Twentynine Palms:
We’re on the road to California!
Looks like a long drive!
The small town of Twentynine Palms is a great jumping off point to
explore Joshua Tree National Park. We spent 2 days exploring this rare gem. Joshua trees are a type of yucca and only
grow in a few places, such as the Mojave Desert in southwest California. I didn’t really know what to expect so I was
quite surprised at what we saw. On day 1
we drove into the park from the entrance in Twentynine Palms and did a loop
that took us to the town of Joshua Tree. We had planned ahead by taking a picnic lunch.
When we entered the park, we saw one or two Joshua trees, then a few
more …
and then it was like a forest of Joshua trees!
What I didn’t expect was that we would drive up into a mountain and
have such gorgeous views of the Coachella Valley and San Andreas Fault! There was some snow on the tops of the
mountains in the distance.
There were also huge boulders. Here’s our view at lunch!
And
this beautiful bird (Western Scrub Jay) joined us.
On day 2 we took a longer drive on Pinto Basin Road, through the valley
and desert.
There were different types
of cacti, but I especially loved this grove of cholla cactus:
And the wildflowers were beginning to bloom!
As we were leaving Twentynine Palms, heading toward Palm Springs, we
saw even more snow as well as numerous wind farms with these mega wind mills.
This giant Roadrunner sculpture once swung music fans at
Coachella! It was installed at the 2014
Coachella Valley Music and Art Festival and held a porch swing from its beak.
It now resides in the middle of a traffic circle in La Quinta (near Palm
Springs).
Next stop, more animals, but live ones at the San Diego Zoo!