I had to cancel photo shoot plans in Joshua Tree National Park this past weekend due to rain and wind rolling into the Coachella and Yucca Valleys. It wasn’t quite as sad as it may sound. We don’t get a lot of rain here in the Coachella Valley. In fact, we had 209 days without […]
The race started early in the morning. The moon was still up. The sun was slowly climbing up its way on the horizon. It was a beautiful day. Then the next hour and 12 minutes was a slow uphill battle over 3.7 miles (6km), gaining 2,000 feet in elevation. Slowly moving past the sign that […]
I know, right? Why didn’t we come up with this idea? I seriously need to work on my “world famous” art. What world famous thing could I create? The World Famous Crochet Museum was created in 2006 by the artist Shari Elf and is located in the town of Joshua Tree in California, just opposite […]
I signed up for a 5k race in Huntington Beach last year. Race day finally came. This year. It’s been a long and busy summer and I just wasn’t in the mood for running a race. Well, you already know the ending of this story: I ran the race, loved it, and signed up for […]
As I am driving east on Highway 62, leaving Twentynine Palms and Joshua Tree National Park behind me, there is nothing left in my view, just a long road through the desert. A few minutes in I see a sign on the side of the road saying “Glass Outhouse Art Gallery OPEN“. I just have […]
A super bloom is a sudden outbreak of wildflowers that exceeds a regular spring bloom. After the heavy rain and colder weather this winter in Southern California, enough water was locked in the soil for dormant wildflower seeds to sprout and produce colorful wildflowers. Desert wildflowers usually bloom only for a short period of time, […]
I spent many hours last year in and around Joshua Tree National Park, visited many places between the towns of Yucca and Twentynine Palms. There are still a few things on my bucket list, so I’d better stop writing and go and explore! First though, I want to start a “living” bucket list for Joshua […]
Superflex’s Dive In art installation is pretty. Ok, I shouldn’t really start like this. However, the pink color stands out in the desert, specifically in the pre-sunset light. The idea behind Dive In is that the Coachella Valley used to be an ocean millions of years ago and is awaiting its turn to become an […]
Pia Camil’s Lover’s Rainbow is a 2-part art installation spanning two countries, the US and Mexico. One rainbow (the first installed) sits in Baja, Mexico, the other one – as part of Desert X – in the Coachella Valley in California, 190 km apart. Pia Camil explains on her Instagram page: “The series documented abandoned […]
Keys Ranch (or Desert Queen Ranch) in Joshua Tree National Park was built and extended between 1910 and the 1960s. The building structures are still in place and so are some of the mining machinery, old cars and trucks, and spare parts. Short history of Keys Ranch Many rugged individuals tried their luck at cattle […]
Big Morongo Canyon Preserve in California lies within the Sand to Snow National Monument. The desert oasis at Big Morongo Canyon is one of the 10 largest cottonwood and willow riparian habitats in California. I visited early morning one chilly December day, when the sun was coming out and the frozen dew was just thawing. […]
A photography challenge caught my attention this weekend and I wanted to find my unique perspective to the challenge. Having spent a few minutes earlier this weekend thinking about whether it’s possible to revisit a place or whether every visit is new and unique and therefore a “re”visit isn’t possible, I figured every landscape photo […]