In this final episode of the Desert Lady Diaries podcast, Susan Henry (Ep 146) steps in as host and queries Dawn about her first experience with desert, the inspiration for Desert Lady Diaries and her shoppe, Soul Connection. Born & raised in New Jersey, Dawn Davis was drawn to the desert after lengthy careers in banking, project management and med…

Raised on the east coast, Kathy didn’t see a desert until she’d moved to San Francisco in her college years. Taking bus trips down to beaches in Mexico, the desert felt like something to ‘get through’ in order to get to the beach. Back-packing in the Sierras brought Kathy closer to the Mojave. One day, driving through Darwin in search of a friend's…

Anne Lear’s first experience with desert was a a young girl. Growing up in Los Angeles, Anne and her family made many trips to 29 Palms to visit her uncle, Bob Lear, a homesteader in the 1930’s. If Lear Avenue rings a bell, that road was named after Uncle Bob. This photo shows Anne, left, with Uncle Bob. In this episode we’ll first learn how it was…

Jenny was 10-years old when she first experienced the desert. Jenny's best friends mother was a Girl Scout leader who brought the girls out to Joshua Tree National Park to camp. Jennifer says, “I remember the wind – it was like a person, taking up space.” As an adult, Jennifer would visit the park to climb. In 2017 she wrote a dispatch about the hi…

Barbara Gothard, artist and educator, was born and raised in the landlocked agricultural community of Springfield, Illinois. Growing up in the middle of lush, green farmland, Barbara says she first experienced the desert while turning the pages of National Geographic. Barbara’s first visit to a desert came through a cultural exchange program. Barba…

Laurel Seidl’s first experience with desert was hitch hiking from Carson City to Las Vegas in 1966. In this episode we learn Laurel has quite a bit of hitch hiking experience. Laurel moved to the desert in 1982. Her parents lived in a homestead cabin on property at the edge of Twentynine Palms, near Wonder Valley. Laurel and her future husband at t…

Sandy Smith of West Allis, Wisconsin arrived to 29 Palms as a young Marine wife and mother in December 1987. Knowing they had orders to Camp Pendleton soon, Sandy didn’t concern herself with setting up household here in the desert. – she didn’t think she’d be staying that long. Sandy found herself back in 29 Palms in June 1994 for about nine months…

Born and raised near the Catskills in NY State, Mary Helen Tuttle fell in love with a guy who had started building a place in the desert. When Steve took a job on the west coast, they moved to Fontana. Thinking the desert home would just be a weekend retreat, the couple would make trips out on weekends to work on the dome home. They started working…

Born in in Kingston Ontario Canada, near Syracuse NY, Robyn Lewis made her way to California with her first husband – he was moving back to family and Robyn was excited to be near LA to continue her acting career. Robyn describes herself as a shy kid who took some acting classes in Canada to try it out, which lead to doing extra work on films when …

Born and raised in Philly, Kate McCabe made her way to California to study under former Disney animator Jules Engle (Fantasia), at CalArts. Looking for a California sound for a film she was creating, Kate approached Brant Bjork from the southern California desert music scene. Once he saw her completed project, ‘Milk and Honey’, he asked her to come…

Jillian has lived in the desert since 1992. Her experiences have included family trips for hiking, camping and off-roading. With little development in the desert at that time, it was easy to see big horn sheep, desert foxes and a plethora of bird species – Jillian’s continued love for the desert sprung from these experiences in nature. A self-descr…

Alisha Moreno was nine years old when she experienced the desert for the first time. Her family moved from Orange County, CA, to a condominium in the hi-desert, owned by Alisha’s grandmother. Alisha’s father, a single dad to three children, was looking for a change and moving to the desert felt like the right move. Alisha says driving up the Yucca …

Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay area, Rose first experienced the desert on a camping trip w/friends. They tent camped in the Black Rock Campground in Joshua Tree National Park and she found it enchanting, beautiful, wild and fun. It was the first time she’d seen a coyote in the wild. Later, while living in Los Angeles, Rose would come out …

Born and raised in the East Coachella Valley, Lorraine Salas has a lifetime of experience in the desert. "When most folks hear ‘Coachella’, they think of the annual music festival, but Coachella has a rich history in the United Farm Workers Union." Lorraine is a special education teacher and like her grandmother and her father before her, she is al…

Blanca S. Villalobos is a freelance cultural worker living in the San Gorgonio Pass with ancestral roots in Mexico. Blanca is the eighth of nine children. Their parents and half of their siblings migrated to the United States in the 1970’s, while the final four children of the family, including Blanca, were born here in the U.S. Blanca describes th…

With a dad who was a Marine, Darlene Morris' family drove to and from many duty stations. The family would always make a stop in their home state of Nebraska to visit with friends and family if they could. Sometimes the drives took them through deserts and the only stops Darlene remembers making were for gas, food and Native American gift shops. Da…

ShaWanda's first experience with the desert was as a third-grader, moving with her military family to 29 Palms, after having already moved from Mississippi to Bridgeport, CA and Camp Lejune, NC. She had all of her 'firsts' in the desert, it was her foundation. ShaWanda and her family were active in church and their community came from church and sc…

Lauren Kane first experienced the desert as a kid, with family trips to the Pioneertown ranch of family friends. Growing up only an hour away from Joshua Tree there were also frequent family day trips to Joshua Tree Natioanl Park. Though there were also family trips to Los Angeles and Palm Springs, the hi – desert became home, a place Lauren felt d…

Valcine Brown remembers trips to Las Vegas with her Aunt, Uncle and cousins as her first experience with desert. Valcine describes a recent drive through the Mojave Preserve and what it was like to witness the destruction of the 2020 summer wildfires up close and personal. Valcine moved to the lower desert in the 90’s. While thinking about leaving …

Born and raised in Corvallis, Oregon, Susan headed for the Bay Area right after high school, picking up music gigs in clubs and hotel lounges and even going on the road alone doing solo gigs in places like Esconaba, Michigan. Eventually, Susan tired of playing alone and craved the company and camaraderie of playing with other musicians - She joined…

Born and raised in Minnesota, Cindy Daigneault says a high school radio station job shadowing experience inspired her to seek out a career the radio business. After high school, Cindy attended the Brown Institute of Broadcasting, one of few women entering the industry at that time. She was immediately hired from the Institute by the owner of a new …

Jessica Bennett's first desert experience was a program in her Washington State high school called ‘desert school’. Growing up in lush Seattle presented allergy challenges for Jessica and she immediately took notice of a change while visiting the eastern Washington desert climate. A series of bachelorette parties brought Jessica to Palm Springs and…

Elena Yu started making trips to the desert with her pre-school classmates and their climbing dads. She recalls loving their regular trip to Coyote Corner to pick out rocks. Placing them in a little velvet back made it seem like rocks were something important to collect. A competitive swimmer in her youth (discussed in the Diary Unlocked portion of…

Turiya Autry grew up on the west coast in Monterey Bay, eventually traveling up the coast to Portland where she lived for 20 years and raised her children. She now finds herself on a different west coast - in Florida. Turiya's first experience with the desert was on the third anniversary of her mother's death. Turiya's mom loved going to Vegas and …

Born and raised in South Orange, NJ - in the shadow of NYC - Merilee Kuchon’s early life was very suburban and urban. Merilee was about five or six when she had her first desert experience. Aunt Franny and Uncle Pete, who lived in Encinitas, put Merilee in the VW Bus and drove down to Anza Borrego. Merilee says, “It blew my mind.” In 2004 Merilee w…

Growing up in the Coachella Valley, Adriana recalls feeling completely alien spending summers in mountainous Columbia with extended family. One of Adriana's favorite places in Columbia is the Museo del Oro. Each visit to the museum brought her closer to her culture and eventually inspired the art she creates today as Pura. In this episode, Adriana …

Michelle Castillo is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, educator, and community organizer living on Cahuilla Land, also known as Coachella Valley, CA. Michelle founded the feminist creative collective, Wyld Womxn and socially engaged food + art + memory project, Lola's Kusina, and is one of the co-founders of Bayanihan (buy-uh-nee-hahn) Desert. T…

Rosa Ficara was born in Scafati, Italy- one of nine children. In 1973, despite a bit of a language barrier, Rosa began a long-distance, letter-writing romance with the love of her life, Gioacchino, who brought her first to Connecticut, then to Yucca Valley, CA in the early 80’s. At the age of seven, Rosa and two of her sisters were taken to a conve…

With turtle as her spirit animal, Supinda Sirihekaphong says wherever she is, is home. She was in awe of the colors and the sky on her first trip to the desert. Born in southern California and raised in New York City, Supinda has also lived in Thailand, Philadelphia and studied abroad in Australia. Supinda says living in all these different places …

Artemis first experienced the desert as a five year old visiting her godparents home in the desert. And again, a few years later on a visit to see her stepbrother in Nevada. Artemis remembers staring out the car window, admiring the stars and the quiet open spaciousness. Artemis is a licensed marriage and family therapist, pursuing her doctorate in…

Born and raised in Queens, New York, Karen Harper came west at the urging of a friend. Looking down at the landscape of the Reno, Nevada desert from a hot air balloon, Karen loved it. While in Reno, Karen was accepted in the Job Corps vocational program where she tried her hand at welding and culinary arts. Upon graduating, Karen started work with …

Originally from New Jersey, Melissa Grisi was living in San Francisco and working at Ameoba Records when she got into listening to alt-country. She and her boyfriend - now husband, Ben - were digging the music and history of Gram Parsons. So, before moving back to the east coast in 2002, the pair decided to make a pilgrimage to Joshua Tree - to vis…

Twenty years ago, Jennifer Jungwirth was just wrapping up her college education when she got a call to interview for a teaching position in Baker, CA. Then, the Morongo Valley Unified School District called. Jennifer came out to Yucca Valley and after 45 minutes of what Jennifer assumed was just friendly, casual conversation, the folks at YYHS offe…

Janis Commentz is a southern California native who grew up near the coast and began drawing and painting early in life. As the daughter of an artist, she was surrounded by art materials and enjoyed trips to galleries and museums, as well as seasonal trips to Laguna Beach and Carmel. Commentz moved to the Mojave Desert in 1977 to teach art and Engli…

Bobbi Fabian's first experience with desert was with the Warner Brothers Roadrunner cartoon. Growing up in Melbourne Australia, Bobbi made her way to America looking for more opportunities as a photographer, finding she felt more at home in the U.S. than in her home country. Bobbi moved to the U.S. in 2003, settling in Los Angeles. With an MA in Ph…

Born and raised in the Tri-Cities area of Detroit, Michigan, Marylee 'Boo' McIntyre grew up gathering bushels of berries, apples, apricots and what ever other fruits were in season with her siblings to be used in the creations her grandmother and mother would bake from the day after Thanksgiving through the December holidays. Over the years, baking…

After 20 years in Los Angeles and a career in the film industry, Jody Curtis was guided to the Mojave desert in 2008. A seeker of deeper spiritual understanding from an early age, her first experience with desert was visiting her Mom and step-dad during one of their annual stops in Slab City. Taking several days to wind down from the stress of the …

At the age of six, Rosa Ficara had her first experience with desert - her family had just moved to the desert from Waterbury, CT. Rosa doesn’t recall much about the move other than the fact that the desert was much warmer than those Connecticut winters. As the first-born of Italian immigrants, Rosa spoke Italian (two dialects) before she spoke Engl…

Born and raised in San Diego, Shaney Jo Darden's first experience with the desert was traveling to visit her grandparents who lived in Palm Desert. About ten years ago, Shaney Jo started coming to the hi-desert to visit a friend, who owned Rimrock Ranch in Pioneertown. Rimrock became a place for Shaney Jo to bring her staff for annual employee retr…

Forty years ago, stifled by life in a small Michigan town, Jacqueline Guevara's vibrant, fun-loving mother loaded her 1972 Cadillac Coupe de Ville and hit the road with her teen-aged daughter for a new start in Palm Springs. Driving into this desert oasis was Jacque's first experience with desert. In this episode, Jacque describes working in the Pa…

Cathy Snodgrass was born and raised near Galveston, Texas. Her first experience with desert was watching western movies. In 1976, driving through what was then Joshua Tree National Monument, Cathy rounded a mountain and found herself looking down on the 'quaint' town where she and her then Marine husband would be stationed. Cathy knew immediately t…

Artist and founder of Earth House Studios, Sharon Davis creates colorful art and installations at her home in Morongo Valley. Sharon and I bonded as two Jersey girls, so you might get hungry listening to the beginning of this episode. Sharon left NJ for the first time in in 1974 and came to California, landing in Huntington Beach, moving on to More…

Like the roots of the honey mesquite and creosote, Robin Kobaly's desert roots go deep. Her immediate family moved to Morongo Valley when she was 2 years old. At six, Robin had an extraordinary experience with desert wildflowers - an experience she was hesitant to share, being part of a scientific community, fearing her work would not be taken seri…

Carol 'Dusty' Seddon's first desert experience was in and around the Mojave near Apple Valley in the mid-90’s accompanying a group of friends from an Orange County college, who were coming out to perform archeological digs. Dusty immediately fell in love with the feel of the desert – the dry air, the quiet and so much different than what she’d know…

First trained as a painter, artist Mary Addison Hackett also practices in photography, video and other time-based projects. Mary Addison first experience with desert was on family vacation – three of them – from her hometown of Nashville to the Grand Canyon, Tucson, Mexico and other natural desert wonders along the way. Even then, Mary Addison had …

Born in New Jersey and raised in New York's Hudson Valley, Cynthia Marie loves to drive cross-country - she's done it six times. On one of those trips, she found herself nearly out of gas and calling Roy's in Amboy, CA, asking them to keep the pumps open for just a bit longer so she could gas up and make it to Joshua Tree for the night. As is the d…

Here we are at the start of another new year where, as with life, change is the only constant. And it snowed in the desert! A quick 15 minute episode welcoming you back and highlighting what to look for as the podcast launches into it's third year. Happy 2020!By Dawn Davis

For this episode of the podcast, listeners were invited to send in one question they wanted me to answer. Here's a sampling of some of the questions answered in this episode: "What makes Dawn Davis produce the Desert Lady Diaries?" "When and how did you become a voice over artist?" "Would you talk about the process of how each episode gets made fro…

On being in retirement bliss It was a lunch hour trip to the California Museum of Photography in Riverside, where Julia first experienced Joshua Tree. The exhibit was the result an annual photographic expedition to Joshua Tree National Park. Finding out it was an annual event, Julia put it in her heart to attend and take photos the next year - and …

Cheryl's first experience with desert was in the early 80’s, driving to Palm Springs for Spring Break with a friend - and her friend’s grandmother drove them around Palm Springs to see the sights. After that, Cheryl started coming out to the desert on her own, not really knowing about Joshua Tree until a former boyfriend suggested they visit a plac…