To the California: Desert town

The second half of our California vacation was spent in Palm Springs. We stayed at The Seguaro Hotel and spent our time shopping for mid-century modern delights and drooling over the architecture and boutique hotels in downtown Palm Springs. It was "California Cold" (rainy and mid-60s) but we still managed to get Bowie in his swim trunks for his first pool swim ever.

He loves splashing!

Even though we didn't stay at The Ace Hotel we explored their property and drank date shakes in their restaurant.

We took a day to drive to Joshua Tree National Park and stopped first at Noah's Purifoy. If you're ever in the area I highly recommend checking out this bizarre and awesome space. It is a sculpture garden of sorts made with all found materials. The space is sprawling and is a surprise to find in the middle of the desert. We were the only people there when we visited, which added another weird element to the experience. 

Finally we spent the remainder of the day in Joshua Tree. There were no shortage of Joshua Trees. Bowie especially enjoyed eating desert sand.

Can you spot the oasis behind us? The 49 Palms Oasis Hike.

On a final note we were deeply saddened to learn of the death of our dear friend Jay while we were away. I made a totem for him in the desert. He was awesome and it's still tough to think about him and the shadow his death cast over our trip. He loved mid-century modern and spending time in nature, especially places that seem a little other worldly and special, so I was excited to talk to him about our adventures. He liked the concept of "thin spaces", which are places that seem a little closer to heaven than the rest of Earth. I think Joshua Tree was a definite thin space.