But back to Palm Springs — We spent three weeks exploring the area and checking it of my must visit list.
📍The Coachella Valley Preserve
We trekked the Coachella Valley Preserved and learned about and saw the rare desert palm oasis.
When we arrived we participated in a private volunteer ranger talk where we learned about the geological history and significance of the preserve, saw the California fan palms (and even tasted their fruit — flavor of a date!), observed a roadrunner’s nest up close, and even saw a few endangered desert pupfish in Simone Pond.
We learned that the Thousand Palms Canyon is a wide canyon that sweeps down from the little San Bernardino Mountains, through a gap in the Indio Hills, and washes onto the wide alluvial fan that borders the north edge of Palm Desert. In addition, the canyon contains a large, rare desert wetland and two palm oases —formed because the San Andreas Fault lines allow water to flow underground and rise to the surface.
📍Downtown Palm Springs / Art Museum / Architecture
We enjoyed exploring downtown Palm Springs, the art museum, Village Fest, and the architecture!
1960
Architect: Willam Krisel
Architect: Richard Neutra
📍Joshua Tree National Park
We spent an entire day, from a breakfast picnic to stargazing, at Joshua Tree National Park.
This National Park encompasses two distinct ecosystems, the Mojave and the Colorado deserts. It was really fascinating being surrounded by spiky, twisty trees straight out of the illustrations of Dr. Seuss books and surreal geological features.
Valor especially loved squeezing through and climbing on as many rocks as he could get his feet on. He also completed another Junior Ranger program and earned his 13th badge.
Points of interest we hiked and explored:
• Cottonwood Visitor Center
• Lost Palms Oasis
• Cholla Cactus Garden
• Arch Rock
• Skull Rock
• Picnic lunch at Live Oak (Where Valor found his favorite rock that looked like a 🍌)
• Wall Street Mill
• Joshua Tree Visitor Center
📍Desert X
📍Willis Palms Oasis, Coachella Valley Preserve
Did you know they burn the skirts off the California fan palms to help propagate them? The burning causes the trees to go into distress, therefore the palms produce more seeds.
📍Painted Canyon in the Mecca Hills Wilderness
Yesterday we explored the colorful water-carved canyons and steep sandstone ridges along the San Andreas fault. It was amazing to see the colorful mineral deposits, from light-colored sandstone to reddish-brown, purple and green. The area is a badlands labyrinth, a natural maze with steep canyons, sandy washes sprinkled with smoke trees, and Another ladders are placed through the slot canyon.
📍Salvation Mountain
On our “want to see” list was this Congressional National Folk-Art Treasure — Salvation Mountain, by Leonard Knight. It’s colorful, fascinating and must be seen for appreciation. Standing 50’ tall and 150’ in breadth, the work of art is made of local adobe clay mixed with straw and donated paint. Knight died in 2014, but there is a caretaker that lives at and continues to maintain Salvation Mountain.
📍Slab City
Slab City is an off-the-grid alternative lifestyle community, which houses also home to Salvation Mountain. It’s known for attracting people who want to live outside mainstream society, with the tagline, “the last free place.” Its name comes from the concrete slabs that remained here after the WWII Marine Corps training camp was torn down. It was first settled by a few veterans who had worked at the base, followed later by drifters, then RVers looking for free camping spots outside of Palm Springs. Driving through, it definitely left a lasting impression. There was wild art installations, ramshackle dwellings, lots of trash, but also community.
📍Bombay Beach
Lastly, we took a drive through Bombay Beach, about an hour southeast of Palm Springs, CA. This town used to be a popular resort getaway in the 1950s before the increasing salinity of the Salton Sea destroyed the lakes ecosystem. The town is one of the lowest settlements in elevation in North America, 223’ below sea level. A ghost town with somewhat post-apocalyptic vibes is now being inhabited by creatives, and home to burgeoning art installations. Driving through felt a lot like a continuation of The Slabs but in a town.
📍Sunnylands Center & Gardens
On our last full day in Palm Springs, we visited the Center & Gardens of the 1966 historic Sunnylands estate. The estate was a winter home of Ambassadors Walter and Leonore Annenberg and serves as a retreat center for high-level national and world leaders seeking the privacy, peace, and the pause needed for solving the most pressing national and international issues. We enjoyed strolling the nine acres of desert gardens.
📍Faye Sarkowsky Sculpture Garden
And of course pics from day-to-day life
