Black Plague Brewery: The brewery owned partly by Tony Hawk. That reason and that alone was the reason i stopped in here to have a beer on the way back to Morongo Valley. Lots of cool art on the walls, skateboards, and a good variety of beers on tap.

Oceanside Pier: The longest wooden pier on the California coast. It is full of the usual things, fisherman, street performers, and plenty of little shops on the way. Definitely worth the walk to the end of the pier to take in the sights and sounds of the pacific ocean.

Booze Brothers Brewing Co.: Another cool brewery in the heart of downtown oceanside, only about a 5-10 minute walk from the pier. Here they have a good selection of seasonal and local beers. If your lucky you might just catch one of the brothers themseles behind the bar.

Great Shakes: This is a must stop in Palm Springs. The have a ton of different flavors, and they put a cool littel mini donut on most of their shakes. It's a perfect treat to take a stroll down Palm Canyon Drive.

Aerial Tramway: The best thing I did while in Palm Springs was by far taking the Aerial Tramway up to San Jacinto Mountain. It is the world's largest rotating tram car. The views of the Coachella Valley as you rise up to near the peak of the San Jacinto are breath taking, and truly surreal. It is a ticketed experience so make sure you buy tickets in advanced. I recommend trying to go as early in the day as possible if you plan to hike any at the top of the route.(I highly recommend, but make sure you are prepared for the weather. It was 84 in Palm Springs and 27 at peak)

San Jancinto State Park: This park is at the top of the Aerial Tramway. It is another fantastic area to demontrate the diverse aspects of California's environment. It was 84 in Palm Springs at the base of the Mountain and snowy and 28 degrees at the top. It is truly beautiful the amount of nature that can survive at the altitude and harsh elements of a mountain desert climate. There are a 2 mile nature trail at the top of the Tramway.

Wind Farm: All around Palm Springs there are plenty of these huge windmills harvesting the raw energy from the crazy wind blowing in from the desert. The picture above is by I10 just North of Palm Springs. These are great props for the gram, and have some relaly good uses in backgrounds for the wild scenary thats on display in this part of the country. They are surounded by active rail yards, so if you do decide to go exploring be safe, and keep your eyed peeled.

Joshua Tree National Park: Joshua Tree National Park is a truly breath taking look at truly alien-like ecosystem. From the plants, the shrubs, bushes and the Joshua Tree (pictured), they all thrive in a unforgiving environment with little to no rainfall. There are numerous hikes, roads, fire roads, entrances, and other outdoor opportunites available.
Coming Soon: Pictures of Mount Ryan sunrise hike.

Death Valley National Park: Death Valley is the quite literally the one of the strangest, environmentally brutal, beatiful landscapes in the world. The soil here is like nothing else I have encountered personally. It just seems as if everything is broken rocks. There is very little vegatation here, but the colors of the mountains of exposed rocks, and hills painted by the glimmer of elements left behind from long ago are brillantly displayed in the California sunlight. This place is the home lowest place in the US (Badwater), and holds the record of hottest temprature at 134 degrees farenheit.