2/5/08 Tuesday - TwentyNine Palms- Joshua Tree National Park

Hi There,

Another beautiful sunny day...... I stopped in the office to ask about some loud booming sounds I heard during the night. The clerk gave a chuckle and said that is "Our Marines " playing war games. They were shooting off their big guns. I hadn't realized that there was a large Marine Base just down the road in the middle of this desert. LOL
I headed to the museum- "29 Palms Art Gallery" 1st. The Gallery can be found at:
74055 Cottonwood Drive, TwentyNine Palms, CA.
For more info on the Gallery please see: http://www.29palmsartgallery.com/

I found Anne and told her about my travels and that I was looking for the giant painted tortoises. Much to my disappointment the project had taken place the previous year and all the pieces of art work had already been auctioned off. It was a project to help out the local Hospice Center. Anne did give me the name of the head of the Hospice, and I planned to go there for a visit- hoping they may still have one or two of the tortoise there. I spent about 1/2 hr looking around the museum at all the art work done by local artist. There were some truly beautiful pieces in the museum. I asked Anne about the art work painted on buildings around town, that I had noticed the day before. She told me about the "Oasis of Murals" a project that she and others had been working on. All of these paintings were a look into the heritage of the desert oasis area. The Morongo Basin Area. Anne gave me a visitor's guide of all the paintings in the area. I planned to visit all of them and get some pictures of them. She also told me about a project in Palm Springs of Mountain Rams ( I will check that out later). I thanked Anne for all of her help...and off I went.
I was now on my way to the Hospice Center hoping to see those giant tortoises.
I found the Center....but I was sad to hear that they had no tortoises left. They showed me some pictures of the ones that had been painted by local artist.....The artist had done a great job on them...sorry I don't have any pictures of them to share with you.
http://www.hospiceofmorongobasin.org/

I now took my "Oasis of Murals" guide and went on the hunt for art work around TwentyNine Palms. The guide was very helpful. It not only had a picture of the murals with brief descriptions- it also had a map to show me where to find them all!! There were a total of 22 different murals....all were very interesting!! I got pictures of all of them...I hope you enjoy them too.

To find out more about the "Oasis of Murals" please see: http://www.oasisofmurals.com/
SEE PICTURES IN ALBUM #123: http://picasaweb.google.com/Pandadmd5880

After going around town taking pictures I decided to get a bite to eat. When I finished I made my way to the Joshua Tree National Park. This National Park is part of the Mojave Desert. I spent the rest of the day exploring the Park....there is so much beauty in the desert!

For more info about this National Park see: www.nps.gov/jotr
SEE PICTURES IN ALBUM #124: http://picasaweb.google.com/Pandadmd5880

At sun down I headed back to the resort for some dinner, laundry, and pool time!!

Wednesday morning I was going to Palm Springs to try and find Mountain Ram Art Work, then heading to Lone Pine, CA.