Palm Springs and Joshua Tree National Park

So I took a short break and went to Palm Springs with my sister. Actually, it was to cash in on my one free night stay at a hotel (which I won on some random raffle) and free dinner to go with it. Because we don't really play golf, we decided to go check out the Joshua Tree National Park. I was surprised at how big the park was -- 2 hours to drive straight across from North to South! And I was also pleasantly surprised at how majestic desert vegetation can be. Here are some pictures.

Forest of Joshua Trees. I had seen random Joshua Trees by the freeway but they looked quite beautiful in a field full of them.


A close up of one against rock formations.


Although it was very windy, Joshua Trees did not sway with the wind. The bark of a Joshua Tree was rather interesting.

A different angle of Joshua Trees.

Cactus flower!


This is from the highest point at the park. What you see there, it's San Andreas fault line! Pretty interesting to see one of the biggest earthquake fault line in California.


Self explanatory.

Me in the middle of Cholla Cactus Garden.


Cholla Cactus Garden, in all its glory.


Another angle of cacti... bottom up!

Flower of cholla cactus.

Cholla cactus against the sun.
Other wild flowers with cholla cactus.

Not sure what this is called but looked quite dramatic.