After the neon madness of Las Vegas it was great to retreat into the tranquillity of the desert. The landscape of the Joshua Tree national park is rather surreal: as far as the eye can see there are weird rock formations (it looks like some otherwordly creature has been piling up huge boulders as if they were marbles) and masses of giant cactuses all with their ‘arms’ pointing upwards towards the heavens. The sunset was spectacular, and then when the full moon came out we were able to do a night hike to ‘Skull Rock’ – very atmospheric.
The following day we hiked up one of the nearby peaks, and then visited a sculpture garden created by an ‘assemblage artist’. We took more and more turns down dusty, sandy tracks until we came across a deserted house surrounded by bizarre pieces formed out of bits of junk and other unwanted items. Pretty cool, if a little eerie.
An hour away from Joshua Tree is the rather more sophisticated (and expensive) town of Palm Springs. Formerly a favoured bolt-hole of legends such as Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe and Elvis, it’s now home to a large gay community and lots of well-heeled retired golfers. The city has many well-preserved examples of 1950s architecture which give the whole place a retro and slightly kitsch feel. We pushed the boat out and stayed in a plush hotel with pool, palm trees and all important air-con.
All this luxury put us in the mood for socialising and we ended up going out for dinner with a cool couple from Texas whom we met over a few ‘Orbitini’ cocktails during happy hour (hey Mary and Paul!) We learnt a lot about the US from them – including the tip that Louisiana should be avoided at all costs, and the unexpected fact that you can actually go surfing in Texas.
The next day we set out for LA, stopping off en-route to check out some giant plastic dinosaurs owned by a bunch of creationists. They claim that certain quotations in the bible show that humans and dinosaurs existed side by side, thereby categorically proving that evolutionary theory is wrong. Interesting logic, totally bizarre gift shop…
Susie and Phil xxx
