Celebrating 29 years in Twentynine Palms

Eric & I have been married for 29 years! Wahoo! But how do you celebrate a mini-milestone year? For our 19th Anniversary we enjoyed the $19 special in Wendover! A room, prime rib dinner for two and some gambling gimic we declined. We booked the room, enjoyed the meal, tolerated the smoke, took a walk through town (the Nevada side thrives, the Utah side is neglected) and entertained the idea of kayaking at Blue Lake, a few miles out of town on the Salt Flats, but finally decided against it for fear our boats would be snatched from the car rack in the casino parking lot. In keeping with our niner tradition of finding something related to the number, we decided it was time to visit Twentynine Palms!

But what could we find to do in Twentynine Palms? Well it is the gateway to Joshua Tree National Monument and we've wanted to check it out and check it off our List of Things to Do While Living in California. Ten years ago our son Ben made a memorable climbing pilgrimage with his friend Justin Warren who was studying at USC at the time. Joshua Tree has amazing climbing routes that are world renowned. Ben came home with awe-inspiring tales of adventure, a head full of Smurf-blue hair and a pierced eyebrow - that made his escapades memorable to all of us!

But back to our day in the sun. Well number one - though it was hot it wasn't unbearable! Thankfully it was only in the 80's & low '90's. For a place which is known to offer triple digits with regularity, we lucked out! We checked out Cholla Cactus Garden, Skull Rock, Keys View, Barker Dam, Hidden Valley and more.



After a full day of hiking we headed to Palm Desert to spend the night. We celebrated my birthday dinner at Red Robin which would not have been complete without Mud Pie!

After a good night's sleep we went exploring in Palm Springs and environs. We entered Points of Interest in the GPS and Tahquitz Waterfall popped up. We followed the directions the GPS voice gave us - which put us into the middle of a trailer park! We exited and found our way while ignoring the mechancial voice which instructed us to 'u-turn at the nearest intersection and go back'. We found the Visitor's Center and were informed that the waterfall was dry and that it was not worth the two mile hike at this time of year. The employee kindly suggested that we check out Indian Canyons. On our way there we passed Moorten Botanical Garden. It looked interesting so we figured what the heck, today's an adventure waiting to happen. We u-turned, parked, paid our $3 and had a delightful time at this privately owned Living Museum founded in 1938. The Moorten family turned their residence estate into a living museum of desert lore. There were glistening crystals, colorful rocks, ancient fossils, pioneer and gold-mine relics and the world's first 'Cactarium' (a word they coined) with an exhibit of rare plants.

This private arboretum was created to share the beauty and extraordinary varieties of desert plants from around the world - featuring desert trees and cacti from miniatures to giants. There were more than 3000 varieties of plants along a nature trail. The Moorten's Mediterranean style home called 'Cactus Castle' lies in the Palm Grove Oasis and the entire area was touted for being an ideal site for weddings, receptions, art exhibits, concerts, classes, meetings, memorials, mixers and fashion shows. Ideal for photography television programs and movie site locations the brochure proclaims.

We have to agree, it was unique and a refreshing change from the over-commercialized, big box sameness of most tourist spots.