Upcoming Events: January-February 2012

January 21, 2012 - Workshop at the Pacific Asia Museum

Meeting starts at 2:00 p.m. Newcomers are welcome! The Pacific Asia Museum is located at 46 N. Los Robles, Pasadena, and is only a few blocks walk from the Gold line station. Bring a season word from the current season with you.

January 28, 2012 - Haiku Walk (Ginko) at the Coachella Valley Preserve

Our winter desert haiku walk and workshop will be held 10-3 pm, at the Coachella Valley Preserve. The preserve is adjacent to Palm Desert, CA.

Please note this is a change from the original workshop location. The Coachella Valley Preserve is about a 2 hour drive from Los Angeles area, located near Interstate 10 near Palm Desert. Admission is free. No dogs or pets allowed.

We will meet at the Coachella Valley Preserve Visitor Center/Main Entrance, which is located at 29200 Thousand Palms Canyon Rd, Thousand Palms, CA 92276. Directions are posted at the end of this email.

The walk is an easy, 2-mile round trip suitable for all levels of walkers/hikers.

The workshop will be led by Debbie Kolodji & Ruth Nolan, who also led the very successful & enjoyable 2010 haiku desert workshop at Indian Canyons in Palm Springs. We'll take a walk and learn about the area from Ruth Nolan, desert native & scholar, and generate haiku during and after the walk.

Participants should bring their own lunch, plenty of water, drinks, snacks, hat & sunscreen, and light jacket. Note: there are no food/drink facilities at the preserve. It's also advisable to bring additional winter weather gear in case the weather is chilly, as needed (warmer jacket, gloves, cap). Wear walking or hiking shoes. Bring your own writing materials.

Directions:
1. Take Interstate 10 EAST out of the L.A. Basin, towards Palm Sprints.

2. Stay on I-10 and Go PAST the "Palm Springs" exit (do NOT take the palm Springs exit)......you will continue past the windmills, and past several freeway exits, and continue east for another 15-20 minutes along the freeway.

3. Take MONTEREY AVENUE exit off the freeway. Go LEFT on Monterey Avenue, and back over the freeway. Continue until you reach RAMON Road.

4. Go RIGHT on Ramon Road. Continue for approximately 5-10 minutes, heading out into open desert, until you reach THOUSAND PALMS ROAD. Be sure to keep a careful lookout of Thousand Palms Road; it comes up on the left-hand side of the road.

5. Go LEFT on Thousand Palms Road (note: Thousand Palms Road ONLY goes left.)

6. Drive several minutes on this road.....it goes past one big palm tree oasis on the left side of the road and you may see a few cars pulled off at the small dirt area here, but continue to drive. Thousand Palms Road gets a bit curved here, so be careful on this part of the road, as some people drive really fast through here.

7. You will very soon see a sign for "COACHELLA VALLEY PRESERVE-THOUSAND PALMS OASIS" and this will be the MAIN VISITOR CENTER area. Turn LEFT into the dirt parking lot. Find a parking spot and then join us at the visitor center.

8. Call RUTH NOLAN IF you get lost and/or need help finding our location. 760-964-9767

9. Call DEBBIE KOLODJI before the event if you would like to carpool from the Los Angeles area. 626-201-2151

Coachella Valley Preserve Main Entrance-Visitor Center
29200 Thousand Palms Canyon Rd, Thousand Palms, CA 92276
http://coachellavalleypreserve.org/

February 18, 2012 - Workshop at the Pacific Asia Museum

Meeting starts at 2:00 p.m. Newcomers are welcome! The Pacific Asia Museum is located at 46 N. Los Robles, Pasadena, and is only a few blocks walk from the Gold line station. Program: Greg Longenecker will do a program on Basho. Naia will be the featured reader.