Jumbo Rocks at Joshua Tree NP
Set at 4,400 feet of elevation, Jumbo Rocks Campground in Joshua Tree National Park offers 124 campsites with outstanding views!
Desert
17 Palms Oasis View
This pic shows the beautiful desert view looking north from the 17 Palms Oasis in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.
Links: previous related post
Moorten Botanical Garden in Palm Springs
Moorten Botanical Garden exhibits over 3000 desert plants from around the world and was founded in 1938 by Patricia and Chester “Cactus Slim” Moorten (who was one of silent film’s original Keystone Cops). You can also buy plants from their nursery.
Links: Moorten BG
Coachella Valley View
This pic of the Coachella Valley was taken at around 8,500 feet up Mt. San Jacinto, from the outdoor observation deck of the Palm Springs Tramway station.
Links: previous related post
McCain Valley Cave
This pic looks out from a small cave on the side of the road leading to the Sacatone Overlook in the McCain Valley Resource Conservation Area, which is off I8 just north of Boulevard, CA.
Hawk Canyon
A beautiful place for primitive camping is Hawk Canyon in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. The sandstone cliffs are salmon colored and an unusual shade of green, and were once part of a ancient marine environment. Not far to the west is The Slot, an interesting slot canyon, and subject of an earlier post.
Temecula Wine Country Tour
The Temecula Valley AVA (American Viticultural Area) currently boasts over 40 wineries producing a wide variety of wines. We recently went on a wine tour and were impressed with the beauty of the area and the quality of the wines. This pic shows part of the Avensole Winery vineyard.
Links: winery map winery listing
Dinosaurs in the Desert!
These are but two of the many dinosaur sculptures by Ricardo Breceda located in Galleta Meadows in Borrego Springs. Kinda cool to look across the desert and see a couple of T-Rex. Hopefully they survived this morning’s earthquake without damage!
Shields Date Garden
Shields Date Garden (started in 1924) in Indio features 17 acres of landscaped grounds showcasing date palms and many other fruit trees along with a pond spouting dual fountains. Many varieties of fresh dates and various date products can be purchased in their store.
Southern California Homebrewers Festival
I recently attended the 25th annual Southern California Homebrewers Festival held at Vail Lake east of Temecula. Forty three clubs were on-site, each pouring between 8 and 32 different homebrews, resulting in well over 600 products on tap. This pic shows the beautiful Society of Barley Engineers bar, with two handsome homebrewers getting ready to serve one of the 2000+ attendees.
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