Black and White - group 3

 Road to Sequoia National Park, from Three Rivers (snow in May)

 Foggy Morning at Port San Luis

 Palm Springs Street Urchin

Anza Borrego

Make a wish, toss a coin

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Not Who I was Expecting to see in Palm Springs

Whenever we are in the area, we always try to go to the desert City of Palm Springs. It is one of our favorite towns and we especially like to go on Thursday nights. Every Thursday night they shut down a large chunk of the main drag (Palm Canyon Drive) and the traffic is replaced by more than 200 booths. Food, produce, art, hand crafted goods, live music and just about anything else you can think of.  There are a ton of restaurants on that stretch of road as well. They call it the Palm Springs VillageFest. Call it what every you like, it's the best regularly held street fair I've ever been to. Regular to the tune of 20 years. Every Thursday (except Thanksgiving) 110 Degrees or 40 degrees. It's going to be there.

A few weeks ago we went there and were surprised to see this huge statue as we walked up. We were behind it, but there was no doubt about who it was. Like I've said many times before... Only in the desert!

 Here is the history behind the Marilyn Monroe statue.
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I swear that I was going to post something relating to Joshua Tree National Park. Something off the beaten path. Well, until I ran into these photos on my camera, I was...  You know how I am about desert oddities!
My next post will have ancient petroglyphs and pictographs in it. Some that are easily accessible, but seen by a minuscule percentage of people visiting the park. 



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Is it Just Me? - You Be The Judge

We are very lucky that we get to spend a lot of time on the road. We go to great places and see a ton of beautiful and interesting things. We get to explore and we get to hike. Those of you who have been around here for a while know that I am particularly fond of the odd things that exist out there. 

Sometimes though, I see things that make no sense to me.

We always make it a point to visit Palm Springs when we are in this part of the desert. They have the BEST street fair I've ever seen. It takes place every Thursday night (except for two) of the year. Lots of art, food, produce, music and tons of great restaurants. 

We all know that Sonny Bono was the mayor of Palm Springs. Yes, Sonny Bono of Sonny and Cher.  Sonny died in a skiing accident 15 years ago and was buried in Desert Memorial Park.  He has a nice little memorial and grave marker there. There are always flowers on and around his grave.  I understand this and it isn't what makes me sad.

THIS IS WHAT MAKES ME SAD!

A friend told me that there is somebody else famous buried here. I started looking around for another memorial, shrine, or anything to help me find it.  There weren't anymore of them. Every other grave had only a simple marker like this one.  It's pretty hard to even read what it says. If you look very very hard you just might figure it out.  No need though, it says...

THE BEST IS YET TO COME

FRANCIS ALBERT SINATRA

1915 - 1998

BELOVED HUSBAND AND FATHER

Even as I type these words, it is hard for me to believe that Frank Sinatra gets nothing better than this. Okay, maybe he wanted a simple grave (I doubt that), but I'm pretty sure he didn't ask for this.  Frank Sinatra was one of the main people who put this place on the map. He was and is bigger than life and in a few more years this marker will be unreadable.  Yet, just about 100 yards away, Sonny Bono has a memorial and marker that are clearly well taken care of. By looking at Sinatra's marker, one would think that it had been there much longer. Nope, they both died in 1998.

I won't say anything bad about Sonny Bono, but he wasn't even in the same galaxy as Frank Sinatra.  This is sad and it's just not right.

Or is it just me?

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Street Candids 5

Faces! The thing that draws me to people on the street is their faces. Seriously, I don't take photos of just anybody that walks by. If you've been here for a while and have seen my street candid photos, you'd have to agree that most of them either have a classic face or an unusual presence.  To me, these two guys are perfect!

This gentleman was manning the grill at a Greek food stall at the weekly Palm Springs street fair.  I LOVE his face!  If you ever find yourself in the southern California desert on a Thursday, you won't be sorry if you save some time for this weekly event. EVERY Thursday evening. Music, food, art and tons of people!

I can't be sure whether or not this guy is homeless, but I am sure that he's one of the fringe people you see where ever people are gathered. Many people are afraid of them, but I think they're pretty interesting and usually have a good story to tell.  Either way, that face was screaming at me to take a photo. It was late afternoon and the light was perfect.

More to come...

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Street Candids 2 - Palm Springs

My last post consisted of a few candid photos taken in San Luis Obispo. In the comments to the post, several people said they don't take these photos because they don't want the subject getting mad at them. 

Ask The Rabbi

These two were taken at the weekly street fair in Palm Springs. Everything looks okay in this photo. I thought the whole "Ask The Rabbi" deal was pretty cool, so I decided to take a couple of photos. They were smiling and having a good time. Well, they were until they noticed me taking their photos.

I guess I forgot to "Ask The Rabbi" if I could take their photos. 

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Tahquitz Canyon

Tahquitz Canyon is on the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians Reservation, in the Sonoran desert in Southern Californa. Much of the well known city of Palm Springs is actually part of the reservation. Our RV was parked about 30 miles north of the canyon. 

We'll start with the end. This waterfall is the payoff for a fairly difficult hike on a hot day. It is also one of the reasons that the Cahuilla Indians have continuously inhabited this area for over 2000 years.

My wife, trusty guide, and modern day trailblazer leads us up the canyon. We are headed straight ahead for about two miles.

This is a pretty good example of what the flat parts of the trail look like. When the trail goes up hill it looks like....

This! The elevation gain was about 500 feet.  If it hadn't been hot, it would have been much easier.

I have no idea what this is, but I liked it!

Doesn't that big rock on the left look like a dinosaur head? Or maybe a giant turtle head? 

This unusual formation looked like a giant thrust a sharp rock into the ground.

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Yin and Yang...

Native Americans consider there tribal lands to be sacred.  This little bit of defacement was obviously done by a tourist. A pious and hypocritical one at that.

Working our way uphill

Just because

A pretty little pool beside the only carved out spot on the trail.

One of several small waterfalls where the stream winds it's way down the hill.

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For reflections by other photographers go to Weekend Reflections sponsored by James.

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Weekend Reflection - Street Candid

She apparently wasn't calling the police on me. Oh yeah, she's one of our daughters, so I guess she couldn't...  Her hat looks to be straight out of Carnaby Street.
How many of you did I lose with that reference?

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For reflections by other photographers go to Weekend Reflections by James.

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Palm Springs Candids 04

check out the baby with mohawk to the left

just an unlucky passerby

yet another sausage vendor

kabob

Palm Springs Candids 03

 grilling

Curbside massage

Sausages

Palm Springs Candids 02

Greek

seems like 1968 was just yesterday...

Bratwurst

Palm Springs Candids 01

Ask the Rabbi

Spare change?

Make a wish, toss a coin