When there’s absolutely nothing else to do…(03-03-12)

….we plan.  After making the decision to extend our stay to do more hiking etc., the weather changed our minds.  We booked another 3 days, knowing that the weather for the first day was not going to be great- 30-40 mph winds and cool.  But that's ok, we needed to do laundry, clean house, and do some planning.  We don't like to do lots of planning, and we don't like to make lots of reservations, but sometimes it's better if we do.  As usual however, we got sidetracked while figuring out what we might like to do for the next week or so.  We got bogged down with details, like which hikes look good,  which museums will be within driving distance of where we might be staying, etc.  Hours later we gave up and went to the pool, having accomplished very little. 
   The following day we had intended to do more hiking in Joshua Tree but the weather was even worse- temperatures up in the mountains were in the 40s and the wind had kicked up even more.  So, we had ALL DAY to plan stuff.  Wow.  Did I mention we don't like to do much planning? 
Anyway, I have been bugging Paul to help me plan next winter. And if we don't like planning next week, we really don't like planning next winter!  Unfortunately we will be in Florida, preferably the Florida Keys, and that requires us to make reservations now, or take the chance of not having a place to stay.  RV Parks in the Keys are a ridiculous price- from $75-$145 per night. I'm not sure they realize we bring our own hotel room with us.  The Florida State Parks are a relative bargain at $38 a night.  Of course, we aren't the only ones who realize that, so they book up pretty fast.  Actually, the RV sites book within 1 second of becoming available. The way it works is that at 8 AM EST 11 months before a site is going to be empty, it becomes available to book online.  So Paul and I, along with thousands of other people, are ready to push the "book this site" button, first thing in the morning.  Unfortunately, we are in California, so first thing in the morning means us getting up at 4:45 AM to turn on the lap top, Ipad, and Iphone, so we can use all three to try and snag a site.  We don't do it every morning, only on mornings that have quite a few sites available.  Still.  Sure seems like it's every morning.  I think my body is trained to wake up early now. As hard as we are trying, we have only been successful once, using that strategy.  We have a full 2 weeks booked at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.  My other strategy is to check online for cancelations, and I do that at least twice a day.  I've snagged another 10 days using that method.  I have also already booked 10 days in Orlando at Christmas time.
    In order to finish up my "Keys" booking, I needed to know how long we want to wander around the Keys before heading further north.  So, we spent a good part of the day figuring out our Florida game plan, checking average temperatures in various locations, and getting a general idea of where we will want to go. I'll hold off booking anything except the Keys for now, because we are also thinking of taking a last minute cruise, if we can find a good place to board the kitty, so I need to research that.

Yesterday the weather finally improved enough to head to Joshua Tree.  We hiked about 6.5 miles along the Panorama Trail and the Black Rock Canyon Trail.  The trail was mostly sand, difficult to walk in, so we were ready for the hot tub by the time we got home.

A footnote:
Last week we hiked to Tahquitz Falls, located on local Indian land.  Its a two mile hike, and has the honor of being the most expensive hike we’ve ever done.  It cost us each $12.50 to do this hike.  Ouch.   We did see a lot of hummingbirds along the trail, and the view of Palm Springs was impressive.


Once we got to the waterfall, I must admit, it’s one of the most beautiful waterfalls I’ve seen, especially since it’s so unexpected to see one in the desert.