Joshua Tree National Park

We have been to Joshua Tree National Park a few years ago but had only seen the north side.  This time, we entered from the South and traveled North to Yucca Valley.  The rock formations are fascinating to me.  We checked out one of the campgrounds. It was probably too small for our rig.  Tents were best but then there the snakes.  Still, I would love to spend at least one night in the desert to be without lights to watch the night sky. We drove along Pinto Basin Road to Hidden Valley where we walked the one mile loop trail. There were climbers on the rock faces and children exploring the formations.

Another sunset from the Spa pool.

This house of stone blended with the hillside
outside of the park.

Looking up at someone's knees in Hidden Valley,
which was believed to be a cattle rustlers'
hideout.

It's hard to see the phone camera screen in the sunlight.
 I was  trying to capture the desert iguana on the rock
but only a part of him made the frame.

Sonny at the picture tree.

These were pretty lavender flowers.

Joshua Trees in blossom.

Picnic lunch outside Hidden Valley.

Exploring Indian Canyon

On Palm Sunday, we were invited by our resort neighbors to a movie in Palm Desert called "War Room" about a family going in opposite, unhealthy directions and how they came to a happy resolution.  Afterwards, we went to In N Out Burger.  Sonny and I had never eaten there so we were newbies.  A bus load of kids and families arrived just before us so it was a crazy place but Mary got us a table by hovering so we had a place to sit. The burger was good and the fries weren't greasy though there wasn't any tarter sauce for me to dip.  The sunsets this week were magnificent.  On Monday, we drove to Indian Canyon to explore. Later in the day, the winds began and continued for 24 hours.  Our rig rocked in the 30-40 mph gusts and one of the slides actually loosened enough to need adjustment.  When we were in Bullhead City, we saw a rig with straps holding the slides and now we know why.

There are 3 canyons in this park. We headed for Palm Canyon to hear the Ranger talk.  On the drive to the trail head, we came to a very narrow part of the road bordered by rocks.  Sonny didn't think the truck could get through so we parked and began walking the last quarter mile.  I'm sure we gained 500' in elevation and it was hot!  We got to the top in time to learn that the Ranger talk was at another location.  No where did we see any information about the change.  We read the brochure and decided on a 2 mile round trip walk into the palm canyon which is 15 miles long.  Then, we drove to Andreas Canyon to eat our lunch and explore. These canyons were inhabited by the Cahuilla Indians centuries ago who grew crops of melons, squash, beans and corn.  They gathered seeds for food, medicines, and basket weaving.

Fast food dinner out

The upper winds made interesting shapes in the clouds
at the end of a windy day.

I couldn't resist taking pictures of the sky color.

Shot from the pool

On the way into Palm Springs, we passed over this
 bridge and were fascinated by the fencing to keep the
blowing sand from drifting into the road.  Sand was like snow.

Barrel cactus with bloom next to cholla
at the entrance to Indian Canyons.

Easy walking here among the palms.

Colorful blooms.

\

From here,  I could see much of the Coachella Valley

Interesting rock formations left by glaciers.

Lunch time under the palms

The road became narrow between these rocks.
Once we got to the rocks, we could see that the truck
would  have made it through with the truck but we
 kept walking telling ourselves we needed  the
exercise even though it was near 90*.

Trail views.  The walk was in the brillant sun part of the time

We could see many barrel cactus on the
rocky hill along the path.

Rock cairn along the path

Barrels on the hillside.

Family climbing on rock outcropping.

Palm grove.  This tree
looked like an elephant trunk.

I didn't find anything in writing about these,
so I 'm guessing the Cahuilla used them as homes.

This grove was thick with palms.

This was the trail back to the parking lot.
The next photo is shot from the
covered area above.

Looking down into the trail head of
Palm Canyon.

I passed this busy caterpillar crossing the road as
I was walking by.

Rich and Famous Windmill Combo Tour of Palm Springs and the Palm Springs Tram

On Wednesday, we took a van tour of the famous name's neighborhoods and went out to the wind farms.  The tour was in a 12 passenger van so taking pictures wasn't very easy. The driver was very knowledgeable about the homes and folks who had owned them but he often mumbled so it was hard to understand everything he said. Not sure it was worth $144 for 1.5 hours.  In the afternoon, we drove up to the base of San Jacinto Mountain to check out the tram ride.  As usual, the photos here begin with the rising moon that evening and end with the home tour.  

The rising moon over the hills behind Catalina Spa
was more impressive than I could capture on my phone.
The warm evenings were nice especially when
enjoying the night sky from the hot tub spa.

Base of the mountain.

The view of the Coachella Valley on the way back down.

This rock seemed to be ready to tumble down any minute.

Used lots of brake on the way back down.

The tram was built in 1963 using helicopters to deliver men and materials to the towers and Mountain Station making over 3000 trips to do so.  This car and a blue one, were retired in June 2000 after 175,000 round trips.

The tram rises from the base at 2500' up
 Chino Canyon to a point near the 8516' San Jacinto peak.
Many television shows and movies were filmed on these
tram cars like Columbo, Mission Impossible, Kotch and
Matt Helm.

We walked around the grounds to see this waterfall.

A mountain stream ran under the ticket booth.
 The banks were cemented to stabilize the
sides since often times in the Spring, boulders
came rushing down.

View from the ticket booth to the parking lot
where our truck is a white speck in the distance.

Johnson Waterfall

Is that a mountain goat?!

These cars held many people and rotated 360*
during the 12 minute ride up the canyon.
I wanted to be brave and take the ride but in reality,
 I was too chicken. I'm sure it was safe
but I would have been on the floor shaking like
 the last time I took a ride at the Expo in
Vancouver, BC.

So much of the desert is rock.

Entrance to  Liberace's home.

The wrought iron fence had quarter notes for decorations.

Elvis Presley's Palm Springs residence.  We were
 surprised that so many homes were single
level ranches. No big palatial estates here.

This is the house that Elvis was to marry Priscilla in but the media got wind of the event.  When Elvis woke up in the morning,
the cul de sac was full of media.  He called Sinatra who lived
nearby asking him to help.  Sinatra sent his limo to the back
door so the couple could elope to Vegas.

Non famous family living here who
liked to decorate for the holidays.  It
help the tour driver remember special
events.

Elvis' back yard.  Not much mowing needed here!
The right end section of the house has a large window.
It was Elvis' bedroom and he could see down into Palm Springs.

Now, I can't remember whose house is whose.
I know one is Catherine Hepburn's;  one is Lily
Tomlinson's.  All homes were surrounded by high
hedges so it was impossible to see the homes
or much of the grounds.  The streets were
narrow, especially on the hill around Elvis'
place.  I asked what happened on party day-
where did people park?

The gate to Carey Grant's house.

We didn't catch the name of this artist but the yard
was full of his creations. 

The valley has 3200 wind mills.

These are 400 feet tall with blades 60' long.

Solar farms are used if there is no wind to
move the wind mills.

There are 42 companies who run the mills.
One  tower could generate power for 950 homes.

The wind mills stretch way down the valley to the West.
The wind is the greatest here as it gets funneled
between two mountain ranges.  One day, we had 24 hours
of strong winds up to 30 mpg and gusts even higher.
The slides on our rig rattled like crazy all that
time.

When there was no wind or sun, gas power
generated electricity. 

The tour driver took us past the nudist colony
 entrance sign.

The tour driver pointed out the unusual
mailboxes like this one with a bird on top.