The delightful desert

[tenaya]

On Tuesday, Mom and I drove out to Joshua Tree National Monument. It's about 2.5 hours from our house and therefore half the distance Death Valley would have been. It was a wonderful day so we chose wisely. My photos of the day can be found here:

My Photos This is the first time I've used this site. My learning curve means that these photos are loaded backwards. They start with the dusk, and the flowers photos don't show up for until 20 or so in. Sorry.

We got a late start (big surprise there, eh?) but even still, we were inside the park by 1pm. The flowers are amazing. There are so many, the air is scented. It was breezy and bright; a little warm at mid-day, but quite nippy at dusk. The wind caused trouble with my auto-focus because the tiny little flowers would not hold still long enough for me to get an accurate reading.

There were a fair number of other folks out there doing the same thing as we. Drive a bit, stop the car, get out take a photo, drive some more, see some people in the classic flower taking pose (their butts up in the air as they bent double to get their photos) stop the car to try to see what they're interested in. Many times it was the women with the cameras, and their male companions wore the same expressions as they hovered protectively over their partners. Wary and alert, they were invariably in sentinel mode. Were they worried a rogue desert lily was going to creep up on them?

I indulged myself and tried a few artsy shots. As always, the photos do not do justice to the beauty of the flowers/landscape as it doesn't capture the quiet, the scents or the caress of the dry wind across your face.

The flowers are heaviest at the southern entrance just below the Cottonwood Visitor Center up to White Tank campground. After White tank, the higher elevation has prevented the flowers from blooming as yet. And yes, I was wearing my spiffy suunto watch and did enjoy the altitude feature; why do you ask? *g*

We still had about 3 hours of daylight left, so we decided to take the geology tour road. The road is dirt and not maintained, with frequent suggestions that 4 wheel drive vehicles are advised. I've had my allwheel drive Subaru now for 4 years and have never taken it offroad before so I was really curious to see what it would do. Damned if it didn't cruise through the sand and the bad road like it was motoring down the street. It seemed to say, "hey, no big deal. No reason to get all testosterony." The other vehicles were big trucks with big wheels and lots of bristling chrome, filled with big men that frowned as we scooted by.

After it was dark, we were ready for dinner. We left the via the park's West Entrance, drove back down to I-10 and backtracked to Aqua Caliente, the Indian casino. My friend Bunny had recommended their buffet. I found the entrees a bit ordinary and boring, but the desserts were unusual and very, very tasty. My creme brulee was pastachio flavored while Mom's was mocca flavored. So, with high marks for their desserts, soups and salads, I'd still recommend this place.

We were home 12 hours after we left, tired, slightly sunburnt and were met by three very stern cats. After we sucked up to them, we were allowed to turn in, and I got serenaded to sleep by Big Reg and his big, deep purr.

Anyway, if you live in Southern California, you really NEED to get out to the desert and see this and soon! It's a delightful day trip.

JTreeMap

Comments

[nausica2.livejournal.com]

Wow, very nice pictures. It looks beautiful and it's huge.

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I probably should have not put so many photos up, but I was on a roll. *g* It is beautiful out there and it's wonderful that that land has been set aside to remain untouched. Of course, if there was oil or valuable ore under that land, I'm sure Bush would be pushing to exploit it.

[catalenamara.livejournal.com]

I sure enjoyed hearing about your day in Joshua Tree. I remember a wonderful, magical trip I took there a few years ago, around this same time of year. We started at the 10, and drove up and out the other side, with many, many, many stops along the way. At the very end, there were some very bold coyotes in the roadway begging for handouts, and they were obviously very miffed if people didn't "come through".

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

Wow. That's bold! We didn't see anything bigger than a crow, which just added to the sense of vastness.

[catalenamara.livejournal.com]

Bold is right! One of them was actually standing in the roadway, and he seemed pretty miffed if a car didn't stop to give him handouts. There were a couple more hanging around at the edge of the road.

This was at dusk, near the northern end of the park.