Lily doesn’t like dogs.

They’re dirty, she says – they smell and they’re dangerous. After this weekend, Aviva’s mom changed her mind a little bit.

She agreed we could bring our new puppy Iggy to her house as long as we brought his “cage,” a metal and plastic fence that can be shaped in many ways. So we packed everyone up in the car and drove out to Palm Desert. We spent Saturday walking on El Paseo and buying some cactus from the Moorten Botanical Garden.

Here’s a little video of Iggy bouncing on my knee in the hotel room:

A couple of audio files of doves cooing from the Moorten Botanical Garden in Palm Springs:

[xspf]_start(‘Doves’, ‘mode=3&width=300&height=120’);[/xspf]

And a gallery of photographs taken in Palm Desert:

Iggy really wants to get at those doves

A better view of that neat African flower

The mountains from Lil’s place

Lots of windmills in a windy area on the route between Palm Desert and Los Angeles

Our room backed onto the pool

Very pretty painted utility boxes on El Paseo Drive

Its my couch, and – hey, that’s shiny over there

We all know love is blonde right?

The Washington women’s team stayed at our hotel, we saw the Cal St team on the road at a rest stop

Lil doesn’t like dogs but she seems to be making an exception for Iggy

Shopping Center Lights

Took this on the road driving from Palm Desert

Thats Snow Way Up There

An art shot I took at a rest stop

This cactus grows odd anthropomorphic looking bits

A cool cactus with pink spines

Don’t know what kind (sign said from Madagascar) but they look cool

Cactus flowers

Iggy likes to sit on Aviva’s lap, which is great because our last schip didn’t

Iggy sitting watching me – he sometimes hams it up for the camera!

Iggy really REALLY wants to get to those doves!

Speaks for itself I think

Iggy smelled and growled at this statue of a German shepard

Aviva walking past a window at a construction site on El Paseo

Cactus flowers

Iggy taking a nap after a long day walking on El Paseo in Palm Desert