Palm Springs, The Living Desert, Joshua Tree, 1000 Palms Oasis and the Huntington Gardens

I sooo needed some time off and was able to join my Toronto friend Jan for a few days in Southern California. And wouldn’t you know, Toronto was unseasonably warm while she was here! We jam packed out 3 1/2 days together!

I had been to Palm Springs previously but that was with the DH on a golf trip and it was a different kind of trip. Palm Springs is located in the Sonoran desert about a 100 miles west of Los Angeles. It is known for its mid-century Modern architecture, weather, golf courses and hot springs. I knew it was quirky but I did not expect what I saw-lots of vacant store fronts and very few people. This is the high season for PS so I never figured that one out. There is tons of retail and restaurants and very few people. Odd.

It was beautifully decorated for Christmas, but where are the people?

Window shopping was fun-lots of kitsch, glitter and glam!

So many wonderful mid-century Modern buildings and homes-more than you will probably see in one place anywhere.

One example of the fun, odd things you will see in PS!

We spent a morning at the 1000 Palms Oasis Preserve-this shows the Little San Bernardino Mountains. The sweeping views were stunning. I did not get good photos of the oasis but it is striking to see. Amidst the sand and rocks are “desert oasis” with groves of giant California fan palms as high as 60 feet! I just don’t have time to write the fascinating story about the how and why this happens but if you click on the link above, you can read all about it. We took the docent-led nature hike and learned all about the area.

From there we pushed on to Joshua Tree National Park. What a spectacular sight!

There are distinct areas within the park, as it sits on the intersection of the Mohave and Colorado deserts. The Joshua Trees are only in a part of the area. I loved their varied habits and sizes.

Look at this sea of cholla-they sparkled in the sun!

This gives you an idea of the scale of the ocotillos-amazing! And there were lots of them.

Their details are so cool.

These “leaves” gave them an almost fuzzy appearance from afar.

We had to get to LAX for our flights out so we left PS the day before to spend some time at the Huntington Gardens. I wanted to find something fun to do along the way yet be able to avoid LA’s horrific traffic. So I asked my FaceBook friends what to do and it was unanimous-Huntington Gardens! The Huntington Gardens are a part of the Huntington Library system, located about 12 miles (or 2 hours in rush hour) northeast of downtown Los Angeles.

Their site describes the Library: “A private, nonprofit institution, The Huntington was founded in 1919 by Henry E. Huntington, an exceptional businessman who built a financial empire that included railroad companies, utilities, and real estate holdings in Southern California. Huntington was also a man of vision – with a special interest in books, art, and gardens.”  The library and art are world class, as is the garden. We only had time for the garden, and we barely skimmed the surface of its 120 acres-that is huge!

The gardens are impeccably maintained and you can sense the vision of the Huntington’s at every turn.

The walkways seemed to be planned to capture the sun hitting the plants at just the right angle. The plants were placed in such an artful arrangement.

In real life the barrel cactus were glowing in the sun!

The ginkgoes were in full color, more spectacular than my photo can capture.

There was a large bonsai area with incredibly artful specimens.

There were many themed areas, this coming from the Australian zone.

See the scale of this bamboo patch?

This is both sad and laugh-out-loud at once! Have you ever seen a “do not carve into the bamboo” sign before? And of course, people did. Sigh.

We also were able to end our visit in Palm Springs with the Aerial Tram ride up Mt. San Jacinto, giving us breathtaking views of Chino Canyon along the way. Jan was petrified the whole way but humored me by taking the risk.

And how could I not end with an inept selfie, each of us with cholla growing from our heads! Now, less than 2 days to do laundry, repack, send out quilts and samples, respond to emails and then out the door in the wee hours to Chicago!