Woke up after a good night’s sleep. Wanted to hit the Palm Springs Museum of Art before leaving town. Checkout time is 11am but I got a late checkout for noon. The Art Museum opens at 10am, so headed over there right at 10am.
Here’s a closer look at the crawling babies:
And here are some photos from the museum. I’ll add comments as needed:
The next two are made from trash
This one is made from drug bags gathered from the ground and sewn together
This one is all made out of glass!
I thought this one is amazing – a persian rug that looks like it’s melting
This one is made out of pieces of bread, with bites taken out of some pieces to form the shape of the man
This stack of plates is about 12 feet high. The plates are around 3 ft in diameter!
Kenn didn’t understand why these people didn’t want to talk to him …
Finished up at the museum, went back to the hotel and time to move on to Joshua Tree! Passed a big wind farm – look how foggy it is!
Your National Park bathroom …
Entering Joshua Tree! It costs $30 to enter, and it’s $80 for an annual inter-agency pass, so I decided to go for the annual pass. There may be more National Parks in my future for the next year (until I can get my lifetime pass!)
Joshua Trees!
Kenn wanted to go for a hike but we didn’t have time
Cholla garden. Don’t touch!
Around an hour and a half later I exited Joshua Tree on the south end. Needed to get gas, so stopped in Chiriaco Summit. The only things there are a gas station, a coffee and gift shop, and the General George Patton Museum. Go figure!
It was a long drive to Phoenix. I did note people in AZ are nice drivers and people don’t hog the left lane. However, as I was about an hour and a half outside of Phoenix I noticed this big wall of brown in front of me. There were dust devils whirling in the desert. The wind started to pick up. People started putting their hazard lights on. Damn! I hit my first dust storm! It was so windy I thought I’d be blown off the road. Wind – dust – rain – thunder. I was gripping the steering wheel so hard my hands started to hurt. Luckily we made it through, but it was so dark!
I finally arrived at my hotel (Phoenix Hilton). I walked in the door and I must’ve had some look on my face cuz the guy at the desk goes “You made it!!”
Anyway, I called my friend Derek who I was going to have dinner with, and told him I was done driving for the day. So, he kindly picked me up and we went out for Mexican.
And now, today, I am headed to Miraval. I found a museum I’ll probably stop at – the Pinal County Historical Museum
http://www.pinalcountyhistoricalmuseum.org/visit_us.htm
I found it on Roadside America. I’ll probably stop at the Tom Mix Memorial too, since it’s right off the highway.
Anyway – talk soon!