Last Friday, my parents and I visited Joshua Tree National Park in the desert east of Los Angeles. Unfortunately I don’t have any photos of actual Joshua trees, which are really yuccas and were named for the Biblical Joshua by Mormon settlers. But I took some photos on the 49 Palms hike we did.
California barrel cactus (I think)
Cactus-dotted landscape
Oasis in the distance, like the Emerald City
We made it!
Mickey Mouse cactus
Quail!
Cool rocks
Dramatic landscape
On our way out, we met a ranger with whom we fell to chatting, and then she pointed out on a rock some ways away a chuckwalla, which is a large lizard. We couldn’t see it that well, but it was pretty big. And later in another part of the park we saw some handsome ravens.
Eleanor Glewwe 