Day 2 – Joshua Tree, Dates, and Architecture

Today we got up early to head to Joshua Tree National Park, but not early enough to get there for sunrise.  I did not feel like getting up at 3:00AM to do that, since the park is an hour away and I have not been there before.   It is always good to do reconnaissance before a sunrise shoot.   We got to the west entrance visitor center around 7:30AM just a little bit after it opened.  The visitor center has a large sign at the entrance saying “don’t die today, hike responsibly.”  Inside it lists recommended hikes for the outdoor temperature and a person’s fitness level.  We were only going to do short easy trails.  Once we got our park passport stamps, a couple souvenirs, and looked at the recommended hikes; we headed into the park. 

                  

Part of this is on me and part of this is on the park.  I should have loaded all possible hike locations in to the GPS before entering the park, because it has no cell signal.  However the signage is the park is lacking, and it is not clear where the trail heads are.  They have lots of signs that say “exhibit ahead” which means there is some sort of informational sign about a geological feature, plant, or history. What I didn’t know was this also means there is probably a trail head there if it is a large parking lot.   So, we didn’t do as much walking/hiking as I would of liked, while it was still cool outside. The temperature, according to the car, when we arrived in the park was about 80F and by the time we left at 11:30 it was 90F, cooler than downtown Palm Springs.   We did manage to do a two walks, a 1 mile walk out to see arch rock and then a .25 mile walk around the Cholla Cactus Garden.  I really wanted to do the Skull Rock trail, but I missed the trailhead and ended up at Split Rock which is a moderate 2 mile trail we weren’t going to do.  I was trying to keep the trails to about a mile or less.   After the exiting the park via the Cotton Wood Entrance we headed to Shield’s Dates for lunch.

Shield’s Dates is a date farm, garden, restaurant, and gift shop.  We didn’t walk in the garden, but we did have lunch. I got a grilled chicken tostada salad minus the red onion and mom got a turkey club.  I thought the salad was good and I liked their spicy ranch dressing, it had the right amount of zing to it.  Mom’s turkey club came out on Texas toast, with healthy helpings of roast turkey breast and bacon. The food was good.  We then stopped in the gift shop where mom picked up some dates and got a scoop of the date ice cream.  I decided against the date milk shake, my tummy isn’t always fond of milk shakes and I think the dates wouldn’t of done me any favors.   After that we headed back into downtown Palm Springs to the architecture museum. Because by that time it was 110F and we weren’t going to do anything outside.

I do like architecture and seeing interesting building designs. This museum was dedicated to the work of Albert Frey who is the father of “desert modernism”.   The museum showed his work, several architectural models, drawings, and photographs of the buildings then and now.  I especially liked the digitized promotional video they were showing for the Salton Sea resort that he designed.  Honestly, I liked several of his designs and if I ever built a house might incorporate some of the design features into my home.  After that we headed back to the hotel where I relaxed in the room while mom went to the pool for a bit.  

Tomorrow, we head back to San Diego, with a possible stop in Temecula Valley to visit a winery.  All depends on wheat time we leave the hotel and go through Temecula.