I went and chatted with them for a few minutes. I mentioned that my fiddle and mandolin were in the car but that I was basically a beginner in the genre. No offer of jamming was forthcoming so I sat in the spa near them and soaked for a bit. It was pleasant. Swam my half mile as well.
Around noon Frances and I headed to the high desert again. And for the record - many of the high desert business spell it "Hi" desert instead of "high" desert - so no - I'm not making a typo when I abbreviate.
First we went to Gublers Orchard Farm. I've been wanting to visit there that last two times I've been in the area and this time I made it. It is way out in the town of Landers. I'm going to try to describe how to get there. You leave Desert Hot Springs - which is a sea level - and take Highway 62 into the mountains. Highway 62 reminds me a bit of Highway 17 to Santa Cruz. It's an easy four lane mountain drive. The town of Yucca Valley is about 20 miles into the mountains and here I turn west on Old Woman Springs Road. Landers is about 10 miles into barren desert country with houses dotting the area.
The first thing you see at Gublers Orchard Farm is their new wind generator. All of the desert area here is very windy and they installed their first wind generator about three months ago. They've not yet been able to really determine the average savings, but figure in a few months they'll have a better feel for it.
Gublers are the suppliers of orchards nation wide to places like Home Depot, Safeway, etc. They have about half a dozen greenhouses and they give private tours. I had my own personal 15 minute tour through the facility. Needless to say the flowers are beautiful and I took plenty of closeup photos. They also grow carnivourous plants here. I was allowed to play with a Venus flytrap that had it's "mouth" open. I touched it and it closed it's mouth thinking it had caught something. This head of the plant only opens and closes three times and then dies and drops off the plant. So I am informed that we shortened it's life by one bite. The plant doesn't die, just the head.
After touring I can see why orchards are so expensive as it takes about 7 years for a bloom. However, in recent years they have begun cloning the orchards. I saw entire 50 foot long flats of identical orchards in various stages of growth. So while it still takes 7 years to bloom - they now get as many as 2000 seeds from a plant instead of... I forget... not very many. So now orchards are a little bit cheaper. Not sure how I feel about the cloning, but it is a fact of the industry.
After this I headed to Pioneertown since we were more or less in the vicinity. I drove through Pipes Canyon - the roads get narrower and sandier now as you head towards more isolated desert areas. By the way - have I mentioned that I love the desert in winter!!! (haha) I just love the landscape.
Anyway, Pioneertown began in the 1940s when several Hollywood celebrities of the Western Film genre decided to build a western set out in the desert to use for mvoies. This little "town" still exists. It was used in over 50 moves during the 1940s and 1950s. Gene Autrie, Roy Rogers and the Vocal Group the Sons of the Pioneers were some of the investors. Pioneertown was named after the Sons of the Pioneers.
Eventually the set was no longer used, and Pioneer Town became a single pump gas station and not much more. Around 1980 a biker bar called Pappy and Harriets was buildt and this has become a mecca for local music, great food and celebrity music as well. Donovan, Gram Parsons, Country Joe etc... are some of the many who used to frequent the place. FYI - Donovan lived in Yucca Valley in the 1970s and 1980s so there are occasionally references to him at different local establishments. And in general the Desert Hot Springs/Joshua Tree area was a celebrity get away from the 1960s through the 1980s - especially the rock and roll celebrity elite. The older Hollywood set still preferred Palm Springs. Many of the Desert Hot Spring resorts - especially Two Bunch Palms where my friend Jenifer worked - catered to the privacy and upscale "needs" of the Rolling Stones, Joni Mitchell and the younger Hollywood set of that era.
Anyway, I had lunch at Pappy and Harriet's - the best nacho plate I've had EVER! - and then roamed around the old western set. I keep my eyes open for scenery that would fit my Coyote story, and I took quite a few pictures of one of the mountains in Pipe Canyon, and of this set as they gave me some ideas.
By now it was about 3:30 so I figured if we were going to get into Joshua Tree National Park (and it is a Park not a Monument) that we'd better get rolling before the sunset. We drove back to Highway 62 and headed another 10 miles up the mountain to the town of Joshua Tree. We went to the Visitor Center for maps and stuff. But - it's $15.00 for a day pass into the park and it turns out the annual pass is $80.00 so for today we chose not to go. When I'm 62 years old it will be $10 for a lifetime pass to all Natiional Parks. Had it been earlier in the day I may have considered it. I was getting tired anyway so we headed back to the hotel, did some reading and sitting in hot water and that was about that.
That was interesting info regarding cloning orchids. I had no idea it took them so long to bloom. I've had Venus Flytraps before... neat little plants! They like to eat insects but they also love eating hamburger meat. Did you know they are found natively only in North and South Carolina, specifically within a 60 mile radius of Wilmington, NC... that's where my son lives (and where Mary recently moved to).
ReplyDeleteI had no idea Venus flytraps were indigenous to the Carolinas. The more I think about it, the less comfortable I am with an orchard farm in the desert. The climate is quite antithesis to orchards and they must expend quite a bit to create an appropriate climate... and cloning... I need to be persuaded as to the benefits beyond economics.
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