Funny-looking trees

Anyone ever listened to U2 The Joshua Tree and wondered? I did... and they are cool.
see all photos »

I left LA on the evening of the 4th for Palm Springs. On arrival I got a ride with a girl I met on the train into town. Took me a while to catch on but it turns out I happened to be in the city for the weekend of the biggest lesbian festival/dance party in the world! No problems with that except it was pretty crowded and there were a few partying girls at my hotel. I was tired enough to sleep through most of it.

Palm Springs is pretty much a mega golf resort for the rich and elderly. There are 185 golf courses in the area. It is a beautiful setting, surrounded my massive mountains and desert, but there must be an awful lot of waste involved in keeping things running (especially water.)

Typical desert view in the National Park
see all photos »

On the morning of the 5th I had my Hummer tour (still feeling guilty about that bout of gas-guzzling.) First we stopped at a palm oasis on the San Andreas fault, then headed to the desert canyons. Saw some great cacti and desert flowers, as well as a cave where a mountain lion apparently lives. We didn't see it though!

At the Joshua Trees we got out for a walk around - amazingly long views as well as the fantastic trees. They are really strange trees but I think they're so cool.

In the afternoon I walked around town. It was very hot and sunny but even after a few hours I didn't get sunburnt. Gotta love that ozone layer.

Our Hummer - if you saw the road you would know why we needed it!
see all photos »

The morning of the 6th I headed back to LA again, felt a bit like Groundhog Day. I walked from the Station back to the hotel, stopping off at MOCA which was cool.

That evening Robin took me out to the Standard Hotel, a fun place for people-watching, very poser-ish, on a rooftop and surrounded by skyscrapers. After that we had dinner at a diner which had Giesen SB on the wine list. Impressive. I had a local wine though and skipped the Merlot (thinking of Sideways!)