up north: San Andreas Fault And Joshua Tree

Our last day trips were to the San Andreas Fault and Joshua Tree National Park. The SA Fault is pretty amazing, an oasis in the desert...just amazing. I think that you can click on the Palm Oases sign so as to read the posted info.

There were, what I think of as 'swamp' type plants, growing right in the middle of the desert.

Here David is dwarfed by one of the palms. These palm trees are one of only a very few that are native to the area.

OK so let me see if I can get this right...if not Jan please add a comment and correct me. This area was at one time owned by the McCullum family. And this wonderful lake (again in the middle of the desert!) is McCullum lake. Absolutely gorgeous and oh so peaceful.

These two friends do make a good picture while they are looking/exploring the scenery.

This visitor center was once the McCullum family's home. Very small but interesting

These palms are growing right along the fault line.

The lighter colored sand that you see in this picture is where the fault is making new mountain ranges because the faults are pushing against each other thus pushing the new sand to the top.

I loved this place and will certainly go back again next year.

Palm Springs is known for it's dates. Sheilds (sp?) grows 95 % of the dates in the US. Believe it or not they show a very interesting film titled The Sex Life Of A Date. No shit....and an interesting film it is. Gives an understanding of why the little buggers are so expensive. The dates are hand pollinated by shaking off the pollen. Oh it is a long and labor intensive process...trust me.

A date palm loaded with dates

And here is Mikey stealing grapefruit....not really. There is a parking lot in a government building where anyone can in fact pick grapefruit, oranges, limes and lemons for free. Of course all of the low growing fruit had been previously picked so good ole Mikey crawled up on our truck bumper and picked away.

And then there was Joshua Tree National Park. It was a cold and windy day when we were there so we didn't get out and walk around but the drive was nice. Joshua trees make interesting looking trees with their many formations.

And another fun thing to see were the many rock climbers. Oh to be in half the shape that these people are.

We left the Palm Springs area Monday and are now in the San Diego area and we love it here as well. Yesterday our tour guides started our day at 5am which meant we got up at 4am to walk the dogs, shower etc. Off we went for a three hour drive to LA to sit for 4 additional hours just to hope to hear, 'David Woelpern come on down you are the next contestant on the Price Is Right'. Alas none of our names were called and despite the long long day driving and waiting it was a good day. I am glad that we had the experience but probably don't need to have it again:) Mikey and Jan have gone before a few years back and because of their horrible experience Mikey did not watch the Price Is Right for a year...seriously. They were there when it was still Bob Barker and his crew. Apparently Bob was not a gracious host and his team were terrible to the waiting contestants....rude and just all around shitty. Needless to say Drew and his crew are good. Drew puts on a pretty good show during commercials etc. To see how a show such as this is put together was a new experience for me and I was pretty amazed at how many people on stage (outside of camera shots) that it takes. Anyway, watch the show on March 24th and you may see one of us as the camera panned by.

Here is the proof that yes we were there. Our name tags....Roberta. I did protest the use of that name to no avail.