Fan of the Nature Preserve and Professional Tennis

We really had only one thing on our must-see places for this stop. But we love finding out about places and things that we didn't even know existed. This was a day of finding travel gems right under our nose. One of our neighbors told us about Thousand Palms Oasis Preserve, just 8 miles from the campground. We had to park on the road because all the parking spots were taken. Who knew that a lovely palm oasis was hiding here in the middle of the desert?

The most popular trail took us down a board walk, through so many palm trees that it was too dark to take a good picture. These are California fan palms that grow wherever there is a steady source of moisture.

We found that source of moisture had collected in the pond, that is completely encircled with palm trees.

These trees are huge. They wouldn't look so big if the dead branches had been trimmed. Somewhere in that mass of dead fronds in a spindly little trunk. But here in the wilds of the nature preserve, the branches stay in place to make homes for the local birds.

Just 100 yards away from all that wet and lush landscape, the trail took us back into the desert. We were in the sand with the thorny creosote bushes once again.

All along the hike, lizards seemed to be crossing the trail right in front of us. This one stopped long enough for us to snap a picture, showing how he blended with the colors in the sand so well.

We took the trail to the top of the hill, where we could see the palm oasis we had just left. There was another group of palm trees far to the right in the picture below, and another group to the left. It was a green visual line that showed where the water was bubbling to the surface. This water comes to the surface because we are looking down on the San Andreas Fault trace. This fault has not had a significant rupture in over 300 years, and we would hope that our stay here doesn't make earthquake history.

Looking in the opposite direction, we could see the barren desert floor. But the hillside was completely carpeted with yellow and purple wild flowers.

Denisa is a happy camper when the wildflowers are blooming. The calendar still says winter, but the desert flowers are definitely saying spring. With all the rain that California has enjoyed this year, the flower seeds that have been lying dormant have been awakened.

She is amazed at the intricate details of these tiny blooms. This might look like a full-size bouquet, but it was actually just a little bigger than a quarter.

The yellow flowers are radiant. We usually think of bees pollinating the flowers, but this bug was definitely enjoying his work on this bloom.

A close up shows that his legs and head are completely covered in the pollen.

More tiny purple flowers, that amaze us with their perfect little blooms. Most of the time we think of big majestic sites when we wander His wonders. But some times those wonders are found in the form of tiny wildflowers.

It's a beautiful blue sky day, with temperatures nearing 80 degrees.

When we were walking up the trail, Denisa noticed a unique plant, that has put on a whole batch of blooms.

Forty-five minutes later as we walked back down the same trail, we saw that first bloom was just opening. This is the kind of weather that wildflowers love, and they are getting prettier every minute!

After having our nature fix for the day, we were heading to Indian Wells. Another campground neighbor told us this morning about the BNP Paribas tennis tournament. We had seen billboards on the interstate about this annual professional tennis tournament, but assumed that attending would be too expensive. But this morning our neighbor explained that today was the last day of qualifying matches, so there was no admission charge for fans to attend. Suddenly it fit into our budget perfectly!

We had to do some research to understand the significance of this little tennis match we were going to see. It's the most attended tennis event in the world outside of the four grand slam tournaments. The Association of Tennis Professionals has named it the best tournament in the world for the last three years, so all the big name players will be here. We were a little confused about the name, but found out BNP Paribus comes from the French Bank in Paris that sponsors much of the $7 million prize money that will be awarded. That's the other reason that all the best players come to Indian Wells for the next two weeks.

So we drove to the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, and found ourselves in the most amazing tennis complex we could imagine. We got some advice on how to tackle this professional tennis experience from a very friendly spectator. He had all the phone apps downloaded from the ATP and the WTA. The fact that he knew that stands for "Association of Tennis Professionals" and "Women's Tennis Association" told us that he was a big fan of the game. He knew all the tennis pairings for the day, and who would be practicing on which courts. After giving us a rush course on Tennis Tournament 101, he even offered to take a picture of us looking down the line of palms leading to Stadium 1. That's the second largest tennis stadium in the world--with seating for 16,100, plus 40 luxury suites.

We first visited the plaza area, where the jumbo-tron allowed spectators to watch 5 different matches at the same time, while updating the scores on eight more. It looks like no one was taking advantage of this view, but the chairs in the shade on the far left were packed with spectators.

We had been advised to check out the practice courts. They line the outside of the complex, and the views of the surrounding mountains and palm trees seem like they might be a little distracting to one's forehand shot.

Since we don't recognize too many professional tennis players, we thought our best strategy might be to follow the biggest crowds. We assume all these people milling around the practice courts know their tennis stars better than we do.

There's a long line of practice courts, all busy with players from around the world that have traveled to California for the excellent tennis and the beautiful March weather.

Have we mentioned that the landscaping around Indian Wells is awesome? This is just one of the many flower beds that are packed with flowers.

It's hard to tell in the bigger picture, but that is a combination of red and orange geraniums. We wouldn't try that at home, but it worked here.

Our next stop was to the courts, where actual matches were being played. It's amazing how many people are working so that these two women can play. There is the main judge sitting above the net with an umbrella. But there are six more line judges standing and/or crouching in the sun.

But our favorite workers have to be the troupes of ball-girls and ball-boys who are doing some serious hustling out there.

It was getting warm this afternoon, and between almost every point, the player would motion for the ball-girl to bring a towel. She would also deliver several new tennis balls and lay them on his racket if he was the server. Then she would return to the side-lines to stand at attention.

The player would serve the ball, then motion for the towel, and new tennis balls were delivered. Those professional players get quite the service!

In between games, the players sit and drink cool beverages. At the same time the ball-girl has set up an umbrella to hold at just the right angle to provide the maximum shade. At the same time, the ball-boys that have been racing across the court to retrieve the balls hit into the net are now standing at attention in the middle of the court in the sun. We definitely have a new respect for the work that these young people do in these tournaments.

After watching part of a match on a court with few spectators, we decided to move to a stadium where we kept hearing the fans exclaim over great shots. It's a slow process to move to a new court, as spectators are not allowed to leave during the action. We had to wait until there was a break between games, as there were people manning each entrance/exit. Then we had to wait outside the new stadium until there was a break in their action. Then you have to find a seat fast, or the judge will announce something that sounds polite but really means, "Sit down stupid!"

We arrived at this game between a Russian and a Latvian, and these guys were serving crazy fast. A tennis ball traveling 130 mph seems impossible to return, but they were doing it.

Denisa was cheering for Alexander Bublik. He looked like he was in Junior High (but he is actually the ripe old age of 19), and he was friendly with the crowd.

His opponent was Ernsts Gulbis, who complained about several calls and seemed to be short with the ball-girls.

It takes some time to play a match, and Mark figured out that we could actually watch two courts if we moved to the adjacent stadium. Proving that we are seasoned spectators that know how to play the fan game, we made the move and snagged two seats on the top row. We could look straight ahead to watch the game just starting between Elitsa Kostova (Bulgaria) and Francesca Schiavone (Italy); then turn around to keep an eye on the Gulbis/Bublik match behind us.

The person sitting next to us is a big fan of Francesca. She pointed out that at the age of 36, Francesca was probably at the end of her professional career. She had watched her play at this tournament 7 years ago, and had even talked to her when she saw her shopping at the mall between tournament appearances. Francesca was buying new tennis shoes, and insisted on buying her devoted fan a new pair too.

We didn't have any personalized stories about Elitsa, but we did enjoy her unique stance as she readied to receive a serve. She would shift her weight from side to side, and then hop twice. The picture below has both feet off the ground during one of those choreographed hops.

We have watched professional tennis matches on television before. But there is just so much more to soak in when you experience it in person. We were amazed with the hard work of the people that make this tournament a possibility, and enjoyed talking to true fans of the game. To update the matches we watched, Francesca would get beat by the younger Bulgarian. The men's match went all the way to a tie breaker, where the more-likable Russian won 7-5. The match was a nail-biter all the way through, and we had a kink in our necks from watching so much of that action.

We took one more walk around the impressive Indian Wells Garden complex as we headed back to the car. There is a long line of food vendors for fans to choose from. Instead of the usual carnival food, these are invited restaurants with gourmet food for the discerning tennis fan.

We didn't see Roger Federer or Venus Williams, even though they both are playing at the Indian Wells Masters tournament. Serena Williams has won this tournament the last three years, so it caused quite a stir when she announced that a hip injury caused her to pull out today. It was a great weather day for us to experience a first class nature preserve and a big-time tennis tournament, and it was even sweeter because it was all free!