does not feel near as hot as it does sometimes back in the Midwest and southern states. Besides every other house has a pool.

What we will show you today in this blog (one on a serious from Palm Springs) are mainly Mid Century Modern houses. Celebrity houses and stars

Sunset over the San Jacinto MT. where the Tram is located 

Example of  Mid Century Modern house

One of many streets named after celebrities 

High view from San Jacinto Mts. over looking Coachcella valley (Palm Springs in the valley on the left)

The city side walks are sprinkled with many stars who have visited or lived in the city at one time or the other

Statue of  actor George Montgomery (different statues of celebrities through out the valley)

Bob hope home (it is still in the family) Actually it sold while we were here for $16M

An example of the well groomed landscapes in the valley 

A lot of these around the valley 

A Liberachy home (he had more than one)

Top house was William Holden home at one time. The one below was Steve McQueens 

Joshua Tree National Park

The Joshua Tree National Park is located not far south of the Mojave National Preserve. Actually Deserts don't have firm boundaries, and much of the park lies in the overlap between the Colorado and Mojave deserts This transition zone has a wealth of biological diversity and is home to species characteristic of each desert ecosystem. Some of the residents of Joshua Tree are Bighorn sheep, Chuckwalla, Gambel's Quail, Desert Iguana and of course the Great Road Runner. Joshua Trees only grow at certain altitudes and are abundant in this park. Even though it is called  a tree it actually is not. It is from the cactus family.

Sharon's younger son and grandson came up from San Diego and visited us .We all spent a day visiting Joshua Tree park. 

A lot of climbing activity in the desert on the  granite rocks.

Climber

Climbers as well as an example of Joshua Tree

Lucas our grandson probable on the search for a desert lizard.

Note all the Joshua Trees across the flats 

A small Joshua Tree

Mojave Desert Preserve

One might ask why would anyone be excited about going to a Preserve in the middle of a desert. Many years ago when I taught school in Tucumcari New Mexico (early 1980ies) I was introduced to what a desert is all about and what it has to offer. A family that befriended me (Jim Collins Family) there in Rattler country were the first to show me what is has to offer., They owned a large ranch that I spent a lot of time exploring and experiencing the natural habitat of the high desert. If going back to the desert does nothing more it causes me to flashback to a great friendship that Jim and I had.

The Mojave National Preserve and Death Valley National Park offer an array of natural landscapes that are home to a variety of birds, plants, trees, flowers, and animals. My favorite is the Desert Tortoise and the Road Runner. To really enjoy the desert on an anticipated visit do your home work to learn what it has to offer and what to watch for when you visit.

The Mojave National Preserve is located in Southeastern California on 1-15 and I-40 between Las Vegas and Barstow CA.

We do not have many good pictures from this area because I deleted most of them when downloading them to my computer so enjoy what I have here.

Roads can be pretty straight but along the way you can see nothing or you can keep your eye alert and you will see a lot.

Note the Joshua Tree

Close up of a Joshua Tree

A Kelso sand dune on the south western edge of the preserve.  A lot of hiking as well as trailheads near this area

Built in 1924 Kelso Depot was a railroad stop and quarters for crew. It is now a visitors center and museum.

Granite stone MT. out in the middle of the Preserve.

Granite Rock Mountain in the middle of the Desert

Yes the desert does have mountains . Note the Yucca plants in the near foreground 

Sequoia National Park

One of the things we love to do when we go to a National Park is star gazing. We did this in Bryce Canyon and it was the first time in a long time I have seen the Milky Way in such clarity (the last time was over 35 years ago when I was at UTE dam near Tucumcari New Mexico). It is rated as one of the darkest points on the planet. We also did star gazing in the Tetons. We  decided to stay in Kings Canyon so we could do a Rangers sponsored star gazing event. It might have been a great experience butin the drought stricken start of California it rained. We went anyway and played like we saw the stars. LOL

Sharon and I at the base of the Sherman. This tree is 275 feet tall estimated to weigh 1385 tons and 103 feet around at the bottom. It is thought to be over 2200 years old. 

Sharon at the base of a fallen Sequoia. About the only enemy of these trees is Man.

Same fallen tree in the pictures above 

Another larger fallen Sequoia tree. Sharon took picture as I drove through in our van.

A fantastic view from the north side of Moro Rock 

Southern View from Moro Rock. The roads below are our way out of the park

Please note all the dead trees. These parks a full of  them because of the drought. They are actively cutting them out because as trees get weak from the lack of water a beetle attacks them 

The climb up Moro Rock 

Another view from Moro Rock 

I thought the roads of  the Ozarks  where I grew up had sharp curves but they don't hold a candle to these. Many time I noted that if a car was in front of  you over 25 feet you might not see them at all. I actually enjoyed driving on them but can't say the same for Sharon.

A natural rock formation along the way out of the park

These giant sequoia are the earths largest tree. At least 3 species are older, one has a greater diameter, 3 grow taller, but none are larger. They only grow on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada at 5000 to 7000 elevation.

Just taking it easy