Joshua Tree National Park

We left the Fountain of Youth and drove towards Joshua Tree National Park's south entrance. On the way we drove through this wonderful dry canyon landscape. Since Joshua Tree prohibited dogs on the trails, we stopped along the way to hike into a canyon designated for off-road travel. It was hot, but in the shade with the breeze it was comfortable. At least Darwin and I got a chance to walk.








Joshua Tree National Park from the south entrance doesn't have any Joshua trees. They occur only in a narrow ecological niche. In the northern half of the park, they were all over, along with other cacti. We drove off into a picnic area, almost getting stuck and not being able to turn around because of where people had parked. We only had time to drive through. There were huge numbers of Joshua Trees, spread across the landscape. In Joshua Tree (town), we stopped to see if we could find an old DOJ friend who now operates an outfitting store. We stopped at a likely candidate, which wasn't the right store, but the owner knew where Gary and Celeste's store was. We walked around the corner and spent 45 minutes chatting with Celeste. They sell rock-climbing gear and also do repair of outdoor equipment. In addition, they repair/modify gear for the military (the stuff provided to the soldiers is terrible and they modify it). Gary works as a rock climbing guide. Celeste does some legal work for various environmental organizations and just passed the California bar. As we headed towards Sierra Madre, where Jens' (our son-in-law) mother lives, we passed through the biggest wind farm I have ever seen. In contrast to all the other windfarms we saw on this trip, the turbines were closer together and in lines instead of being staggered. It was located in a pass where the wind apparently really blows, though it wasn't blowing when we went through.

Ingrid lives in Sierra Madre, up against the mountains of LA. She was a wonderful hostess, showing me around Sierra Madre and taking us by Metro into downtown LA to see the Old Town, the Disney Hall (designed by Frank Geary) and the Catholic Cathedral. The Cathedral is very modern. It doesn't look like a church from the outside at all. Inside, there are chapels around the main church with themes like children and abused women. The church is filled with computer-generated tapestries of Catholic saints from all traditions. It's a very interesting space.

One day we spent with Kirin, Sabrina, Max, Ng and Ethan, who all live within 1/2 mile of each other in Culver City. We went over to Kirin and Sabrina's for brunch, but their stove had just died so we satisfied ourselves with granola, fruit and baked goods. Ethan is 13 months old, walks and is generally really cheerful. Here he is playing piano with Kirin. Kirin works designing movie previews and trailers. Sabrina works on financing housing for the developmentally disabled in California, paid for by a tax on millionaires. Ng has just started her first job with Kaiser as a physical medicine doctor. Max works for a company doing computer work. It was great to see them all doing so well and happy.

We drove to Venice beach and walked up the Boardwalk. We also saw the canals of Venice Beach. Kirin and Sabrina had just bought a new 250 cc Vespa motorcycle, so Kirin led the way on that. Bob took a swim (his last in 2008). The street performers were great, including these two guys who juggled and did acrobatics.