California Wrap Up

Our weekend in Palm Springs was spent driving around catching all the highlights of Palm Springs like Elvis' Honeymoon house, Bob Hope's house, and the famous Kauffman House. However, our day trip to Joshua Tree National Park was by far the most scenic part of the trip. We enjoyed the sunshine and blue skies and look forward to finding another reason to head back down to California soon.

I am typically not a fan of fast food, but I always enjoy my annual trip to In and Out.

Palm Springs

Palm Springs is an interesting place to spend some time, an eclectic mix of young and old. While I set out on my mornings running I noticed not only the bright, bold colors which permeate most environments (not often found in the Northwest), but the strong mid century design movement here.

Palm Springs was an escape/weekend getaway for old Hollywood with the homes of Elvis, Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope and even good old Marilyn Munroe. There is currently a twenty six foot sculpture of Marilyn temporarily visiting the downtown corridor, I love big bold art and found her a welcome site standing tall in the sunshine each morning.

Joshua Tree National Park

Cameron had a business trip to Palm Springs, so I did what any sun seeking woman would do and tagged along. I enjoyed a few glorious days running in the sunshine, checking out the local design scene, and lounging by the pool. Once the weekend came we headed out to Joshua Tree National Park for a day of hiking and photography.
We learned the name Joshua Tree was given by Mormon settlers who crossed the Mojave Desert in the mid 19th century. The tree's unique shape reminded them of a biblical story in which Joshua reaches his hands up to the sky in prayer.

There were so many great rock formations everywhere, we should come back here for rock climbing.

This rock looked like a skull.

Rock climber in the distance.

Each Joshua Tree had its own individual personality.

Cholla cactus at sunset.

I love the unique beauty of the desert, it is all so foreign to me having lived in such a wet, lush place.

He who wore the poncho had a bigger smile

On our last day in San Francisco, we awoke to blue skies and this great view out or hotel window.

A morning run to Tartine Bakery, followed by a stroll through Dolores Park. It is here where we saw the ugliness of humanity. No joke, the aftermath of the Fourth of July and the amount of refuse was the equivalent to hundreds of people living in the park for a day. I cannot fathom what type of person literally walks away from a mound of trash they have created, but they should be punished. A good punishment would be no access to the park for a year.

We made the mistake of ordering separate treats. I almost made myself sick trying to eat all of mine, but ended up throwing away half. I really hate wasting food, so I wanted to give it to a homeless person, but where are all the homeless people when you need them?

The view from Dolores Park.

On a whim we decided to ride the Rocket Boat, I immediately thought how much my little sis and Dad would love this ride. We did not know quite what to expect, but it was a high speed, fun little thrill ride and a good way to get out on the water. I have never been good at taking advice, so when they recommended putting on a poncho I declined, but wrapped it around my legs.

After a good amount of cruising, they purposefully (in my opinion) ended the ride by splashing everyone. Needless to say, the man sitting next to me wearing his poncho thought it was pretty funny.

One of the best things about San Francisco is that we never have to rent a car. We can take BART directly from the airport to downtown and just about anywhere else we want to go.

As most trips to San Francisco go, this one was last minute. We had planned on camping in Southern Oregon and paying a visit to Crater Lake, instead we flew over it.

I enjoyed snapping photos not only mid flight, but as we landed, the last one looks like we flew on a fighter jet, but alas we did not.

What are some of your favorite touristy things to do in San Francisco?