Desert Travels

Finally catching up with posting drawings here, so I'm making a combined post of desert travels--a Christmas trip to the Mojave Desert, Joshua Tree National Park and the desert town of Twentynine Palms, and then the recent return trip for Spring Break...

These trips involve a lot of driving, which is great for me as the passenger, since it allows me to indulge in something I love to do--highway sketching!

I never get tired of visiting Joshua Tree National Park...to see familiar beauties like Hidden Valley (with or without the multitude of visitors), or discovering new places to explore.  Always fascinating, and always changing with the season and the light...

 The abandoned ruins of the
Reyes Adobe...

 Hidden Valley...

And a place without a name (that I know of!)

And then there is the town of Twentynine Palms...with old adobes, the Mojave landscape, and trips out for breakfast...

Back to the desert...

My favorite time to visit the Mojave Desert, Joshua Tree National Park and the desert town of Twentynine Palms is spring...though in a drought year the blooming isn't quite as noticeable, it's still a lovely trip...starting as usual with (passenger) freeway sketching...

...sketching in Joshua Tree National Park, where I never seem to get tired of drawing rocks...and drawing them in a variety of ways...

..wonderful to discover the ruins of an old mill...in the 1920's miners found gold here and called their claim "Wall Street", but by the beginning of the Great Depression, no more gold was found, and a mill was brought here to process ore from other mines.

Breakfast at the Country Kitchen in Joshua Tree...and painting on the outskirts of the desert town of Twentynine Palms...

Then it's time to return home...more freeway sketching!

Spring...

...perhaps the very best time of year to visit the California desert--though I'm learning to appreciate every season in the Mojave, spring just has such lovely weather.  Our visit was during "spring break", and of course we weren't the only ones who chose that time to travel, especially into Joshua Tree National Park.

I'm lucky to have lots of passenger

sketching time in this expansive landscape...

...and driving through the Park...

Lots of time spent drawing in the Park on this visit--

I never get tired of these rocks!

Hidden Valley has become a favorite spot...a surprisingly lush mix of high desert plants and trees...and loads of rock climbers on those rocks.

 ...a view here of the outskirts of Twentynine Palms...a quiet life except for the sound of distant blasts coming from the Marine Base and a few errant off-road bikes!

   Then time to head back to the city...

...through small desert towns and the Morongo Valley...and back on Highway 10 and home.