A fox needs to eat - 29 palms edition.

 Ok, a fox needs to snack. Here is my list of my favorite Joshua Tree places.  Amazing chicken at Fans Sportsbar (and cheap drinks).

If you are looking to get some exercise and have delicious nachos you have to check out the Bowladium in 29 palms. 

Locally owner and operated (and made locally too) at the Coyote Cone.  

If you are ever in Indio California and hungry (or not hungry) but you have to get a date shake at the Shields Date Farm.  The shake is the best date shake around - trust me.

They also have a display garden at Shields - but the shakes are not to be missed. 

Finally, a beer or two.  I dragged the humans to the 29 palms beer company a couple of times.  The porter was fabulous. 

This beer is amazing - it's the Delly Jonut. A raspberry infused beer - so great. 

One cannot survive on hikes alone.

 There are many cool places in the desert.  First up is the Glass Outhouse gallery in 29 palms - so cool. 

The houseband at the Glass Outhouse.  Do you think they know "Don't stop believing"?

I wish this fountain was up and running.  The folks at the outhouse are super friendly - complimentary bottle water if you need it. 

This moose is missing an ear - just like a moose we have back home who is also missing an ear. 

By far, the Glass Outhouse is the friendliest gallery in the area 

More J- tree hikes.

 The desert can be a tricky place to navigate (i.e. cacti galore) but this fox is an experienced hiker so no injuries. Besides the Wall Street Mill from the previous post I was able to explore panorama loop and warren mountain, along with the lost palms oasis and the ladders/painted canyon area. 

Panorama Point and Warren Mountain were pretty cool places.  The air quality was great so you could see all around on top of the mountain. 

Joshua Trees accompanied us along our hikes. 

View galore. 

Next hike is to the lost palm oasis.  

Finally got to the oasis - the trails are not maintained past this sign but you can explore the oasis w/out any problems.

The oasis is very calming. 

Next stop is painted canyon and the ladders - it's near Mecca California. 

The canyon was so cool. 

Views along the way. 

Narrow corridors but this fox did great. 

Wall Street Mit Joshua Tree.

So many reasons to take this trip.  Sun, hiking opportunities, and warmer winter weather than back home.  Today we are focusing on the hikes.

According to the sekrebearies notes 5 hikes were completed in 6 days. 

All of the hikes were desert hikes (don't worry I made sure they prepared with water, sun screen, and tons of salty  snacks..  

First up is the Wall Street Mill Hike.  This mine area was a nice desert hike out to a historic location - 

Came across a few old buildings - this is a remnant of the Wonderland Ranch.  This ranch was owned by Worth Bagley a competing rancher to William Keys.  Both early homesteaders in the area. 

The Wall Street Mill was pretty cool - very well preserved. It was used sporatically to process gold that was either mined by William Keys or milled for other miners. 

Professor Thomas at the University will be very pleased with this hike.  Professor Thomas is a challenging professor for my desert archeology 203 course. 

Keys and Bagley did not  care for each other.  According to one source Bagley ambushed Keys near the Wall Street Mill and Key's killed Bagley.  They did not care for each other.  Keys apparently created a tombstone where Bagley died:  Here is the inscription:

"Here is where Worth Bagley bit the dust at the hand of W. F. Keys, May 11, 1943.

  Keys spent about 5 years in prison for the crime then went back to his ranch at Joshua Tree till his passing in 1968. 

Vacay for a fox

This little fox finally got a winter vacation.  Any guesses where we landed? 

 

A very chic part of California.  Home to many old-timey celebrities (Sinatra, Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Liberace, Dean Martin, Elizabeth Taylor) and the like.  Did you guess Hollywood? Good guess but it's Palm Springs. 

The final destination was the desert - this fox like to hike at Joshua Tree National Park. 

Introducing Cholla....the Australian Woodrat.....not the Cactus

 Hello Blog World. It's me, Little Fox at the Cholla Cactus Garden in Joshua Tree.  It's sunrise and the cacti are amazing.

I was wandring around the park and noticed there were lots of Desert Woodrats at the park. 

Woodrats here?  Perhaps.

Probably some here at Keys mine.

Lot's of old mines and homesteads in the park.  Homesteading in the Mojave has got to be hard. 
Probably a few Desert Woodrats here in another deserted homestead.

Sigh, no pictures of any Desert Woodrats but they were around.  I did meet an Australian Woodrat who  likes the desert but was looking for a new climate.  A little milder.  Perhaps an area with 4 mild seasons.

It didn't take me long to convince her to move to my place.  I got her booked on the same flight as me. 

Blog world, let me introduce Cholla the Australian Woodrat.  She goes by Cholla for short.  Being good global citizens we are maintaining our 6 feet social distancing.  

I didn't have many seeds or nuts for Cholla to snack on but I did have some bread with seeds on it that she seems to like.

It's time to head back home.  Garden needs work, Sequoia needs attention and this fox needs to hike. 

Around Joshua Tree

Joshua Tree National Park is a pretty darn cool place.  The sun accents my fur very nicely.

Apparently, the Joshua Tree isn't a tree but a succulent, however according to the internet, they are considered trees in their ecosystem.   If I was a biologist (not an archaeologist) I could explain what all that meant.  I know they are cool trees....um succulents....um things.

Time to explore a little bit of the town of Joshua Tree.  A nice artists community.  I found these nice looking stuffies in a crochet museum.

They explained that the museum was a former drive through photo stand....you know of of those drive up places where people dropped off film, then came back three weeks later for their pictures (and negatives).

After spending time with these stuffies I decided to walk around town.

Cool art.  Careful, prickly catcus.

I need to get to bed early. I am off to see the sunrise at Cholla Cactus Garden.   Yawn....Good Morning.

I made it to the garden at the right time.  This is the Cholla cactus garden, Cholla's are also known as Teddy Bear cactus.

These look really cool when lit up by the sunrise.

This fox is off on another adventure.