Thursday, May 19, 2011

Day 74

Yesterday, my friend Johannes sent me some of the approximately 40000 photos he took while at Joshua Tree.  I'm putting a few up right now, with the idea that I'll do more later.


The hotels around the festival grounds were cheap and desultory so we stayed in someone's home.  (This seems the normal way, from what I could gather).  I booked the place at the last minute so I didn't have high expectations, but it turned out great.  This is the view from our back porch.  That's a fire pit.  There was also a hot tub, a horseshoe pit, and a charcoal grill.

Both nights we were there, J made fires inside that fire pit.  In so doing, he proved his barbaric machismo.  I grilled hamburgers, and onions, and zucchini.  J insisted we grill a cucumber.  I don't know why.  Well, yes I do.  It's because he's not very bright.


This was one of the numerous artworks inside the house where we stayed.  It was by far the most disturbing.  (Many were actually pretty nifty.  My favorite was a butterfly made by looping thread around nails, that hung in the bathroom).  It hung above and to the left of the TV and seemed to follow you about the house with its deep mysterious eyes.


After we got there, on Saturday, we went to the store and bought supplies.  (Wisely, we did NOT check before heading out to see what supplies the house had already, so we ended up buying a lot of stuff we didn't need.  Oh well.)  When we got back we decided to hike from our house to a nearby sculpture garden.  All the roads were unmarked and both of us had, for some reason, decided to set out on a hike on sandy roads wearing shoes with holes in them.  We quickly accumulated large coatings of grit around our feet.  After a time, we gave up the quest for said sculpture garden and turned back.  As we passed one of the houses on the way back, a fairly angry-seeming dog popped out from behind its fence and ran into the road behind us, growling and barking.  Johannes and I moved past it quickly, worrying somewhat that it might try to attack.  As soon as we passed its property, however, it stopped and watched us depart.

Oh, also, J kept trying to tell me it was a coyote.  Probably the thoughts of the upcoming cucumber-grilling had confused him.



The next morning we went hiking in Joshua Tree National Forest.  The first photo shows a large expanse of said trees.  The second shows one of the views of the hike ("Hidden Valley.")  The hike involved a box canyon where cattle rustlers used to go to hide out and rebrand their stolen cattle.  I made a mental note of the place, planning on going there with my next herd of rustled vicuna.

Here are a few more hike-related photos, taken from my camera:





To Be Continued....

4 comments:

Barbara Carlson said...

Cool place, but it looks oh, so, dry. Must go get some water.

Johannes said...

ANCIANT,

First of all, that WAS a coyote, they were everywhere, though, admittedly, behind fences in peoples yards. Some might say these were simply ordinary domesticated dogs, but I didn't see any herds f succulent sheep around, did you?

Second, I will grudgingly admit that I may have been wrong about the cucumber. They do not favor grilling. It sounded right at the time and I'd be damned if I was going to back down. I was dehydrated.

Cartooniste said...

New strategy, borrowed from L.

I am going to nag you. It will take the form of comments on your blog.

ANCIANT. Write. A. Novel.

Barbara Carlson said...

Hear, hear! Yes. I agree with Cartooniste.