Travels 2019

Above are date palms.  This was just outside this store Shields Dates that sold dates.  This area of California sales $50,000 million of dates a year and 95% of all the dates sold in the U.S.  Most of the dates have to be hand picked as they mature.  Ladders are adjusted up and down on the trunks to help the pickers reach them. Below is Bob Hope's former home.  29,000 sq. feet.  After he had it built, he and Delores felt it was too big, so bought a smaller home down in the city of Palm Springs, but the paparazzi  discovered it and would not leave them alone.   They ended up moving back up the hill.  It recently sold for just $9 million.  Needed a lot of updating and repairs. One of Liberace's homes.  The piano mailbox was cute. Mary Martin's home below.  Remember her from staring in Peter Pan? Marilyn Monroe's many homes below. Gene Autry's home below.  After his first wife died, Gene married a lady...

At this Living Desert Zoo, the cheetahs were very interesting to watch.  The Animal Handler would blow a whistle and wave a flag to entice the cats over to her area.  Then would throw meat to them.  She called them by name also.  I asked her if they really knew their names.  She said they did, but whether they decided to answer when called was a different story. Chose not to take the 3 minute camel ride.  It would have taken me 10 minutes to get on this camel. Our tour guide took us into the animal hospital.  They were getting ready to deal with an owl that had lost one leg, but didn't get to stay to see what happened.  Below is an x-ray of a turtle with a very large stone in it's bladder.  Stone is in a jar below.  They cut a square out of it's shell, removed the stone, then glued the shell back with super blue. Just a sampling of some of the unusual animals in the zoo that live in the desert.   Left is ...

San Bernardino National Forest looking back toward the West and Los Angeles area.  Diamond Valley Lake in the distance. Joshua Tree  National Park.  These trees take 60 years to come to maturity, and can live more than 500 years.  No two are alike. Below:  Joshua Tree Nat. Park is real popular with the rock climbers.  This climber is "free climbing" without any ropes.  I got nervous watching him. This pueblo was built by Cabot Yerxa in the early 1920's.  Back of the house was just carved out of the rock.  When he married, his wife made him build a second floor with running water and electricity.  He was very fond of the Indians in the area and had this Indian head carved. Below is Thousand Palms Oasis north of Palm Dessert.  These Washingtonian Palms do not shed their fronds like most palm trees.  The dried fronds just lie flat around the trunk of the tree.  Very peaceful wal...