Friday, April 11, 2008

Joshua Tree National Park











March winds and February and March showers bring many flowers in the desert. (These cacti and desert flowers don’t bloom unless they have enough water.) My friend, Marcy, said that the Yucca and Joshua Trees were in bloom so Terry and I took a trip to Joshua Tree National Park to see for ourselves. Even though there was snow on the mountains, it was peak season for flowers! The weird, giant rocks, shown with a yucca plant, invited young climbers.

Another reason to be thankful that we are of retirement age is that we didn’t have to pay the $15 per vehicle to enter the park. It was free with the Golden Age Pass.

The Yucca plants are beautiful to me. The yucca plants in the Mojave Desert have a tree trunk unlike the decorative plants we see with the leaves coming out of the ground. On a trip to Mesa Verde several years ago, a ranger told us that the natives used the Yucca leaves and roots for medicine and food. Terry asked, “What do they taste like?” I replied, “I don’t know but it probably is yucky.”

2 comments:

Jerry and Suzy said...

Yuck yuck yuck, funny joke! Thanks for sharing your travels with us. Do you get a chance to read our blog often?

Jerry and Suzy LeRoy

barb said...

seems like our paths are crossing............left JT NP not too long ago.

Glad I stumbled on yours...enjoy your journey.