Living It Up In The Low Desert

This is The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens, Indio, California. http://www.livingdesert.org/Yes, an oasis in the desert for folks, critters and plants.

Last month, when the temperatures were more moderate, I visited the Indio/Palm Springs area of SoCal. It is called the Low Desert. Lots of folks don't realize what is special about the desert. It actually is not barren at all.
My friend from high school, Janet, and I adventured to the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. There is a botanical garden, demonstration, and animals, too.

Jurassic Desert?

No, this is not real. The dinosaurs are a joke. But Area 51.5, I'm not so sure.

Millenium Falcon

There was an interesting and amusing educational show, here is Renee and an African Lanner falcon, named Millenium. Oh, yes, there's that sense of humor again.

Butterfly alert!

The Living Desert is also a butterfly garden. I love that! I participate with butterfly sighting websites and this shot of  a lovely yellow butterfly--Cloudless Sulphur-- was accepted at Butterflies and Moths of North America http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/sighting_details/1080948
I did spend about twenty minutes chasing butterflies to get this

Summertime and the living is easy.

pic!

Mammals were there, too. Here we were chillaxin' with the meerkat.

The giraffes are so cute! Three generations.

Over-the-shoulder carrot.

Speaking of mammals, we had a chance to feed the giraffes!

Nom Nom,, love those baby carrots!

Little baby carrots. It was incredibly adorable, so here are three pics.

One of my first iPhone pics!

Janet suggested we visit the Palm Springs Art Museum. What an interesting combination of exhibits!
Modern sculpture, paintings from the 60s, Native American art. Very cool. Here we are--Janet and me in front of a beautiful glass sculpture.

Thank heavens this is only a sculpture.

Little Big Horn?

Some of the sculptures required deep thought. Others, not so much. We had modern, western, and I am not sure how to describe it.

This is a really tall horse.

This is in the I don't know category--but I like it!

Native American Art--wonderful.

Lots of variety--it was fascinating.

I'd like to mention how fun it is to connect with friends from school. 

Bar-B-Que on the balcony. Salmon, anyone?

When I graduated from Chula Vista High School in SoCal, I went away to college and proceeded to live all over the world! I didn't think I would participate in the lives of my friends, I'd lost them. It is difficult to describe the coolness of having those kids (who are now grandparents) back through social media. And Janet led the way through Classmates.com and Facebook. We were on the Speech Team together, and then both majored in English and were teachers. Janet even taught in China! Its one of those times that time hasn't passed--friendshipwise. So we went back to the resort and had dinner! We talked about old times, family, mutual friends, and how we are writing books!