I hit the “publish” button for my last post – “The Promise of Spring“, took a quick nap and then joined the other Sower’s over at “their place” for one last game of cards. And wouldn’t you know it, over there, on their patch of desert, was this beautiful sight -

Now that is some beautiful Promise of Spring!

Now, I know that lots of you are still under a significant (and possibly annoying) blanket of snow, but here in the desert, things are beginning to feel like spring. I was hoping that we would still be here when the desert really blooms, but it looks like we’ll miss the Really Big Show. However, as I took a last little walk around the grounds today, and then checked back through some other shots I’ve taken this month, I definitel feel like the Big Bloom is just around the corner.
(Please don’t ask me to identify these flowers! Generally speaking, if they don’t come with an identifying spike, I’m clueless!)

Here are some of the pink ones -


And a selection of the yellow ones (I know, I’m getting pretty technical here….)

Some odds and ends (the one on the bottom right is from a tree, and the one with the truck in the background is a fairly good sized bush)

Ok, this one I know – the Ocotillo. This looks like a cactus, but is not. When it’s dry, it drops all of its leaves to conserve water. Once it rains, little green leaves pop out all along the stem. And then they produce those beautiful red “flag” flowers on the very tips. Not very many of the ones we saw at Joshua Tree were in bloom, but we did find a couple. Pretty cool, doncha think?

And then there are the cacti.
Can you see the buds hiding in the thorns on the top picture?

I bet they are going to be beautiful.
And these -

or this one -

Even the Cholla were getting ready to bud -

The flowers on the cholla will be magenta. Man, I hope we find some of those at our next stop!
Since the locals have all been commenting on just how green everything is becoming, I thought I’d compare a couple of pictures I took today with ones taken back in early February. The pictures on the left are from Feb 4, the ones on the right, Mar. 1.

Ok, I guess I can see a little bit more green. But I confess, it’s hard for this Pennsylvania/New England girl to really get caught up in how green everything is here. (But then again, PA nots so very green right now either!).
Ah, the Promise of Spring!

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Tomorrow we will be leaving the Coachella Valley behind. We are heading to our March project, Crosswind Community Church , up in the “high desert” north of Los Angeles. I think there might be hope for Spring in the Desert yet!

PS – there are a couple more flower shots, along with the ones I used in the collages HERE, if you’d like to check them out.

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!

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.

Back in November we made our first foray into Joshua Tree National Park. It was a great day, and we knew we wanted to return. Today we finally made it back to check out a couple more sections of this fascinating park.
The Keys Ranch – or Desert Queen Ranch – Tour
The ranger-guided tour of the ranch includes the colorful story of the 60 years Bill and Frances spent working together to make a life and raise their five children in this remote location. The ranch house, school house, store, and workshop still stand; the orchard has been replanted; and the grounds are full of the cars, trucks, mining equipment, and spare parts that are a part of the Desert Queen Ranch story.Ok – that’s the official summary. Here’s the reality –

We didn’t have a long walk to get to the ranch from our parking spot, but to say the ranch was “remote” was quite the understatement.

Thanks to the recent rain (this area got over 4 inches – quite a deluge for them), there was actually water flowing in the stream. Our ranger/guide said it was the first time he didn’t have to say “imagine water running here….”

Here’s the first view of the ranch –

The actual ranch house –

Windmill and well -

Here’s that stream again –

These folks never threw anything away, and made their living any way they could think of. When the area became a national park, they opened a small store and even had a couple of cabins available for hardy travelers.


Here’s one of the cabins –



It was a very interesting tour – and it made me realize how very hardy and innovative the Keys family was. Someone lived at this ranch until 1969 and it’s a real testimony to the American Spirit.
Barker Dam Trail
From the Ranch we took a short drive over to the Barker Dam trailhead. William Keys helped with this dam in the early 1900’s with other area ranchers. I don’t know if there is always water in this reservoir, but again thanks to last week’s rain, we were treated to some lovely water views. It was a great short hike – really just perfect for our little group of 6.


(I loved the color on this one.)
And finally the reservoir –




Here we all are for the official “group shot” –

We had a really fun day – learned a little history, marveled at the ingenuity of man and the Masters’ creation around us, and finished it off with great lunch at the Crossroads Café in the town of Joshua Tree.

We still have about half of Joshua Tree National Park to explore, so I hope we’ll get a chance to do at least more excursion!