The Pacific Ocean

After 4+ months on the road, we finally reached the Pacific! And what a spot to enjoy it high on the bluff at South Carlsbad state beach, just north of San Diego. We watch the surfers and the pelicans all day and saw some dolphins swimming just off shore on our first morning here. Delightful.

I guess we really are in California!

Joshua Tree National Park

I didn't know anything about Joshua Tree NP before our trip here, but since it was close to Palm Springs and we had a week to kill, we figured we would explore it.  What a great idea that turned out to be!

Joshua Tree became a National Monument under Franklin Roosevelt and then a National Park under Clinton (gotta love those Democrats).  Over 700,000 acres, three quarters of it wilderness, including both Mojave and Sonoran desert ecosystems, Joshua Tree is an amazing place--especially if you like rocks and climbing them.  This park is a very special place with unique rock formations and thousands of joshua trees making it a very unique and fun national park.

We camped in two campgrounds, one of which was especially scenic.  We were camped in the shadow of 60-foot rocks with views of desert all around us.  You could hike in any direction and find piles of rocks to climb and explore.  With only 18 camp sites scattered over the area, we felt almost alone in this beautiful place.  We spent many days hiking, rock scrambling and just sitting in the quiet beauty of the desert.  What a great place!

Joshua Tree

Our campsite at Belle campground

 

 

A few Joshua trees are just starting to bloom

Goodbye to Palm Springs

We have had a great time in Palm Springs and we leave with some reluctance, but we are also excited to be getting back on the road again!  Some random images from our stay here:

Our claustraphobic little space at the Happy Traveler

Relaxing by the pool at the Happy Traveler

The dessert case at Sherman's, the best Jewish deli we've ever found outside of NYC

Downtown Palm Springs

Great band we saw at Pioneertown, about 45 minutes outside of PS

Palm Springs art museum

Palm Springs has a great little art museum, specializing in modern art, Cahuilla Indian art (mostly baskets) and Western art.  They offer free admission on Thursday afternoon, so we spent a few hours here and then went to the village fest street fair held every Thursday for some gyros and tamales.

Driftwood horse

Figure made from steel blocks

Palm Springs Tram

Palm Springs is nestled at the foot of Mt. San Jacinto, the second highest peak in southern California, nearly 11,000 feet high.  The aerial tramway just north of town takes passengers up to the 8,500 foot level in about 20 minutes, transporting them from the desert floor to an alpine pine forest. This tram is one of the highest and steepest in the world.

We rode the tram and hiked around the San Jacinto wilderness area for most of a day and loved the change of scenery.  In a normal year, there would be lots of snow up at the top, but this year it was mostly clear and dry.

View from the tram

Palm Springs from the top of the tram

Palm Springs Air Museum

World War II is, for me, the "best" war of the twentieth century.  An incomprehensible human tragedy measured in millions of lives lost, and starring some of the most vile and evil regimes in modern history, it was a war where the United States was on the side of the good guys and changed the course of history for the better.  It was in many ways the period in history that showed the best of who we are as a country.

The Palm Springs Air Museum is focused on the WWII period of aviation and has some wonderful planes and exhibits.  Many of the docents are veterans of WWII and Korea and add to the experience immensely. This museum had many planes where you could sit in the cockpit or the navigators station and really picture what it was like to fly them.

B-29 bomber

Herb gave us a tour of the B-29