Joshua Tree to the coast

The next few days were spent exploring Joshua Tree National Park and some of the roads across southern California between the Mojave Desert and the coast at Ventura, CA.  Before heading into the park we grabbed some sandwiches for lunch, knowing that we would not have another opportunity for food until we checked into our hotel in the evening.

We entered Joshua Tree National Park from the south and before we even hit the first visitors’ center we spotted a quick circular trail that gives visitors an overview of desert plant life via interpretive signs placed along the quick loop.  We took this opportunity to stretch our legs, if only for a few minutes, before driving further into the park.

We soon made a quick stop at the visitors’ center to grab some maps and literature on the park.  We drove further into the park to our first lengthy stop at Cholla Cactus Garden where there was another short walk through a large concentration of Cholla cacti.  Cholla cactus have been nicknamed the “teddy bear” cactus, but this is one teddy bear you do not want to hug. The cactus is covered in spines that will latch in to your skin on the slightest touch.   We found this to be probably the most crowded part of the park, with maybe only 15 or so cars there.  Maybe it is the time of the year or the obscurity of the park as a National Park, but the park was very much uncrowded.

After walking among the cacti for a bit we made another stop a little further up the road at an interesting rock formation on the side of the road.  After getting out and climbing on the rocks a little bit we noticed a small dirt road leading away from the main road.  It was marked on our map but the map did not indicate that there was anything at the end of the road so we decided to see for ourselves where it went.  The road ended after about a mile at some massive rock formations that we would later learn is called Stirrup Tank.  The place looked like it would be very popular for rock climbers.  We took some time to walk about these monsters of boulders before heading further into the park.

The scenery throughout the park was truly amazing.  We had been to the park before so we skipped some other areas of that park that we had already seen.  After eating lunch literally on the side of the road we went for another short hike to an old gold stamping mill that was used to crush gold ore well into the 20^th century.  There is still plenty of evidence of the mill and the people who lived there include a few old cars rotting away in the desert sun plus scattered junk.  Along the walk we were lucky enough to even see a few Joshua trees in bloom. 

The "road" we pulled off of to eat lunch.

Walking through the park

In bloom

After leaving the park we headed for our hotel for the night, right outside of the park.  The next day was mostly a driving day.  We could have taken the shorter route to Santa Maria, CA, which only would have been about 5 hours but we would have missed out on the world’s largest thermometer which was kind of out of the way.  We opted for the longer route but we were somewhat disappointed that the thermometer was not working.  It was pretty big though!  We also had the opportunity to drive along a short portion of old Route 66 through southern California.  The highlight of this trip was an old 50’s style motel that while no longer in use, still looks as it might have 50 years ago.  

Inside, stuck in the past

We also passed the famous shoe tree on Rte 66 which has died and fallen down, but is still covered with thousands of pairs of shoes weathering away in the sun.  

Shoe tree, dead now but still covered in shoes

Along the way we also passed one of California’s agricultural inspection stations.  We pass through these whenever we enter California and we feel they are a huge waste of money.  Basically it is like a border crossing along the highway.  They stop each car and ask you if you are bringing any fruits or vegetables from out of state.  We once had an orange in the car and we thought we were going to get shot.  That is a joke but that is the way they make you feel as you enter and they question you.  We always say no whether we have something or not.

Before getting back on the road to make the several hour drive we still had ahead of us we felt that we just had to stop at the world's largest thermometer because it was on the way. While it wasn't working it sure was big!

The next day we did not really have a long way to drive so we really took our time.  We only had to drive about 100 miles so we slept in a bit and took our time getting there.  Our first stop was right there in Santa Maria for a regional BBQ that we had never heard of: Santa Maria BBQ.  This type of BBQ is a regional BBQ focused mainly around the Santa Maria valley of CA.  They use a beef tri-tip seasoned with black pepper, salt and garlic salt, grilled over red oak wood.  We found a food truck type place right in the middle of town and ordered our BBQ and ate in the car.

We also passed by Neverland Ranch, Michael Jackson’s old home.  We could not see anything at all besides a fence surrounding the property and a guard booth at the entrance presumably with guards inside.  We did not try to get in. 

Entrance to Neverland Ranch

We made a couple of other stops along the coast as we drove south and we also stopped at the pier at Santa Barbara to have some dinner and a couple of beers before heading to our hotel for the next couple of nights while we attended a wedding.

Santa Barbara Pier where we ate dinner

The last day in California was spent again driving down the coast.  We once again took our time as we only had about 60 miles to drive.  We stopped several times along the picturesque coast and during one stop we watched a few dozen windsurfers out in the water.  We settled in to our hotel before waking up the next morning for an early flight home.

California Curiosities

Once leaving the airport we started heading towards the Palm Springs area, where we would be spending the night.  Of course we made a few stops on the way there.

Once of the more unusual places we have seen was the Donut Hole.  The Donut Hole is a drive through donut shop.  By drive through we mean literally a drive through.  You drive through the middle of the donut, place your order, and drive out.  You have to see it to believe it.  The donuts were actually pretty good too.  We didn’t know what to get so we just asked for a dozen assorted donuts.   Since we arrived in LA early in the morning it was actually still morning when we got our donuts so part of the dozen became our breakfast and a snack later in the day and for the next 3 days as well.

Our breakfast for the week.

After leaving the Donut hole we headed to McDonald’s.  Actually we headed to two McDonald’s restaurants.  We did not get anything to eat; in fact you can’t get anything at these restaurants.  What makes these two McDonalds’ unique is that every single McDonald’s commercial is filmed at one of these locations.  The locations are right next door to each other and are fenced off so people can’t go in but they look like the real thing.  They are in the middle of an industrial park which makes them seem out of place but since you can’t buy anything it really doesn’t matter.  Ever since seeing these restaurants we’ve been glued to the TV trying to see a McDonald’s commercial.

After leaving Mickey D’s we headed to another unusual place.  We visited the first of two outdoor art museums made from everyday things that people use.  The first was located at a Mexican restaurant.  The owner of the restaurant decorated the grounds with all kinds of junk art sculptures and even a church made of bottles.  Just about every piece of household stuff you could find seemed to be incorporated into some of the sculptures.  They even had a sidewalk made of oyster shells.   It seems some people have a lot of time on their hands.

Nighttime security lighting

Random stuff cemented in the sidewalk

More stuff in the sidewalk

Closeup of the two skeletons' lower bodies

2 Skeletons

Oyster shell sidwalk

Inside the bottle church

Bottle church walls

Even the rooftops have art

After the first junk art sculpture museum we continued towards Palm Springs.  If you have ever seen Pee Wee’s Big Adventure then you will recognize the dinosaurs that we visited next.  Besides Pee-Wee’s big adventure the location became famous in the 80’s for everything from Coke commercials to rock videos.

After visiting T-Rex we finally made our way into Palm Springs.  After hitting up the Hard Rock Café for our magnet bottle opener we visited the second junk art sculpture museum of the day.  This one was in a residential area in a guy’s yard.  There was a sign out front advising us to send a text to a phone number if we were interested in seeing the art close up, so we did just that.  Within a few minutes we got a response saying to come on by and let ourselves in.  We did just that and then found ourselves in another quirky place full of sculptures and statues made from really just about everything.  There were giant robots made from computer peripherals, thousands of strands of Christmas lights designed into the art, musical instruments, car parts, household appliances, and just about everything else you could think of.  From a distance each of these sculptures looked simply like giant robots or sculptures but when you looked at them close up you could see the imagination and work that went into creating these things.  After spending about a half hour exploring this guy’s yard he took us into his house where he showed us some more of his art.  We later learned that he has been featured in the NY Times.

Close up of the robot in previous picture

Another close up shot

Nice use of Christmas lights

Close up of previous picture

We then traveled on a tram up to the top of a mountain overlooking the city of Palm Springs.  The tram was unique in that the floor of the round tram car rotated around as it climbed up the mountain, meaning there was not a single bad seat in the tram as everyone got to see the same views as the tram slowly spun around.  While the temperature down in the valley was about 80 degrees it was easily 35 degrees cooler up on top of the mountain.  There were also patches of snow on the mountain with evergreens while down on the bottom was desert and palm trees.  The views were pretty amazing as well!  

Notice the helipad on top of the tower.  Would hate to have to use that.

Some of the views up top

The trees look like it gets windy up there!

Back down on the bottom of the tram ride we got ripped off for a quarter.  There were telescopes that you put a quarter into and can see things close up (many scenic viewpoints have these).  What made this interesting was that there was a sign saying you could put your camera up to the viewfinder and take a picture and you would get the same view as if you were looking through the viewfinder.  Ok, we’ll bite.  We paid the quarter, adjusted the focus and put our camera up to the viewfinder only to find out they ripped us off!  All we ended up getting was a close up picture of the viewfinder.

The sign says we can do it.

Seems simple enough, just put the camera up to the viewfinder.

And this is the picture we got!

After what seemed like a long day we finally made our way to the hotel.  We stopped for a nice meal of Mexican food before calling it a day.