what have i been doing?

certainly not being a diligent blogger! let me start the updates by recapping my trip out to Palm Desert over Thanksgiving...

It was a wonderful time being with my Grandma, cousins, aunt & uncle. My folks flew out as well so it was a blast to all be together. Here I am with my cousins and Grandma-

It was the first time I had been to visit Palm Desert in seven years, and it was definitely time! Here is my beautiful Grandma on Thanksgiving

It was gorgeous out there, and I loved just driving around looking at the palm trees that lined the streets. Even the airport terminal was entirely outside and lined with palm trees. Sadly I don't have a picture of that because it was dark both times I was there, but here's the palm tree in my Grandma's front yard.

My Grandma was in great health and we went on several grand adventures. One day we drove over to the Salton Sea, the largest lake in California. It sits on the lowest elevation in the Colorado Desert and was formed in 1905 when some dams along the Colorado River broke during heavy rainfall. The entire river emptied into this basin for 2 years before it could be redirected, covering up small towns and a rail line. It has no natural outflow and is only fed by rainfall and irrigation runoff, and is therefore evaporating significantly every year. As it recedes things that had been buried keep surfacing. Its salt content is also on the rise because of the evaporation and that fact that it sits on salt beds. There were dead fish covering the sea shore due to some sort of chemical the algae lets off. It is also prone to flash floods and has buried trailers and homes before in sediment. Altogether it was sort of a depressing and gross smelling place- but very interesting!

all the brown flecks below are dead fish

another day we went to Joshua Tree National Park. It was beautiful (although quite chillier than down in the desert!) and fun to see the scenery and imagine ourselves on the cover of the u2 album. there is a lot of hiking and rock climbing but you can also drive through the entire park- which is what we did.

it was certainly a different kind of beauty that i'm used to living in VA, but it was quite interesting to experience a desert landscape in the US. i couldn't believe i had never been to either of these places out there, and it was fun to experience them with my Grandma!

all in all it was a wonderful trip and just a great time to be together with everyone.