California: Joshua Tree National Park ~ Palm Desert ~ Temecula.

Hello everyone, What an exciting 2019 we are having! We are still traveling locally to hit as many National Parks, State Park and Preserves in Arizona, Nevada and California. So our journey continues to another desert... Palm Desert, CA. Our first stop was witnessing the amazing snow covered mountains as we traveled through the Coconino National Forest and Mountains. The views from the top of the mountains were breathtaking! Then it was on to check in at the Marriott Desert Springs Villas II in Palm Desert.

During our visit, we went to Desert Hot Springs to visit Cabot's Pueblo Museum (which you have to do the tour). The stories of the history of Cabot and how he ended up in Desert Springs, CA was astonishing! This place is a hidden gem in the desert. The history of the Native Americans and the influence they had on our culture and how they built their houses (that are still standing today) was amazing to learn about and witness some of the original artifacts that have survived!

Next, we traveled through the San Bernardino National Forest from Palm Desert on our way to beautiful Temecula, CA. The drive through the San Bernardino mountains are intense! Up and down, swerving left and right for a solid hour. I was quite car sick! But, the views at the top were spectacular and worth the discomfort. There were some snow coverings on a few of the mountains! They were so close, it seemed you could just reach out and touch them! And getting to see some wild flowers along the way were awesome as well!

Once we arrived in Temecula, I was hoping to see grapevines and lush greenery at the wineries, but was sadly disappointed as it was not yet the season for it. We still had a good time visiting: Temecula Creek Inn, Lorimar, Europa Village, and Wilson Creek wineries. Wilson Creek was our favorite. They had beautiful grounds with a wonderful private creek and you could play games such as: horseshoes or bean bag toss. We had lunch at the Creekside Grill at Wilson Creek. The food was "A-MAZING"!

And our last stop on our week long trip to this part of California was to Joshua Tree National Park and wild flower adventure! Joshua Tree didn't disappoint! Before you even enter the park you are welcomed with a variety of beautiful wild flowers! So many and as far as the eyes can see! We stopped and took lots of photos. Then it was on to tackle Joshua Tree where we saw hundreds (if not a thousand) of Cholla's at the "Cholla Cactus Garden". I even stepped on one...OUCH!!! Yep! It hurt like a son-of-a-gun!

Next stop, was more wild flowers and the Jumbo Rocks garden, lots of cactus and then we finally arrived to... The Joshua Trees. It was so nice to finally see one in person. We enjoyed the park very much and it was definitely a treat to see so many wild flowers. It was a long day, we wanted to hike and see more of the park... but it was too hot, I was tired and we forgot our cooler with all the food and water, so we left and stopped in a nearby town for some food.

If you have never been to Joshua Tree National Park it is a very large park and I would advise that you go when it cooler (winter or very early spring), so you have time to see it all in cooler temps. I would like to go back and see more one day... but, for now we have too many other parks to tackle. So until next time, enjoy the pics!