Arizona Sonora Desert Museum

Tuesday we took in the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. Colleen has been lobbying for me to see this, her favorite spot in Tucson, for a couple of years. It did not disappoint. Unfortunately, Colleen could not go with us as she has taken on a part-time job with the Tucson area schools and was having an audit of her program this week.

The Museum is located in the Tucson Mountains on the other side of I-10 from the main city of Tucson. To get to it, you have to drive up Tucson Mountain, thru Gates Pass, and then down a steep, narrow, windy mountain road with no guardrails back to the desert floor. It was an exciting ride. On the drive down, the whole valley is covered with giant Saguaro (the "g" is pronounced as a "y") cacti as far as the eye can see. They look like soldiers guarding sentry over the valley and up the sides of the mountains. Impressive!

It is a short drive to the Arizona Sonora Museum from there. Colleen is a member and had provided us with free guest passes (thanks so much Colleen). We picked up a map for our self-guided tour. Since we weren't sure how to begin, a very friendly museum docent helped us get going. I have to say that all the museum docents were very friendly and made our visit wonderful. The Museum is mostly outdoors and consists of a series of interconnected loop trails of mostly desert plants and a few desert animals. They display over 40,000 plants (not including grasses) from 1,300 different species, as well as 20 endangered desert animal species.



We started off on the Ancient Arizona loop trail. We were a little confused because we thought we would learn about the peoples of ancient Arizona, but it turned out to be about ancient Arizona plants, although I have to say it was not well-labelled. That trail segued into the Grasslands Trail, which did have some plants labelled. There were a few plants there that we had not seen before and would have liked to know their names, but they were still beautiful. Even in February a few of them were starting to bloom.

This trail then segued into the Desert Loop Trail - one of the longest trails in the museum. And one of the most interesting for us. The trail had every type of cactus, agave, and aloe plant you could imagine. In the agave garden, the Museum did a good job of explaining the difference between the 3 different types of desert plants that all look so alike to those of us from Minnesota. They particularly had quite a collection of agaves.



Also, along the Desert Loop Trail were the cat canyon with ocelet and bobcat, and a special enclosure for the coyotes, and another one for javelinas (who are quite offended when you call them cute little pigs). We ended the trail at the gift shop where I bought some T-shirts and post cards. We split a chocolate croissant, I had mint tea and Carol had a prickly pear drink. We were carefully watched the whole time by a small bird who was waiting for us to drop some crumbs.



We took a short drive up to Saguaro National Park to get a map and find out what there would be to do there the following day. Then since it was getting close to 5 pm, we headed to Gates Pass where we wanted to get photos of the sunset in the mountain range to the west of Gates Pass. There was an interesting crowd gathering for the same purpose. We did get some spectacular photos. When we got home sort of late, Colleen and Dan had made salmon with baked sweet potatoes for dinner. Nummmmm.

Day 18 - Return to Tucson

The morning of Day 18 was bright, sunny, and calm. What a change from last night! We got dressed, put the camper down, and hit the road. Well almost, as we were pulling out of our camping space, the neighbor came over to ask if we knew that we still had the wheel on the front tongue. No, no we did not. On the way in to Indio on Friday, we kept seeing advertisements for date milk shakes. So, we decided to stop at Shield's Date Garden to have breakfast and a date milk shake. I was expecting a diner, since the restaurant was advertising that they sold everything under the sun including tourist souvenirs. When we walked in the first sight that greeted us was rows and rows of souvenirs and a soda fountain counter. So, we naturally thought this was the dining space there. The lady behind the counter asked if we wanted date milk shakes; we answered yes, that and breakfast. My, was that the magic word. She ushered us through the souvenir and all-things-date-for-sale shop to the back into what can only be described as an upscale garden oasis patio.



We had a fabulous breakfast. I had an eggplant, mushroom, tomato and feta cheese omelette. It was fluffy and buttery; just the way I like it. Carol had two eggs sunny-side-up with hashbrowns and fruit. Both breakfasts came with their specialty walnut and date toast. We were both happy that we had not found this place before we were on our way out of town because it really would have blown a hole in our budgets. After breakfast, we bought postcards and chocolate covered dates from the shop, and took a tour of their gardens. The gardens were huge and done up as life-sized biblical scenes. It could have been kind of kitschy, but it was not.

And then we hit the road. The winds had started coming up again while we were eating breakfast, but no where near as frightening as the previous night in the camper. We drove the whole way to Tucson along I-10, with some steady winds from the NW. Luckily this was mostly from behind us and not from the side except for a long stretch along the Chiriaco Mountains where we ran into a huge dust storm that was blowing in from the camper's left side. But the winds must have been more like 15 mph, as the camper was not being pushed off the road by the winds.

We drove thru Phoenix at rush hour on a Monday - of course - but traffic did not seem that bad. And we arrived in Tucson about 7 pm to discover that Dan and Colleen had made vegetable soup. Just the thing as the temperatures had started to drop after that huge Sunday wind storm. It felt like returning home!

Palm Springs, Dahling

On Sunday, we decided to do some clean up, and rest up activities in the morning - laundry, camera downloads, blogging, etc. Then we headed off to Palm Springs for some sightseeing in the afternoon. There is no good signage helping two tourists find their way into Palm Springs. I guess that is what keeps it so exclusive. We did eventually locate the town and drove down Palm Canyon Drive and up Indian Canyon Drive. Carol and I decided about the only thing we could afford in this shopping district was a drink. So, we started searching for a watering hole.

We liked the look of Oscar's Cafe & Bar, so stopped there. Turned out to be a gay bar. The bartenders were very friendly and entertaining. And the architecture of the bar was amazing. I had a Moscow mule and Carol had an Amaretto. We took photos of the front, the ceiling, and the courtyard. Did I mention that it started raining as soon as we drove into town. Palm Springs is in the desert so a real soaking rain shower is very rare. I had an umbrella and Carol had a hood on her jacket, so we were fine. But the bartenders said that they were closing up early because of the "storm." Carol and I walked back to the car along Palm Canyon Drive.



By this time, the rain "storm" had stopped. I stopped to chat with the statue of Lucille Ball who is seated on a bench, and to buy some post cards. We headed by to the camper, and had left-overs for dinner. Carol read while I downloaded more photos from Joshua Tree (we took hundreds), and worked on the blog.

As we were doing that, a real desert wind storm kicked up. The top of the camper was swaying wildly from side to side, and the side tents were flapping so much, I thought they had come loose, but they had not. The winds were predicted to gust up to 55 mph, which seemed like what we were experiencing. The prediction was also for it to continue the next day - our planned day of travel to Tucson. The wind died down by 2:30 am, and Monday morning was beautiful and calm.

Joshua Tree National Park

It got cold here in Indio last night and I tried to start the heater in the camper. Connected the gas, turned on the heater from outside the camper, turned on the thermostat. Nothing. Tried everything I could think of at 3 am. Nothing. In the morning, I read the instructions. Put a new fuse in. Nothing. Carol woke up and said we should look behind the heater to see if there is something wrong with the wiring behind the heater. So I lifted up the sink and the furnace started working. We are now calling it the sink switch.

We ate the no-cook oatmeal which turned out great even if I did forget one ingredient. Carol loved it. We picked up my National Geographic guide to the national parks and my parks passport and headed off to the south end of Joshua Tree park. First stop was Cottonwood Spring visitor center where we picked up a map, bought some post cards, and had a chat with the parks volunteer ranger. As we drove along the Pinto Basin Road, there were pull-offs regularly. Being fresh, we pulled off at all of them, got out, walked around and took photos. The south end of the park is in the Sonoran Desert which has certain types of plants and cacti, like yucca, collas, and an invasive wild misletoe whose red color makes them stand out in the brown desert. The high point of the drive thru the Sonora was the cholla cactus garden. There were thousands and thousands of cholla stretching for miles down the canyon. We walked along a wide path lined with stones, and discovered that the cholla were getting ready to bloom. We were about a week too early.



We also discovered that the cacti "sing" in the wind. I tried to capture the song they make in a movie. The 40 second video doesn't really capture the musicality of the wind thru the cacti.

We also stopped at Pinto Mountain basin, which is a wide, flat area at the base of the mountains that used to have a river that sustained herds of camel, elk, buffalo, and rabbits. There was also an ancient Native American tribe that called that valley home. Now it is just barren desert and no one lives there. We were fascinated by how much the physical space has changed over 9,000 years.

We tried to stop and take a 0.3 mile hike to a natural rock arch, but there was no parking anywhere, so we had to pass that feature up.

Next up were the Jumbo Rocks, which looked like the backsides of giant elephants. They were cool rock formations. Lots of kids and teenagers were climbing all over them. At the visitor center, the park had some cards picturing this scene and it was labelled "Homo Sapiens Climberus." We enjoyed the playful sense of humor of the staff. Carol & I climbed up just a little bit and took lots of photos.


Shortly after this, the park changed from Sonoran Desert (at 3,000 foot elevation) to Mojave Desert (at 4,000 foot elevation). The climb was very gradual and we didn't really notice it, but the vegetation started changing and we saw our first Joshua Tree. So, we had to photograph our first one. From then on, we took dozens of photos as the trees changed from one single tree to dozens of trees to hundreds of trees in groves to practically a forest of Joshua Trees. Pat turned into a tree hugger.



We took a little detour off the main road to visit Key View. The view was indeed spectacular, but what we will always remember about Key View is the wind. We had to brace ourselves and lean into the wind and hope that we could get a photo before the wind blew us backwards. One of the other people up there with us said the wind was 70 mph. I would believe it. I have never been in a gale force wind, perhaps until now.



We tried unsuccessfully to find the Hidden Valley trail in my National Geographic National Parks guide. The problem is that there were 3 locations all called Hidden Valley. We walked around at one of them and had fun, but we don't think that was the trail they talked about in my book. That Hidden Valley is where cattle rustlers used to hide their ill-gotten cattle until they could sell them. Being tired and hungry by this point, we opted for dinner in Joshua Tree (the town). With help from the Visitor Center, we ate at Sam's Middle Eastern and Pizza restaurant. I had Naan stuffed with coconut and golden raisins with a honey glaze, and chicken Korma. Carol had a vegetarian Daal. It was excellent! Who knew one could find great food is such a tiny town! On the way back to Indio (we took Highway 62 instead of backtracking thru the park), we stopped in Pioneertown which is about 5 miles north of Yucca Valley on a little windy mountain road. Some of the Skare relatives in my genealogy owned a trailer park in Pioneertown in the 1940s. The whole tiny town is still sort of a replica of a TV set Western town. We stopped at Pappy & Harriet's roadhouse. The roadhouse was packed to the rafters with people. More people than could possibly live in the town or its surroundings. We couldn't find a seat, so we twirled around the place and left.

The drive back on Highway 62 was interesting. We had been gradually been climbing in elevation all day during our drive thru Joshua Tree. Now we were descending in one constant downhill descent that had trucks going 40 mph for what seemed like about 30 miles. The descent never ended! Then we got lost a little trying to get off the freeway (I-10) from the opposite direction we had gotten off when we came into Indio the night before.

Day 15 - Climbing to Joshua Tree

Carol & I met for breakfast with her friend K.C.; had breakfast, packed up the car, and headed for Joshua Tree National Park in Indio, California. We arrived in Indio at 4 pm, and set up the camper. I just could not back in, so Carol & I were going to push it in, when the guy next door came over and helped us. We are staying at Indian Wells RV Resort, and so far everyone has been really nice. The only problem is that we can't figure out how to open the door to the restrooms.



Let me backtrack a little. Along the way, we passed the Salton Sea which was a really sad sight. It used to be a huge salt lake in the middle of this desert. But it has been drying up for years and is now just a tiny lake, with miles and miles of salt so thick on the ground that it looks like snow. And the sunsets in the mountains are amazing.

A Day at the Beach

Jean and Bud took me to sight see at the beach today. First we went to the LaJolla beach. The beach is below a bluff and at the top of the bluff is a linear park. The City has built small little screen houses with three benches around the 3 walls facing the ocean. Jean said that she used to make breakfast of muffins and fruit and bring guests and family members to those little houses to eat breakfast and watch the waves break over the beach. She has fond memories of that. We walked along the top of the bluff and I took some photos. At one spot there is a curved sea wall that creates a protected beach. Bud said this used to be called the Children's Pool and was available for children to swim in protected from the breaking waves. However, now it has been taken over by pupping seals and is closed. We got as close as we were allowed to the seals sunbathing on the beach.


Then we unintentionally took a tour of the beach neighborhood of LaJolla because the City was doing a lot of street work and many streets were blocked off. It is a lovely, upscale suburb with a lot of Rodeo Drive type shops, yoga studios, and high end art galleries.

Next we drove over to Old Town. When San Diego was first settled as a cow town, this area was the first part of the area settled. There is a replica of what the town looked like in the late 1800s at the Visitor Information Center. Old Town is laid out with a large rectangular village green surrounded by old historic buildings - some of which house museum-type displays of what used to be in that space, such as a sheriff's office and a schoolhouse, and some of which house shops like jewelers, clothiers, etc. We walked around the village green and stopped in a few buildings. In the tobacco shop, the owner has his own personal collection

of pipes on display. One of his pipes is 5 centuries old. Most of them are 17th and 18th Century. And he sells pipe tobacco, cigarette lighters, etc. The sheriff's office boasts a wax sheriff and a desk for the circuit riding judge who would hold court there. The schoolhouse is a one-room school. The Commercial Hotel is still a hotel, although it is undergoing renovation and so is not open for booking rooms right now. The photo is of me bellying up to the Commercial Hotel bar.

A couple of cowboys were on the village green presenting Shakespeare plays in a hilarious old-West way. We watched the tail end of Hamlet. And Hamlet was a ham.

We ate in the Spanish mission style building that adjoins this Old Town at a central courtyard restaurant called Casa de Reyes. The meal was excellent, but huge. And the smallest margarita on the menu was 12 ounces; largest was 58 ounces. I got the 12 ounce margarita and had to leave some of it sitting there.

We drove over to Coronado, but took a twirl thru downtown on the way. The Hotel del Coronado is amazing. It is absolutely huge. It sits on a peninsula, and must take up about 3 city blocks. This hotel played an important role in Marilyn Monroe's movie "Some Like it Hot," but has been featured briefly in many, many other movies over the years. The photo on the left is the back of the hotel and the photo on the right is the front.

There was a guy creating a sand castle on the beach right next to another even more elaborate sand castle. I asked him how long his sand castles last. He said that the more elaborate one was his also and it was a week old. He creates a new sand castle or some type of sand sculpture at least once a week. Often he gets paid to do special birthday or anniversary editions. Very cool. The sand on the La Coronado beach was straight out of central casting. It was so soft and fine, it was almost powdery. As you can see by the photo on the right, I have worn appropriate footwear for the beach. Cousin Jean is barely visible in the far right corner of the photo on the left.

More Genealogy

Today, some of Jean's Skare cousins, Carole Thompson and Jean Soenes and we spent the entire afternoon making another mess on Jean Shogren's dining room table, talking genealogy, sharing stories, and sharing photographs. Carole and the second Jean are descendants of Johan Skare and Nilje (Knudsen) Skare. I got some missing information filled in and learned a lot more about the mysterious Stener Skare - international man of mystery.

Then in the evening, Jean's sister Rosalie and her niece Marit came over for dinner that Bud had whipped up. He made a wonderful beef stew in the crock pot. We laughed and laughed and laughed. Marit taught me how to play a dice game called "Greed." I even won one round.