Land of Hippies and Sidewinders

While we were in Los Angeles I was able to meet up with a great friend of mine, Mr. Andrew Dane. You probably know him from a few feature films and he's got a few more coming up too! I told him our next stop was Joshua Tree. To which he replied, "Ah, yes! Joshua Tree, that's where all the LA hipsters and Hippies go and take a bunch of mushrooms and freak out." Interesting I thought. But a valid statement at that!

We arrived later in the evening as we were put back by a couple hours of Nicole dozing off in the car as I stared at the same, non-exciting license plates of California in the traffic jam known as greater Los Angeles county. The sun was starting to preform its magical setting sequence over the mountains as we got camp set up and pondered what was for dinner. Winner was chicken noodle soup with sandwiches, a common winner at that. The moments I'd been wanting to take part of soon came upon us. We took a chance and went through the south entrance of the JTNP, but as it turns out the campsite we stayed at (cottonwood) was the darkest and best spot for taking some night photography. Finally, I'd get my star shots I've been wanting!

Unfortunately, the camera we have requires you hold the button to do a prolonged exposure over 30 seconds. So I couldn't get exactly what I was hoping for, but still, some nice shots none the less! Nicole gave me a little photo 101 on the do's and do more often of night time shooting and we were off!

The following morning we got a bright and early start, as we had to make it to the Grand Canyon to not lose our camping spot. We traversed the national park seeing some absolutely amazing flora and a couple exotic insects/birds. Some of the personal favorites were :

• the "teddybear" cholla
• the ocotillo plant
• the joshua tree

	The "Teddybear" cholla was a crazy cacti that looks all warm and fuzzy with mixes of brown, orange, white, and black coloring. Truly amazing plant that will really put you under for a couple of days they say.
	The Ocotillo plant is actually a deciduous tree that can shed its leaves up to five times a year. Its leaf cycle is completely dependent upon the amount of water in the area during the year. Quite interesting eh?
	The Joshua tree is what we came for, naturally. It's also known as a Yucca tree, and is very dependent upon Yucca moths to fertilize the seeds as to allow for future growth and expansion throughout the desert.

There were a lot of interesting things to see at Joshua Tree, and we wish we had more time to experience them all. We stumbled upon this flowering weed type of plant on the side of the road. It was early enough in the morning during our trip that we frequently just roamed the road slowly, stopping for new sights and plants (recommend!). Once we got out of the car, we saw them. They were GIANT ant like creatures with wings, buzzing around collecting pollen. They measured about 3-4 inches long, a metallic blue in color with orange wings. Pretty wild creatures! Check out this video to see what I mean ...

Days spent over 99 degrees : 4

Water consumed : 90 metric tons

Ant related attacks : 5

We're off to the Grand Canyon next! It should be warm and gigantic! Just gotta hope we make it without any hitches ...