Easter Weekend @ Palm Springs ..ver 2.0

Our Day 2 began with an absolutely sumptuous breakfast at the hotel's restaurant ..it was cooked to order and included juice , scrambled eggs , freshly baked muffins , fresh fruit and coffee ..

I'd much rather have soaked up the sun after such a perfect start to the day ..Instead , we were off to our next destination .. The Joshua Tree National Park..

Straddling the San Bernandino County and Riverside county, the park covers a land area of approx 800,000 acres and includes parts of both the Mojave desert and the Colorado desert ..

If you look at the map below you'll see that the park has 3 entrances ...you can choose to enter through the Joshua tree or Twenty nine Palms entrance and exit through Cotton wood ..thats a distance of approx 60 miles and takes approx 4 hours , however we chose to drive from the Joshua tree visitor center to Twenty nine palms or Oasis visitor center , a distance of 34 miles with an extra 7 miles if you include a trip to Keys view ..

Image courtesy : Official website

The Joshua tree park is named after the Joshua tree found in abundance in this park ..and so naturally it was our first stop ..after all it meant a picture together right ?

The next stop on the list was Hidden Valley where i enjoyed climbing up all the way , then enjoyed feeling on top of the world though having said that i must admit ,the feeling lasted only till i was up there ..coz the real challenge was climbing down ..

so i did what i did best , enjoyed and captured the panoramic view for as much time as i could and then literally rolled down landing with a thud . i guess you could ignore that detail ..

Next on the list came Keys View, where on a clear day the view extends beyond Salton sea to Mexico and its well worth the additional 20 min drive ..however as luck would have it , it wasn't a clear day however we did manage sweeping views of the Coachella valley and Palm Springs even though it was hazy ..

Then came the huge and varied rock formations that dot the entire landscape at the park ..the very first being Cap Rock , named after the flat rock that is perched at its top like a cap ..

and Jumbo Rocks ..for their sheer size

and last but not the least on the list was Skull Rock which is probably one of the most photographed rock formations ..you can see why ..

The loop was almost complete and by now, i was in complete sync with the description below ..

" For all its harshness, the desert is a land of surprising variety and complexity, a land of extreme fragility. "

In other words , whether you have a few hours or few days , Joshua Tree has something for everyone ..

Needless to say , i thoroughly enjoyed my visit ..The park is a different world from the inside ..its nature at its very best and with that i headed back to the hotel ..

but don't you go anywhere and if you do be sure to come back tomorrow coz there's still a day before the weekend ends ..so stay tuned !!