Desert Adventure

It only took an hour and a half to get to Palm Springs which makes me wonder why we don't go more often.  Something about that desert heat that's so relaxing.

I was excited to use my car because I changed the wind shield wipers and got an oil change.  It was time to use the car that's been so reliable to me.

Before heading out we grabbed a banh mi from Banh Mi Che Cali for breakfast.  On the way to the freeway I thought I tossed my sunglasses in the garbage and made Charles and Phil fish it out of the trash.  They passed the test of friendship and I passed the test of idiocy when I pulled them out of my pant pocket.  Oops.

First stop, Bombay Beach.  A post apocalyptic town of 300 sitting next to the Salton Sea which was essentially sitting water with rotting fish and sulfur.

There was also a piano that could be found on the beach sludge, but it disappeared before we could find it.  Check out this erie video:

Playing piano in Bombay beach salton sea CA #infinitytour #pianointhedesert #saltonsea

A video posted by @yanntiersen on Jun 24, 2014 at 4:19pm PDT

Next 30 minutes from Bombay Beach was Salvation Mountain.  A structure built from adobe and paint sits randomly in the desert.

I thought the view from the top back was the most interesting because you could see how it was made and how fragile it is.  I wanted to pose with the rainbow flag, but it took away from the colors of the mountain.

We forgot to pack water.  Which is quite dangerous.  Made taking pictures really difficult because we were so uncomfortable.  Thankfully there was a convenient store at the corning of the town near by.

We decided to be frugal on the trip and split a Travelodge among the four of us.  They had a pool, not bad.

That evening we went out to Hunters to celebrate love and it was surprisingly happening.  Four rounds of drinks later and I was happy.

The next day we explored Joshua Tree which was a familiar place since I've been there twice before.

Took some pictures for Jimmy's "Shirtless in National Parks" photo series

Looks at these two creatives.

We conquered it all!  Key's View is wonderful.

2nd Annual 4th of July in Palm Springs - in GIF Format

The winning group photo

Jimmy finally caught up with his photo editing and posted pictures from Palm Springs onto Facebook.  I snagged a good handful for my blog and realized that there were too many good moments to share.  In order to avoid a long entry I created lower quality GIFs.  lol.   This is the perfect timing as we say good bye to summer....

Andrew and Jlo really did deliver; planning an amazing weekend getaway.  Somehow we crammed 11 guys into a 3 bedroom airbNb.  Not only was the place really cute, but Andrew and Jlo made sure we were fed.  We never had to eat out because these two were constantly slaving away in the kitchen.  They were serving so much good food.

Around the table:  This is where we ate, played games and talked.

Lounging: Sometime times it was hard to relax.  Folks were staked on top of each other.  Andrew and Jlo are trying to figure out a better sleeping arrangement for next year, but everyone was flexible and in good spirits despite the communal sleeping space it seemed.  Of course there was mario kart, karaoke and charades.

Pool time:  The pool was a great size.  Next time I want to look up some more pool games since we spent a large time there that weekend.  But we had a good time just tossing each other around.

Night Swim:  We took advantage of the night heat and stayed wet in the pool

Fireworks!  We celebrated with morning glory sparklers.  Jimmy missed the announcement that we were tossing the used sparklers near the rocks and he accidentally stepped on them burning his foot.  Luckily we had a registered nurse with us who healed him quick enough to go clubbing that evening.

Poolside:  These are some random shots by the pool.  Jimmy thinks he's all cute matching in yellow.  And the hats that I brought really made the weekend fun.  Well, fun for me.

FOOOOD:  I'm not kidding about food.  Andrew and Jlo made us meals the entire time!  It was no joke.  Longanisa, spam, bacon, hamburgers, corn, hotdogs, carne asada.  Others brought curry and Tommy and Martin made French toast with croissants the last morning.  Brilliantly we used up the left over ingredients on the last day for omelets. The only that wasn't used was a giant bottle of jam.  Who eats jam?

WILD THINGS:  This speaks for itself.

Jimmy made a video!
I'm already looking forward to next summer.