Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Palm Springs -- Part 3


On our second to last day in Palm Springs, we took a drive to Joshua Tree National Park. Along the way is a large field full of wind turbines. It was quite impressive to see the sheer number of turbines.



I'm the type of person that enjoys going for a walk/hike, when there is a destination or goal in mind. When picking a hike in Joshua Tree National Park, 49 Palms Oasis sounded perfect because the goal is to get to an oasis filled with 49 palm trees (hence the name).


Here's the view of the parking lot after walking for about 10 minutes. See ya later soon-to-be-recalled Toyota!


I couldn't help looking out in amazement at this view. Sure beats going to work!


Along the path, you'll see various cacti.


Eventually, the 49 palms begin to appear in the distance.


Once you get to the palms, there are some large boulders to relax on.


If you sit there long and quietly enough, you'll see several birds. These Gambel Quail were beyond fascinating. At first, I thought they all had found worms and were carrying them around. Turns out, they just have a really funky beak.


Here's a Joshua Tree.


To be honest, I had only ever heard of Joshua Trees from the U2 album by the same name.


Speaking of U2 -- for those of you in the Ottawa-Gatineau area that are fans of U2 -- go check out U2 in 3D. It just started playing at The Museum of Civilization this past weekend.




********************************

Giz arrived on our second to last day in Palm Springs and the four of us (me, R, Giz and Bugs Baba) went out to Al Dente for dinner.


The restaurant was dark, so most of my food shots didn't turn out. The only one that sort of turned out was our appetizer:


We all enjoyed our meals. They use a lot of roasted garlic in their dishes, which I love. Even baba was happy with her dish (a small miracle). The service was attentive, perhaps a bit overly serious. My only criticism would be that the courses felt rushed. I prefer to have some time to digest and socialize between courses. But, would recommend this restaurant.



Giz is coming back today! I'm sure she'll have a lot of her own stories about Palm Springs to share. StumbleUpon

6 comments:

Beth said...

Wow - desolate and beautiful at the same time. Great pictures.

noble pig said...

It's been awhile since I've been there but Palm Springs is where we spent all of our Spring Breaks!

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

Thanks for the armchair journey Psychgrad.

pam said...

It looks almost like a different planet!

papawow said...

My mom lives out there. I should visit her more often. I feel like I've been to 49 palms before but can't remember for sure. I'm rambling, thanks for the photos!

Dharm said...

What great pictures!! I've always liked watching Wind Turbines and I never knew there was really a tree called Joshua - except for U2, probably there best album ever!!

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