A side trip to Palm Springs, PioneerTown, and a big date farm.

 The park is a cool place.  No doubt about that but today I am off to see what the nearby (relatively speaking) town of Palm Springs can offer.

First stop: Shields Date Farm.  Okay, it's not in Palm Springs but pretty darn close.  Shields is in Indio, CA about 20 minutes east. 

Let's go!

The date farm has a manicured garden, a cafe, and I heard that if I am a well behaved fox I might get a treat. 

The garden was closed today due to the wind. 

The staff didn't want anyone to get hurt.

Let's explore inside.  Perhaps there is something for me?  Oh man, a 24 ounce (only size) date milkshake.  All for me right?  Right?

This is the life. 

My roommates decided to take me to see a temporary art exhibit called Desert X.  Desert X only happens in February, March and April in the Palm Springs area.  First up: A tiny home to represent the urban sprawl that was Southern California experienced after WWII.

A few miles away a maze made out of reed mats to simulate the challenges immigrants face navigating in a new country.  
Reed mats were used in honor of the native peoples who lived in this area before it was "settled"

Next up is one titled "What lies behind these walls" to simulate the different layers of peoples lives and cultures.

Remember the wind at the date farm?  It followed us for two days.  This art installation was on top of a hill and so windy. My right paw is catching the wind nicely.

Time for lunch.  What's on the menu?

Vegan, yes vegan, Cuban Sandwich and a nice big salad. 

Now that I have more energy in my body time to explore Pioneer Town.

In 1946, Pioneertown was founded by a group of Hollywood investors with dreams of creating a living movie set — an 1870's frontier town with facades for filming and interiors open to the public.  

People still live in Pioneertown and periodically they still film.  I think they did a truck commercial and a Cindy Lauper video.  

One more stop.   Oh, this looks promising.  It's not Sunday but the Mexican place has an all you can eat buffet in the morning.  

My roommates mentioned we were only here for drinks.   This margarita looks like a refreshing drink for a little fox. 

Bear in charge blog 2.

Hey Blog World,
It's the bear in charge here.  I was told to take LF's roommates on a trip to the beach today because the weather is supposed to be above 60 degree.  

Rockaway Beach is a quiet beach town.  Yes, it has the requisite ice cream shops, kite shops, and random stuff (including a shop advertising the best Indian Food on the Oregon Coast) but shopping is not in the cards for me, I am off on a hike.  


Sequoia  decided to attend the trip with us.  I am more of a backpack traveling bear while Sequoia likes to run around like a crazy dog on the beach.  He LOVES the beach.

Off in the distance are the mountains of the coast range.  Angora peak, Neahkahnie 
Mountain and many unnamed hills.  Neahkahnie Mountain is supposedly where the first European explorers arrived while exploring this part of the word in 1693 (a Spanish boat shipwrecked on the spit near the mountain).  Of course the Tillamook and Clatsop Indians have been trading with each other via the  dangerous trails that  cross Neahkahnie  mountain long before the first Europeans arrived. 

From my understanding every stuffy has their hobby.  From reading LF's notes LF's hobby is hiking and archaeology.  Jerry's is eating snacks and gardening.  Ben's is cooking.  Sandy's is exploring, Droopy's is a bacon conesour, Beanie is an artist and adventurer, and Ajdin is professional tour guide and has a drivers license.    So......readers.....you are probably wondering what my passion is. 

I have two favorite activities.
1) Eating lunch.  I love lunch, not dinner, not breakfast not snacks just  lunch.  Speaking of lunch, it's lunch time now.  First I have a nice sandwich.  Yum. 

Rice crackers.  Now how do I switch orientation on my pictures?

Honeycrisp apples. The little piece of honeycrisp apple covered in sand on the dog's waterbottle was for Sequoia.  He decided to spit it out.  Crazy huh?

Hard to see but it's string cheese. 

Not a bad lunch but I think I should start coaching LF's roommates on how to make a better lunch.  For example, I could add seafood, fresh baked cookies, brownies, and Pirogis (A favorite of this bear).    

My other passion is that I am a certified ice cream connoisseur (yes, they actually have this).  

 Hopefully, I can convince LF's roommates to stop at one or two of these local shops so I can test out the ice cream.  Paws crossed.

Bear in charge signing off.

9:30am lunch?

Greetings from the trail.  I am at a beary popular trail head in Oregon.  It's 8am and there are already cars in the parking lot.  It's Monday, I know the post is on a Thursday (humans.....).   Down to business I am hoping to see some wild rhododendrons and a good view of Mt. Hood.  

The rhododendron tree is looking green but no flowers.  I wonder if I am too late?

Ah, there we go.  This rhodie is blooming.  The wild ones are only pink.

I wanted to take a break and guess who showed up on the same rock as me?  Sequoia jumped right up and wanted to get in the picture. 

Back on the trail.  I have a choice.  I  can go to Tom, Dick and Harry mountain or to Mirror Lake.  Let's check out the lake first.

You can kind of see a reflection of Mt. Hood in the lake. The mosquitoes are out so I must keep moving.

See that hill out there?  It's Tom, Dick and Harry mountain and it's my final destination.

A few wildflowers are out today.  Indian Paintbrush and Bear Grass.

Mt. Jefferson looks good.  The air needs to clear up and Mt. Jeff needs more snow for a better picture.  

I am now near the top of Tom, Dick and Harry mountain.  Mt. Hood in the background looks nice and there's more Indian Paintbrush and Bear Grass.  This is not a great spot for lunch.  Perhaps a rock. 

This spot looks good.  Of course, it's 9:30am.  Is that too early for lunch?  Yes, but I am hungry so I am eating. 

Sequoia is not one to be shown up.  He decided to pose for this picture and I must admit he looks good.

An "amusing" adventure

Drunk Fox was helping me with my chores today.  We were cleaning a cupboard in the kitchen and made quite a mess.  My roommates kept hinting that if we got this cleaned up they would take me on an adventure today.  It's been a long time since I have had a proper adventure so I was immediately up for the trip.

Being a good fox I got the cupboard organized quickly.  Off for my adventure.  Our hike starts off at a Nature center.  The have an amphitheater and some displays.  Apparently, where we are hiking to today was once an amusement park.  I wonder if they have any cotton candy at the top of the trail?  Let's go!

My roommates showed me a picture of the amusement park.  It looks like Disney has some competition.

This looks like a great park, can't wait to go.

Whew, after a grueling session up the hill we made it to the top.  Hmm, I don't see an amusement park up here.  No cotton candy, no coffee stand, no nothing!

 The only thing I see (besides the view) is the neat water fountain.  It works perfectly, which is good because we all know little foxes need hydration.

Even though there wasn't the amusement park at the top of the hike it was still good to get out.

My roommates treated me to lunch and told me I could get anything I wanted.  I negotiated two meals; one for me and one to take home for Drunk Fox since he helped me with the cupboard organization.  Maybe I should add negotiator to my resume?

Memorial Day parts two and three

Let’s see, oh yes I left off talking about lunch.  We did get a nice lunch of pork nachos and Sequoia got a little jealous of all of us eating and had to get this picture taken at the restaurant.

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After the hike we went to work on our brewery passport program.  We visited another brewery, got our stamps and our prizes (t-shirts this time).  Also saw this interesting animal and this cool painting of a wolf sharing a campfire.  My roommate thought the guy on the right looked like a young and thinner Kenny Rogers.  What do you think blog pals?

...Day Two...

Day two was just as busy as day one.  Again, we started with a river hike (you can thank the fishing bear for the suggestion).

Off we went back to the Deschutes River.  Our goal was Dillon Falls about five miles downstream.  

If you look hard toward the back you can see Lava Is

 Lava Island was our first big landmark.  It was an island of lava (creative naming eh?). 

The water was rushing in some places and calm in others.  

 The river trail eventually led us to Dillon Falls.  All along the river we saw kayakers and white water rafters but interestingly we didn’t see anyone try navigating the falls. 

Dillon Falls was our destination and also our lunch spot.   What?  Only a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?  What no chips?  No trail mix? No cheese?  I am going to have a serious talk with the chef of the house and make sure this injustice gets fixed.

Day three was just as busy as day one and two.  Sadly, we had to leave and start heading back home.  On the positive side we had a nice waterfall hike planned for midway home.  This hike, Shelburg Falls, is a new one for us.  I have to admit I am a sucker for foxglove (go figure?) and the foxglove is starting to bloom.  As you can see the invasive scotch broom is blooming too.

 

After a short jaunt up a hill through an open range we reached Shelburg Falls.  I decided to relax a little and enjoy the view.

We reached the falls pretty early in the hike and since it was sunny my roommates decided to continue on with the hike.  As you can see the sun is shining through the trail.  Aah what a relaxing weekend although I must admit I am tired and need a good nights rest.  Happy Memorial Day!