Vintage War Birds and the Spruce Goose at the Evergreen Museum

Written by Robert LaGrone


Continued from page 1

Evergreen International Aviation, based right across Highway 18, owns and operatesrepparttar museum. The current building, completed in 2001, was designed around Howard Hughes' famous wooden aircraft. Volunteer docents, many of them veteran combat fliers, inform me with facts and regale me with stories ofrepparttar 133748 Goose and many other famous planes there.

Read this entire feature FREE with photos at: http://www.jetsettersmagazine.com/archive/jetezine/sports02/adventure/flight/evergreen/evergreen.html

By Robert LaGrone, Las Vegas Correspondent, Jetsetters Magazine at www.jetsettersmagazine.com



Robert LaGrone, Jetsetters Magazine Correspondent. Join the Travel Writers Network in the logo at www.jetsettersmagazine.com


Eco Red Jeep Tours of Palm Springs

Written by Kim and Don Tatera


Continued from page 1

Offrepparttar Road, Again - On my eco-tour, my guide was called "Spirit Walker." It seems that each guide is given a suitable nickname after completing his or her intensive three-month training. For Jay Brown, aka Spirit Walker, he has lived inrepparttar 133747 Palm Springs area for over 46 years and is a walking encyclopedia for flora, fauna, geology, history and just about anything else you ask him.

The spirits ofrepparttar 133748 first inhabitants,repparttar 133749 Cahuilla Indians, are alive and kicking and well represented by Jay. Aside from being a very down to earth decent human being, he cares about this natural desert environment and loves to share it with passengers on his Jeep CJ-8. He commandeered this rugged Jeep for me, another guest coincidentally named Jay, along with his girlfriend from Buenos Aires and led us torepparttar 133750 path less traveled.

Imagine land selling for $250 - $500 per acre way beforerepparttar 133751 late 1950's whenrepparttar 133752 rat pack was escaping from Los Angeles to sip martinis byrepparttar 133753 pool inrepparttar 133754 hip hideaway known as Palm Springs. In fact,repparttar 133755 United States government declaredrepparttar 133756 Coachella Valley area to be a wasteland as they sold off hundreds of acres and gave away 2 ½ acre parcels as a result ofrepparttar 133757 Homestead Act. With its natural beauty,repparttar 133758 desert certainly isn't for everyone with its contrasting harsh climate. Thanks torepparttar 133759 Wilhelm Family Trust, over 900 acres purchased inrepparttar 133760 1960's were set aside as an undisturbed natural environment to studyrepparttar 133761 natural beauty and artifacts left behind by hundreds of generations of Cahuilla Indians. It's on some of these pristine, undisturbed acres that Desert Adventures led us for our Indian Cultural Tour.

To get there, we passed some ofrepparttar 133762 75,000 acres of agriculture: peppers, carrots, lettuce, artichokes, broccoli, grapes, and dates. This agricultural goldmine reaps over $600 million dollars in annual income. Desert wasteland? I don't think so. With only four inches of annual rainfall, it's amazing howrepparttar 133763 only native fan palm tree,repparttar 133764 Washingtonia Filifera orrepparttar 133765 California Fan Palm, prospers as each sucks more than 30 gallons of water every day fromrepparttar 133766 underground aquifers. This palm tree isrepparttar 133767 largest ofrepparttar 133768 2,500 species of palms worldwide and thrives in this desert location that is more than 400 feet belowrepparttar 133769 water table.

California palms were used byrepparttar 133770 small groups of Cahuilla Indians in a number of ways: as roofing for their thatched huts;repparttar 133771 berries were boiled and mashed into a jelly and used as food;repparttar 133772 fronds were used as sandals to protect sensitive feet from scorching sands; for fire tinder and woven into baskets for storing items; and most importantly, as a gathering and habitation site. Of course, these desert palms grow by underground springs, or oases, which, generally were along earthquake fault lines like these here byrepparttar 133773 San Andreas Fault.

Tough Times Call for Tough Measures. Natural desert flora includesrepparttar 133774 Arrow Weed, from whichrepparttar 133775 dried stems were used for, guess what? Arrows. Rocks were ground into arrowheads and used primarily for hunting, sincerepparttar 133776 Cahuilla Indians were a peaceful tribe, unlike other tribes. Palo Verde Trees provided bean pods, which allowedrepparttar 133777 Cahuilla Indians sustenance when boiled and ground into paste. Tempted byrepparttar 133778 fruit of another? Be sure and try some ofrepparttar 133779 Mesquite Honey Bean, which was a storable, staple food that is as nutritious as barley.

I am no MD, nor do I play one on television, but it's not recommended that you drink a whole lot of water from an oasis, since it is heavily mineral laden and if consumed in large quantities will wreak havoc on your digestive system and cause diarrhea. With limited food and water supplies such as these,repparttar 133780 Cahuilla Indians were fairly mobile in order to hunt and gather. Read this entire feature FREE with photos at http://www.jetsettersmagazine.com/archive/jetezine/globe02/usa02/CA/psprings/redjeep/redjeep.html

Byrepparttar 133781 Tateras - Jetsetters Magazine Correspondents at www.jetsettersmagazine.com



Tateras - Jetsetters Magazine. Join the Travel Writers Network in the logo at www.jetsettersmagazine.com


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