We took advantage of our last Friday in this area to finish seeing Joshua Tree National Park. Of course, we still didn’t see it all. Aside of all of the trails to hike, there are all of those rocks to climb. We did take in a nature trail or two, but mostly we were just enjoying our drive through the deserts. (Joshua Tree NP is where the Colorado Desert joins the Mohave Desert. Just so you know.)

The east side of the park is much more desert, and much less rock, but it still was interesting.
Here’s the map -

(Not that you can see it very well, but the blue is our “getting there” route, and the orange is our “getting home” route.)
And here are pictures from along the way….





We did stop at the cholla garden –



And while we saw lots of interesting sights along the way -

I do believe that this is what Gary had been looking for all along!


Ah, yes. Tire tracks through the desert. A Gary kind of road!



And then there was the …road? Which way did it go?

We knew we had chosen well, when we finally spotted the Salton Sea in the distance -

The road began to improve (and I use the term loosely) and we could see I10 in the distance.

Another dirt road adventure completed successfully!
Oh, we did find another canyon road to finish up the day – and it was a very pretty drive.

But, hey – it’s PAVED!

Tomorrow is the last day of our February Sower project at Coachella Valley Rescue Mission. And I suppose I always say this, but where does the time go?! It’s been a good project – while there weren’t any “big” projects (like building a deck or finishing an addition), the guys worked hard on various repairs and painting projects, and really spruced the place up!

We ladies did a little painting too, but mostly we worked in the office and finished out the project sorting clothes for the thrift shop.

Oh, yeah – We LOVE the Thrift Shop Shuffle!
One of the high points of our time working at the mission was being able to attend one of their graduations. About 15 men and women graduated from their two different programs, and it was inspiring to hear some of their stories and learn of God’s Grace in their lives. We also heard from many of the clients during our morning devotions. Men and women, young (18) and old (55), who found themselves on the street, usually as a result of different addictions and poor life choices. Some arrived at the mission with a little “nudge from the judge”, and some found their way simply because they needed a meal or a hot shower or a safe place to spend the night. The CVRM webpage says – “Not housing the homeless, but ending the homelessness. One life at a time.” And after our three weeks there, we can see that philosophy in action. This is an amazing ministry.
But our time here has certainly not been all work. Aside from our weekend fun (Dates Festivals and such), we had a potluck with other SOWERs in the area (there were about thirty of us!),

we took a drive to check out a camp near Julian that might become a SOWER project

and of course, don’t forget those great Happy Hours -

And while the commute and our “split” parking sites have presented some challenges, it’s hard to even whisper a complaint when we begin the day with this -

and end it with this -

Amen.

Want to come along to the County Fair/Date Festival? Here we go!




We started early in the morning because we wanted to catch the Ostrich and Camel Races. I mean really, who would want to miss that!
The arena-

The contenders -

Who you looking at….

And they’re off!

Oops -

No ostriches or jockeys were hurt in the filming of this race!
Before they started the camel race, there were some audience participation activities -
Little girls chasing emus -

and more small girls herding chickens -

OK – back to the “big event”

(and here’s the rest of the picture!)

All the races were very fun to watch , and here are a couple of video’s from the ostrich races. (I must have been too engrossed in the camel race to hit the “record” button!)
The Ostrich Chariot Race:

And ridin’ em bareback -

We skipped the alligator wrestling and pig races, but enjoyed lots of other fair sights and sounds -

It was a fun morning, but before we succumbed to the expensive (and fried) fair food, we left to run our Saturday errands. But, since there was some interesting entertainment scheduled for the evening, I joined friends Laura and Ed for a return later in the day!


There was a wonderful “pageant” that was presented on this stage -

which looked a little more magical once it got dark.

The performance was great – a mythical story, complete with princes and princesses, fairies and genies, and a musical score that went from Gilligan’s Island to show tunes to today’s pop hits. It was lots of fun!
The other thing we had returned for was the “Headliner” – tonight’s main attraction was Country Music Artist, Rodney Atkins. We really enjoyed his concert -

but I must confess that the opening act that night – Lucas Nelson (son of Willie Nelson) was a little, um, hard on these old ears! The younguns’ in the front of the arena certainly seem to be enjoying him!

It was a great fair! We didn’t get to see everything (I totally missed the building with all the date displays and cooking shows. Duh.), but what we did get to see and do we certainly enjoyed.
But one thing I didn’t miss was THIS ride-

And I didn’t start the camera until the second bounce.

Whether you’re being serious, silly or smiley, you are beautiful inside and out!
A very Happy Birthday shout-out to our daughter, Tammy!
We are blessed to have you in our family – and Toby is one lucky dude!

As I mentioned in my last post, there was lots to do in the Coachella Valley this weekend. We decided to wait until next weekend to do the county fair and Date Fest, but managed to fill our weekend with some good times. The weather this weekend was amazing. Sunny and in the 70′s – just like that cute weather girl promised! As we started out on Saturday we came across (literally) the Tour de Palm Springs – a charity ride that had about 10,000 cyclists. They had been streaming by the house all morning, and by the time we set out, it was quite an impressive sight.

There were so many bikes on the road it was hard to turn left on Thousand Palms Canyon Drive (or ten hundred palm drive as our friendly GPS calls it!) to get to our first destination of the day-The Coachella Valley Preserve. It turns out they have a nice little 2 mile hike that sounded just right for us (especially we hadn’t really dressed to go hiking in the desert!) And while we learned that one of the chief purposes of the preserve is to protect the habitat of a little lizard -

(this probably is NOT the one they are protecting since we saw several of them, but hey, it was the only lizard I could get a picture of!)
we thought that THIS is what is truly spectacular about this preserve -

and this

and this

NOW we know what a desert oasis is really like.
Beautiful!
Back on the road after the hike – lots of bikes heading into Palm Springs!

Our next destination -
The Greek Festival at St. George’s Greek Orthodox Church.

Some great Greek food -

(these are the loukoumades. Mmmmmmm)
A little impromptu Greek Dancing -

and a tour of the Church -

The art in the dome was done all in 1/2 inch mosaic tiles. Very impressive.

The rest of the day was spent doing errands – and just basically enjoying the lovely day!

And today, Valentine’s Day? We exchanged some really expensive gifts this year – Gary got me two new tires for the truck, and I got him the other two. I mean, really, how romantic was that?!