Joshua Tree National Park

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Joshua Tree, Joshua Tree National Park, National Parks, photography, road trip

Exploring Joshua Tree National Park at sunset in our rented Rogue.

From the National Park Service:

“While the Joshua Tree area has been inhabited by humans for at least 5,000 years, by the late 1920s the development of new roads into the desert had brought an influx of land developers and cactus poachers. Minerva Hoyt, a Pasadena resident who was extremely fond of desert plants, became concerned about the removal of cacti and other plants to the gardens of Los Angeles. Her tireless efforts to protect this area culminated in 825,000 acres being set aside as Joshua Tree National Monument in 1936.”

We’d heard about Joshua Tree National Park for years, and when we decided to turn a trip to California into a road trip that would take us down California 1 then across the state to Barstow before heading to Joshua Tree and then east to Phoenix to visit our daughter.

Joshua Tree didn’t become a National Park until 1994, but the designation added 234,000 acres to the monument. The new boundaries created an important habitat for desert bighorn sheep. Today the park ranges from 536 feet above sea level in elevation to 5,814 feet atop Quail Mountain.

And while the park’s unique landscapes are a stunning combination of the Mojave and Colorado deserts with their unusual plant life and rock formations, we were really there to see the Joshua Trees.

In addition to Joshua Tree, Yucca brevifolia is known as yucca palm, tree yucca, and palm tree yucca. Mormon settlers crossing the Mojave desert in the mid 19th Century, gave the tree its most common name because its unique shape reminded them of the Biblical story of Joshua raising his hands to the sky in prayer. The Spanish name for the Joshua tree is izote de desierto or desert dagger.

Joshua Tree at sunset.

Looking up into the Joshua Trees.

Joshua tree and rock formation.

A different view of Skull Rock.

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Get Your Kicks . . .

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photography, Route 66, Song, Travel

While in California, we ended up in Barstow on our way to Joshua Tree National National Park. We decided that it might be fun to drive a portion of the old Route 66 before turning south to the park, having driven portions of it in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona a few years previously.

U.S. Route 66 was established in 1926 and began in Chicago, Illinois, before traveling through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and finally California where it ended in Santa Monica, having covered 2,448 miles.

It became iconic for a  number of reasons–from the song, (Get Your Kicks On) Route 66 to the 1960s television series, Route 66, to its mention in John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath (Highway 66) in which it was a symbol of both escape and loss.

The Interstate Highway system eventually killed the popularity of U.S. Highways. U.S. 301, for example, once thrived, as Route 66 did, as travelers made their way to Florida. Like Route 66, one can still find abandoned motels and other tourist attractions along its length. Route 66 was officially “closed” in 1985, but it is still maintained in some sections from Chicago to Santa Monica.

Sign on a service station near Daggett, California

Tony’s Italian and American . . .

Cafe & Motel

Nat King Cole (King Cole Trio) was the first to record “Route 66!—” in 1946. Another version to reach the Billboard charts was recorded by Bing Crosby with the Andrews Sisters on May 11, 1946, which rose to  #14, also in 1946. The song has since been covered by a lot of singers including Chuck Berry, Glenn Frey, the Rolling Stones, Them, Dr. Feelgood, Asleep at the Wheel, the Manhattan Transfer, Depeche Mode, The Brian Setzer Orchestra, Pappo, The Cramps, John Mayer, George Benson and Peter Tork & Blue Suede Shoes.

Here’s the original Nat King Cole version of the song:

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Ireland, photography

The statue in the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin.

I’ve added some more photos to my website of some of the details from our trip around Ireland. You can find them here: Ireland

A cottage door in Glencolmcille, County Donegal.

A Celtic cross against a stone wall in the graveyard of the abbey ruins in Galway, County Clare.

The round tower and graveyard gate at Glendalough, County Wicklow.

Road Trip

One of the many cool cacti we’ve seen.

We have spent the past week on the road as we traveled out West to visit our daughter in Mesa, Arizona. So: hiatus this week, and I’ll be back with more about our upcoming trip to Kenya and Rwanda next week.