THE ROAD TO PALM SPRINGS

Our spring break trip this year was a road trip to Palm Springs.

Since I had not been to Joshua Tree, we took the scenic route, 

although I bet we would have taken it anyway.

We took a little break at Kelso Depot.  We were there a couple years ago and I probably posted almost these same pictures then.

It was once a busy train station and the station house, now a visitor center, is really beautiful.

 On the lower level of the station there was a really cool art show from a "local" watercolorist who is also a biologist.  Her artwork is micro-organisms.

 Oscar is a great traveler.  He just settles in and away we go.  Periodically he needs to sit on

one of his people, however.

The drive through the park is roughly egg shaped.  We drove the shorter leg, roughly 1/3 of the park.

(I think Adam posted photos from the drive home, the 2/3 leg.)

The trees are stunning. I am pretty sure Dr. Seuss must have used them for inspiration.

The desert was green and 

in bloom - cactus,

and all manner of wild flowers.

This section of the park also has these incredible boulders!  

I'm guessing most of you have seen them, but it was my first time and I was duly impressed.

There were several wonderful camp grounds where the sites were tucked back into the rocks. 

 I understand there is some pretty good bouldering also...

"the Sphinx" and "the Hawk",

and my personal favorite:

"Lady in Repose"

:)

Love you all.

Mom

The $100 Hamburger

On Wednesday, last week, Adam took his first passengers on a 2+/- hour trip out to lunch.  

We flew from Henderson Airport to Lake Havasu City Airport where we had a very nice

lunch at the new Hanger 24 Brewery.  

You might be wondering why there is a Brewery at a tiny, little airport where most of the customers would be pilots...I know I was??

We had Root Beer, by the way, and then refueled and flew back to Henderson...sort of like a Sunday afternoon drive, but a lot more fun.

It drives me crazy that I don't know what order these pictures should be in, but I don't.

I hope you enjoy the story and the scenery, even if the order is off.  

Probably only Adam knows...and your Dad, of course. 

This is one of the open hangers at the Henderson Airport.

The airport is very nice and as you might expect has quite a bit of private plane traffic.

The club Adam belongs to has some "new digs" at the facility and they own 4 planes. 

Adam has logged hours in 3 of the 4.

This was our "ride" for the day.

Here we are getting ready to board.

It was a beautiful day, by the way.

We flew over this giant solar facility.  It is one of the largest in the world.

Nevada Solar One

I love this picture.  

It is the solar installation from a distance.  

It looks like space ships landing

We flew over the Mojave National Preserve.

It has been an unusually wet winter and spring 

and you can see from this photo how green everything is.

Everything is colorful and in bloom.

You can see the Colorado River winding its way though the landscape.

The flower bloom shows especially well in this picture.

Sky, mountains, hills, floodplains, little rivers flowing into the big river.

...and the little rivers running out into the big river.

It was hard to stop taking pictures.

Crop circles (and rectangles)...agriculture in the desert.

It was an awesome experience.  It was fun to see Adam do his thing and the ride was great.  

I have lots more pictures and some video (which I don't know how to put on the

blog) and your Dad has some pictures also .

Love, Mom

A Cactus Tour of the L&A B&B property

I want to start out by inviting you to just look at the cactus pictures.

They are pretty cool and from L&A's yard with just 1 exception.

The rest may be TMI for you.

Enjoy!  Pictures...print...both.

A couple of days ago, your Dad and I made our trek down the street to Cactus Joe's.

We love the place...it is a little different, but mostly the same each time we go.

Think the Boyerts of cactus.

 My main reason for going, lol, was to see how much the cactus in the yard might be worth...lol.

Suffice it to say that L&A could sell off their yard cactus and retire...almost anyway.

The smallest size I saw was a quart container, the lowest price was $30.00

Adam thinks that this lovely specimen is probably a Home Depot sub-species of the Pricklypear.

Think 4 - 6 pads per quart.  It is a happy dude, for sure!

Also a Pricklypear variety, this lovely gem is gigantic!  

The large pads are bigger than my hand with my finger spread out...it is really lovely.

It looks like the blooms will be yellow

This beauty is the indigenous Beavertail cactus.  They are just now coming into bloom and the pads are loaded with buds.  These are one of the first cactus to bloom in Red Rocks and

it appears that they are going to put on quite a display this year.

Supposedly the pads and the fruit are edible.

I have a teeny tiny specimen of this Branched Pencil Cholla on the plant porch at home.

I collected it the last time we were here in spring of 2015.  I think it has 1 "pencil & 2 branches" and has grown about 1/4 inch in 2 years.  (At least it is alive)  This is the largest clump of 5 that are in the same area.  They are also loaded with buds.  I would estimate 20 qt pots of this one in the yard.

This is the specimen plant at Cactus Joe's!

 I didn't even realize what it was until your Dad pointed it out.

I think this is the Strawberry Hedgehog.  

It will have large fuchsia colored blooms, similar to above, followed by an edible, sweet fruit.  

Maybe 3 stems /qt.

I only found 1 of these Cottontops.  

Pretty sure it would not fit in a qt container, but I can't think how you would transplant it anyway!

And this beautiful California Barrel cactus is easily 2x the size of the Cottontop.

(thought my foot might provide some size reference...but not so much :/)

These species of cactus are all in the field across the street. 

This is an easy place to take Oscar to run and also

a beautiful and easy hike for Oscar's people.

The "breakfast nook" at the L&A B&B

Love, Mom

Rainy Day Walk

Pretty funny - I just found this post in my drafts.  I think it was back in early February - before we went to Kiawah.

How may pictures of lichen would you like to see?

These pictures are on the hiking trail that starts (for us at least) by Champion Creek on South Broadway.

No idea, but I like it :-)

some pictures never get old.

No, this is not lichen, it is fungus.

and red berries

Arlo checking out the status of Champion Creek on Grant Street

I forgot about this, lol, Maggie got tired.

I must say, it has been nice to see some sunshine!  Hope you enjoy some this coming week also!!

From Las Vegas - A Baker's Dozen Photos

After an easy flight we arrived in Vegas in time for a pretty interesting wind storm.  We were downtown at the time and drove out dodging quite a bit of debris.  There was a little shingle repair work to do next day.

On Saturday we hiked a beautiful trail about 15 minutes from the house.  It was lovely...so green...early flowers...

and great hiking guides.

Desert Paint Brush

Banana Yucca - very cool

I still need to look this one up but it was very cool...my current favorite.

And our destination...the ancient glyphs...with some less ancient lichen.

In the evening we went to Spring Mountain Ranch to attend a star gazing event.  Everyone from an astrophysicist to hobbyists were there with their telescopes pointed at the sky.  

It was awesome, but definitely darker in Keith's backyard!

Today we went to the Springs Preserve.  There was a spring plant sale.  We walked about the gardens and toured the eco - house (so awesome) ...  

...and took some more pictures of some more flowers, of course.

...then downtown for a quick tour of the container park.

Back home I toured the yard and enjoyed the blooms in the yard there.

  This yucca is a good 7 - 8 tall.  No picture can do the flowers justice.

This beautiful flower is draped through another shrub.  

I don't know what either of them are.

I would love to do a count of the different species of plants in the yard. 

 It is remarkable how many there are.

Love you all.