Desert Picture Heavy Post

Out past the town of Mojave and Edwards Air Force Base, is this mine on the side of the mountain. It is cool looking from a distance. you wonder what they mine out of it. This is on the south side of Hwy 58. On the north side is another mine, an open-pit mine. It is on the desert floor with the mine built over it. Here you can click on each site to see what they mined. In the bit of searching I have done online, the picture below could be a mercury mine or a gold mine. There were and are to this day several working mines in this area.

My uncle has a vacation home, just outside of Joshua Tree National Park. That was our destination. This was an old run down cabin from the 1930's I think. About 10 years ago, maybe more, maybe less, he started cleaning it out and making it into a nice desert vacation get away. It is very relaxing, mostly quiet except for the occasional noise of a motorcycle dirt bike, and the cooing of doves and sound of cactus wrens.

Prickly Pear Cactus

Prickly Pear candy is good. I know we got some on our trip to the Grand Canyon three years ago. It is very sweet.

Barren desert.

Stink Beetle that I found in the kids' bathroom on Saturday morning. I gently took him/her outside. Black in upper left corner of picture. It was the size of my thumb from the joint to the tip of the nail.

I saw at least a dozen jet trails within a twenty minute time frame as I sat outside on Saturday morning trying to draw in the sun and some warmth. The wind was blowing a little bit so I didn't get too warm.

Toward Joshua Tree National Park.

My partially finished block for the month of March. Robert says I should call it my desert block.

Barrel cactus.

Young Joshua Tree.

Up close spikes on the young Joshua Tree.

Juniper Bush with large Juniper Berries.

Beautiful rocks in front of the house. They are lining most of the front deck.

Jack Rabbit by the front wheel of the van.

Looking Southwest towards the Little San Berdardino Mountains and San Bernardino Mountains. (I think)

Definitely the San Berndardino Mountains, with snow on one of the peaks.

Another Joshua Tree. I promise there will be lots more later.

I haven't figured out what cactus this one is. There is also a close up of it right below. To me it looks like coral with spines.

Cholla, or Jumping Cholla, or Teddy Bear Cholla. We had these in Arizona when I was a kid. They were not fun if you got prickled by them!! The white one in the middle of the picture.