Cowboy Country!

Another great day today! Heading out from Blythe and across the Colorado River we edged into the desert again. The famous Arizona Saguaro Cactus started to make its appearance, standing like sentinels across the tussocky landscape. The mountains cut fascinating shapes along the skyline. From the desert floor we climbed and climbed  into the mountains and cowboy country! The plateaus between the mountain ranges are home to many prosperous cattle ranches.

We stopped at historic Prescott for lunch. Prescott was founded in 1864 and was the capital of Arizona before the present day capital of Phoenix. It is designated heritage town because of its historic buildings and homes.  We finally reaching the summit pass of Mingus Mountain at 7,000 ft and descended into the stunning Verde Valley - the home of the most stunning place on earth - Sedona! On the descent we passed through the tiny town of Jerome, which clings precariously to the mountainside.

Sedona is the most stunning place we have ever seen! From the Sedona Airport mesa you get the most magnificent views of the whole town and its breathtaking landscape! The contrasts of the rich reds, oranges, and whites in the rocks,with the greens of the vegetation is eye catching!

Another fabulous day topped off with some very interesting local cuisine!

The beautiful Arizona desert landscape 

The Saguaro Cactus - sentinels of the desert

A Saguaro cactus

  Hidden Springs  Ranch

The town square in Prescott -  a sculpture representing
the cattlemen of the area 

Another sculpture honouring the cowboy

The historic Town Hall, Prescott

An historic home in Prescott

View of Verde Valley as we descended Mingus Mountain 

Jerome clings to the side of Mt Mingus

Verde Valley

Sedona, with its stunning backdrop of red rock formations , from the Airport Mesa.

Stunning Sedona

The amazing rock formations

Beautiful Sedona

Nature at its best again! 

Everywhere you look the scenery is amazing!

From the top of Vortex Rock

Another view from Vortex Rock

View from our unit balcony

The meal Pete and I shared at the Cowboy Club (below).
Cactus Fries, Buffalo and Snake Brochettes, Cowboy Chicken Wings,
Cilantro Flatbread and dipping sauces.

Great to see the real Jimmy and Memphis

After our exploring in Joshua Tree National Park we headed back to Palm Springs and met up with Luke and Amanda who were on their way to Oceanside for some sponsorship obligations and to cheer their friends on in the Triathlon being held there on the weekend.

They were happy to see their beloved Turtle! As we have been travelling around people talk to us about the Turtle and what we are doing -  and they say to Pete "you must be Jimmy!" because the names Jimmy and Memphis are written on the side.

We had a nice afternoon and evening , talk, talk, talking and sharing our adventures. There was a huge street market in Downtown which had lots of interesting stalls - we got some arts and crafts shopping bargains, and Luke and Amanda both had a relaxing Japanese massage.

After dinner we bid our farewells to the real Jimmy and Memphis, and the pretend Jimmy and Memphis headed off in the Turtle to Blythe. Luke showed us how to use the GPS, so our new toy - Gipsy - successfully navigated us to our  destination.

Luke and Amanda temporarily  reunite with their Turtle

Amanda's favourite breed of puppy dog!

Dinner ! 

Checking out the markets

Strawberries to eat on the trip to Oceanside.

 

Who piled up all those rocks!?

Today we witnessed another of Mother Nature's artistic feats with the amazing rock sculptures of Joshua Tree National Park. The roads and trails in the park lead you through a jumble of stacked boulders where you can use your imagination to see unlikely shapes. The joshua Tree is a species of yucca. Its waxy, spiny leaves expose little surface area and so efficiently conserve moisture.

Our exercise and hiking expedition for the day was into Hidden Valley, a one mile loop of trail that winds amongst massive boulders through the legendary cattle rustler's hideout. Once you were inside no one would know you are there - what a great hideout for the rustler's in days gone by!

From the vantage point Key Views within the park there was a stunning view of the Choachella Valley with the San Andreas Fault Line clearly visible - it was super windy at the lookout, so much so Pete declared that " it would blow a dog off its chain!" lol - one of pete's great quotes!

Rock climber on top of rock

Down he comes!

A Joshua tree in foreground

The secret entry to Hidden Valley

Inside the Hidden Valley

More rock climbers

Finding our way out of Hidden Valley 

Lovely cactus

Panorama from Key View into the Coachella Valley.
Can you se the San Andreas Fault Line?

The San Andreas Fault Line runs across the middle of the picture

Click on pic to enlarge and read

An Oasis in the desert....

Today we headed out into the desert and the desert cities of the Chino Valley - Palm Springs our destination. To our surprise the Valley was littered with hundreds of wind turbines which generates its electricity. Also to our surprise the temperature was 100 degrees! - back to the shorts and T-shirts! Palm Springs was a much smaller city than we imagined and the Downtown area, with its manicured palm lined street and Spanish mission style architecture, had a lovely village feel about it.
After we'd explored the town area we headed for the Aerial Tramway which whizzed us up 8516 ft Mt San Jacinto to take in the breathtaking views of the valley below, as well as the pristine wilderness of the 14,000 acre State Park at the top of the mountain. The park is very popular with hikers with it 54 miles  of hiking trails. What an amazing area - one minute we are on the valley floor sweltering in the desert, and the next minute we are on top of a mountain with snow everywhere and the temperatre 40 degrees cooler!
The Tram car ride was exhilarating! and a bit scary! It holds 80 people and takes 10 minutes to do the 2.5 mile trip from bottom to top. The car rotates 360 degrees so you ascend and descend so you can take in all the beautiful vistas. During the ascent you pass through five unique life zones - from the Mexican Sonoran desert to an Alpine wilderness. Again, a great experience.

The desert, the alpine mountains and wind turbines!
Interesting contrasts.

The forest of wind turbines

Downtown Palm Springs

Main Street Palm Springs - palm lined and Spanish mission
architecture.

A golfers paradise with 300 golf courses in the Valley

The sandy desert contrasts with the snow capped mountains

The beautiful Chino Valley with the palm lined H111 leading
into Palm Springs

Looking back to the Valley Aerial Tramway Station

The Tram cars pass each other halfway

Looking up to the Mountain Station

The valley below

The desert cities in the Valley

The beautiful Mt San Jacinto State Park

We enjoyed another night of camping at the Banning KOA.

Big day - 600 klms!

After our morning achievement of walking the bridge we jumped into The Turtle and headed south with the aim of making Palm Springs, north west of Los Angeles. It was a long but beautiful drive, passing through very fertile farmland along H5 - the Ag teacher declaring it was "prime agricultural land!" There were miles and miles and miles of fruit orchards - they went on forever! The poor Turtle was plastered with bees by the time we reached LA - being spring the bees were abuzz pollinating the fruit trees. Cattle farming also played a big role in this part of California - the San Joaquin Valley. The huge feed lots were very very smelly, and disturbing! - the lucky cattle that were allowed to graze freely! The huge San Luis Reservoir at the junction H5 and H152 generates the hydro electricity for the valley.

San Luis Reservoir

The cowboys rounding up the free range cattle

San Luis Reservoir

Miles and miles of fruit orchards

The fertile farmland

The Turtle's new best friend in the Pomona KOA

We ran out of daylight before we got to Palm Springs so we camped overnight at Pomona KOA on the outskirts of Los Angeles.

Ticked off the Bucket List!

What a beautiful morning in San Fran! Blue sky, sunshine and the crisp spring air invigorating us for our morning walk - and what a walk it was!- a return trip, which took an hour, across the beautiful Golden Gate Bridge with its 360 views, and its burnt gold spans contrasting beautifully against the blue of the sky and the greys of the Bay. There were lots of people biking the bridge as well as walking and running - whichever way you choose it is an enjoyable must do experience! We thoroughly enjoyed our walk!

Ready for the walk across the Golden Gate!

Looking across to Vista Point, our destination on the northern side
of the bridge.

Impressive!
Click on pic to read details.

Joseph Strauss dreamed of  a golden bridge spanning
San Francisco Bay. It was completed in 1937.

Enjoying the bucket list challenge.

The view from Vista Point