Palm Springs - Borrego Springs and Julian

Slept a little bit later this AM so that was good. Andre was up and out to try to get some good sunrise pictures, and he ran into John and Gilles out for their morning run, more dedication than I have!

Gilles and John out for their morning run, what a beautiful spot to go for a run!

Entrance to Gilles and John condo complex at sunrise

Today we did a road trip that John and Gilles have not yet done. We started off driving through part of the canyon and heading to Borrego Springs.

We'll go up and over the mountains today, then come back over on the other side of Palm Springs

We stopped at a great information center in Borrego Springs and got a map with directions to the iron sculptures that have been put up in the area.

Pretty gardens at the information center

The iron sculptures were pretty amazing, prehistoric, fantasy, cultural all mixed up along the side of the road that you could get up close to by going off road on sand tracks. Good thing we had John with us, he was able to help us out with what some of the things were, especially the dinosaur names.

Up to now we have pretty much been driving through the desert, lots of brown and rocks. We are on a hunt for a good view of a Smoke Tree. The name of their condo complex is Smoke Tree and we want to see a nice one in the wild. We do find a good place to stop, which also turns out to be a good place for John to pick up another rock for their garden. We also saw many many Ocotillo trees, and as we drove along started to see these in blossom with beautiful orange flowers.

Ocotillo tree in blossom

Smoke tree

John "needs" another rock for their garden in the condo.  Gilles did not volunteer to help him carry it

We continue on and the temperature is dropping and the vegetation has totally changed. We are now in green trees and grass, cattle grazing. We stop in a cute little town called Julian which is famous for its apples and apple pies. Had a fantastic lunch, you know you have picked the right spot when the local EMT are in line with you ordering their lunch. We ate at Julian Pie Co, so of course had apple pie for dessert. Wow, fantastic.

Heading towards Julian, so green!

Pies, pies and more pies

Great lunch, sandwiches served on a pie plate

Andre chose to have caramel on his pie



Everyone is going to get the same size piece

After lunch we walked through the small town checking out a couple of the stores. Really touristy and small, good to stretch after spending most of the morning in the car. The temperature is now nearly 20 degrees cooler than Palm Springs.

Tried to keep John out of this section of the store, or we would still be there!

Next we head back to Palm Springs coming back another route that brings us over the top of the mountains and back into the canyon via a road with many switchbacks. It does not take long for the vegetation to change again, there are some fantastic scenic lookouts that we stop at for pictures. A beautiful day for a road trip, we are being spoiled with having a driver for us.

Very scenic drive back to Palm Springs

Switchbacks coming back over the mountain

Supper tonight is ribs that we put in the crock pot before venturing out for the day.

Friends come over for drinks after supper and some good conversation on Brexit, US elections, and travel. Maggie and Jon are from the UK and have traveled extensively, could have talked to them for days.

Looking forward to tomorrow, another day trip to Joshua Tree National Park.