Day: January 3, 2011

Posted on

Happy New Year 2011

Our friends decided to come visit and celebrate being together as well as the new year. This made it a festive occasion and truly an Auld Lang Syne tribute.

The celebration accessories

So we celebrated the New York new year at 9 and then sat down to a lasagna dinner. Afterwards we celebrated with Mexico City at 10 because we couldn’t find a Chicago coverage. We shared photos and the next hour passed quickly before the 11 celebration in the Baja. We cut the cake and Linda popped the Prosecco to start the count down for the new year here in California. We sang along with Sonny in “I Got You Babe” to honor his contribution Palm Springs.  We, Wild Things, continued to find more songs with Henry being our DJ.

Ready to eat the lasagna, last meal of 2010

Earlier in the day we lunched at Spencer’s – very elegant with the piano music. We then toured around the pool for a photo op. The architects enjoyed walking around Palm Springs and analyzing the mid century modern styles. Mike was figuring out how everyone could market their “products” and no one would really know what they were selling.

The pool after lunch at Spencer's in Palm Springs

It was our former neighbor, Carl who recommended Spencer’s as a great lunch spot. We met up with them earlier in the week for a lunch at Rick’s…Bart had the coolest car in the parking lot. With the Mini having to be only the second most fun 😉

Denverites looking to become Palm Springites

Great month of December 2010…we are looking forward to more adventures in 2011.

Posted on

Joshua Tree National Park

Another rewarding but long day trip: this time to the north side of Joshua Tree National Park. It was still cool after all the rains – the Pineapple Express that hit southern California. The sky was clear and we were ready to explore.

10-12-26 Pam in Indian Cove

These are giant rocks! Monzogranite. A ranger explained later on a walk we did that they were at one time so far underground it would be as if we were standing on a airplane contrail looking at them. That was an interesting visual analysis, especially as we looked up and saw a plane going overhead leaving the white trail. We thought of our neighbor Philip with this formation 😉

Is this Pac-Man in rock form;-)

Joshua Tree is a type of Yucca and there are Mojave yuccas.  There are many varieties of Opuntias:The Beaver Tail is the one without spines, just glaucoids – they have the more purple color pad with fushia flowers in the spring. There are pancake opuntias which grow taller like trees. And then there are Prickly Pears which are the opuntias with spines and a yellow flower. There are also a variety of chollas which are a type of opuntias. And then there is a Henry O’Puntia 😉

10-12-26 Henry with a young Joshua Tree

The ranger said it is a bit unusual to have water at the Barker Dam. We did not see any of the desert tortoise but they like to come out when it rains. It got very overcast and the wind picked up and we were quite chilled. Everyone on the ranger walk had on hats, gloves, and coats. Definitely cooler in this higher elevation: this part of the park being in the Mojave Desert.

Water at Barker Dam!

The large cholla cactus garden is in the transition zone between the Mojave and Sonoran desert. This was really a special place to experience: these are the teddy bear or jumping type. I had never seen so many at one time – really worth stopping and taking a look. Thanks Maria for the recommendation to go at sunset though it had clouded over a bit but still more of a glow than at mid day.

Cholla Cactus Garden
Posted on

Salton Sea

Hey lets go to the beach! We loaded the Mini with a picnic and headed for the coast, 226 feet below sea level. There was a lot of rain the last few days so the sky was exceptionally clear and there was fresh snow on the San Jacinto Mountains in the distance. Our first view of the Salton Sea included a large flock of majestic white pelicans – much bigger than the sea gulls. We learned there is a type of sea gull with a web foot that only lives at the Salton Sea.

10-12-24 Salton Sea

The North Shore Beach and Yacht Club was designed by Albert Frey and was recently renovated. It was really a brilliant nautical design and a pleasure to experience. You could image Lucy and Desi hanging around with their pals Sinatra and Dean, with the harbor full of yachts, bustling with activity. There are plans afloat to bring back some boat races. My Dad said he swam here (with my Mom as his  young bride) in the 50’s when he was on a day leave from the Marines (before the yacht club was built)! I am not sure I am brave enough to swim in it today – it is quite a bit saltier (25% saltier than the Pacific Ocean).

10-12-24 Salton Sea North Shore Yacht Club

We headed as far south as the Sonny Bono National Wildlife Refuge to enjoy our picnic lunch on top of Rock Hill. We watched a large flock of snow geese covering an entire field. We observed quite a few grebes, black bellied plovers, black-necked stilts, great blue herons, and American Bitterns as well as more sea gulls. We drove back to the condo the same direction, enjoying the early winter twilight – it was a 180 mile day trip so one we will probably not make again.

Posted on

Santa Rosa National Monument

Coachella Valley From Art Smith Trail

Henry stitched together this photo of the Coachella Valley from our favorite “lunch rock”. It is a steep one and a half mile hike on the Art Smith Trail but great views as well as nice rocks and cactus. We have seen lots of hummingbirds.

11-01-02 Art Smith Trail

The trail also allows views of some of the great homes in the BigHorn development and golf course. Notice how green the valley is from all the irrigation. Normally this part of the Sonoran Desert only gets about 8″ of rain – much less than Denver’s average of 14″. So I am getting new ideas for xeric landscaping from our hikes.  There are 5 groves of palms on this hike – not on the San Andreas fault but another fault: Technically we are on the Pacific Plate not the North American Plate.

10-12-25 Carrizo Canyon

On Christmas morning we took this scenic hike looking for the Big Horn Sheep but didn’t have the pleasure to see them. This trail is only open October through December: the rest of the year the sheep are breeding and raising their young. We explored both the Carrizo Canyon and the Indian Canyon – beautiful hikes.

10-12-31 Steel Cactus

The ultimate water free cactus: Totally Xeric 😉