Short Hiatus

I will be doing some other things for the next few weeks, so I won't have access to the internet. See you when I get back online!

Pioneertown & Joshua Tree National Park

Mike & I went out to Pioneertown for Father's Day and to get out of the house for a while. He's been working 7 days a week for a couple of weeks now and needed a break. He did go in to work on Father's Day morning, but only for a couple of hours. After leaving behind the city and getting into the rural areas, I noticed that the speed of the car reduced and he didn't look near as tense as when we left. I took that for a good sign.

As we approached the I-10 and Hwy 62 intersection, there were the giant wind mills that create electricity out of the wind power pushing them. They are awesome to see for the first time and we were suitable impressed with their size and the mountains in the background. We stopped and took pictures and listened to the wind mills as they rotated their "fins" above our heads. They were much noisier than I expected them to be!

On to Pioneertown. What a really cool old place! We were the only ones there for quite some time, then someothers showed up and joined in the exploration of this small town! What really surprised me was that some of these buildings are private homes! Go figure! There are live shows that are done the first and last Saturday of each month... we were there on neither of those Saturdays, so we got to explore without the "ambience" of the old west! There were horses to rent to ride, but I had on shorts and wasn't about to chap my legs just to go riding and get saddle sore on top of it!

Since Pioneertown didn't take near as long to explore as I thought it might, we decided that since we were within a couple of dozen miles of it, we would explore Joshua Tree National Park, too. I'm so glad we did! The National Parks in California were promoting the National Parks and we were able to get in free! They will be doing it again two more times thru the summer, but they didn't tell us the dates they planned on doing it.

The High Desert is something to see and these Joshua trees only grow in two places in the entire world... California and Utah, with most of them in California. We drove thru the park and found a rock outcrop that was HUGE! We stopped and walked around it and while out, I got attacked by a bush that had thorns! Son of a gun, but those things hurt! Tore up the upper left arm and I have several scabs there now! Anyway, onward we went! We saw chimpmunks and lizards, Scott's Orioles, wrens, and crows. We were both on the lookout for rattlesnakes, but none were to be found... Thank Goodness! The Joshua trees grow all around you and you can walk inbetween them and around them as you explore the rock outcrops. These are some really amazing looking trees to look at up close. They are so unusual looking at first glance you think that they are ugly, but after a bit of observing them, they are incredibly neat looking!

After wandering around Joshua Tree National Park for the better part of four hours, we decided we were both thirsty (already drank the water with us) and hungry, so we turned around and headed back for Joshua Tree (the town) to find something to eat! We stopped at Applebees and had a late lunch. Not only did the meal taste good, but it cured our grumpy attitudes! So for hints if you are planning a trip to the High Desert: take plenty of water and snacks with you!

Looking forward to my next Californian Adventure!

Coyotes and Lilies

Today I was out taking photographs and after finishing up at one park in the neighborhood, I wanted to stop at the bottom of the hill and take some photos of the lilies there that were a different color than the ones at the park. I'm so glad I stopped!

I was getting out of the truck with my camera when I noticed a movement in the flowers that I wanted to take photos of. All I could see was ears and thought that it was a German Shepherd puppy.... boy, was I wrong! It turned out to be a coyote!

Not sure of what to do at first, I watched her climb the rise behind the flower bed and stop at the top to look back down at me. We watched each other for a few minutes before we both decided that we weren't going to do each other any harm and we both proceeded to do what we were going to do.... she wandered over to a bush and laid down, I walked over to the flowers and took pictures. Of course I was keeping an eye on her, just as she was keeping an eye on me! I took several photos of her and the flowers.

After a while, she finally stood up and watched me for a few minutes then started to make her way down the hill towards the field on the other side of the road from us. She took her time, not starting to trot until she hit the pavement and trotted to the other side of the street. She ducked under the fence and with a last look towards me, she was gone.

Incredible!

Worldwide Photography Walk

Through a photographer friend I have on Facebook, I read on his website about a wonderful project that is going to take place in July. It is the second annual Worldwide Photography Walk.

This is a project that is going to take place all around the world on the same day, July 18th, within a two hour time frame. Last year they had over 8,000 photographers and over a million photos entered into this competition. This seems to be very similar to the Time/Life "A Day in the Life" type of photography series.

I have joined a group of photographers that will meet in the town of Orange, CA. I'm really excited about this little adventure into the photographers world... not that I expect to win anything, but it certainly sounds like a lot of fun spending time with other folks that enjoy photography as much as me! I'm really looking forward to it.

If this sounds like something you would be interested in, here is the website that explains it so much better than I can! http://www.worldwidephotowalk.com/. Each group of photographers is limited to 50 per group, so if one group is full, look for another or create another group for your town and/or city!

Road Trip

Mike had to work this past weekend, so I decided to do a short road trip to Hemet, CA. I went to the Western Center for Archaeology & Paleontology. It was quite a nice drive there, being about 36 miles or so away from us. Since Mike couldn't go, I took Gertrude Priscilla Schlitterbahn with me... her initials are GPS! She was the most excellent navigator!

Once I arrived, the sign in the parking lot gave me pause before I would actually get out of the car... you see, it had an outline of a snake on it and the following, "Rattlesnakes are a common sight in Riverside County and this area is no exception. Everyone is advised not to touch or disturb any wildlife." Encouraging for someone that doesn't particulary care for snakes!

Overcoming my fear, I stepped out of the car and carefully made my way to the museum. It was worth the trip! The museum was created basically because of Diamond Valley Lake. The lake was started back in 1995 and finished in 1999. In that time, they discovered several thousand fossils and bones of prehistoric animals. They found parts of remains of mammoth, saber tooth cats, dire wolves, horses, bear, "yesterday's" camel, and American lions. All these have been brought to this museum and are on display.

They really did do a wonderful job of displaying them!

When I finished at this museum, I walked across the courtyard (being very careful to look for snakes on the way) to the Diamond Valley Lake Visitor Center. This visitor's center is dedicated to the use of water, the conservation of water and education for everyone on everything water. It was much more interesting than I thought it would be! I took many photos there and enjoyed talking with the docents about how water is brought to southern California.

When I was ready to leave, one of the docents asked me if I had ever been out to the lake. I said, "no", and was encouraged to at least go visit the overlook viewing point on the lake that gave a great view of the lake. Pointing it out to me on the map, I made my way to the viewing point since it was on the way back home. I'm so glad I did! The view was fantastic and I enjoyed the walk up to the hilltop viewing area.

If you're ever in the area, make the time to stop and visit these museums and visitor's center.