November into December 2018

November was a relatively quiet month for us- we did some stuff around the house, and our daughter Jess came to visit for a few days.

That was actually pretty "exciting".
She had never been to the Desert Bar but had been hearing about it for ages, so we decided to take the Teryx there, using the back trail. Sadly, as you can see from the picture, we tipped it over.

Luckily no one was hurt and we continued on our way to the bar for lunch.
















After that excitement, things calmed down for a week or so.  As Thanksgiving approached we realized that other than Jess, we wouldn't be having any company for the holiday. That's unusual, and we got to thinking that there was no point in staying home if that was the case.

We threw out some ideas of where to go, and landed on Joshua Tree National Park.  Jess had never been there, it is only about 2 hours from her and about 3 from us. So, we packed up the trailer and took off.

We had cooked the turkey before we left, and decided to have our family's traditional Thanksgiving dinner- Turkey Enchiladas. We had a great day and had even found a spot in an RV resort with 4 pools and 6 hot tubs!







Joshua Tree National Park is obviously named for the unusual Joshua Trees that live inside the park- but I think its misnamed.

It should be called Boulder Park because the real fun of the park is climbing all over the boulders!

Joshua Tree is a small park and isn't as well known as some other parks, so it never dawned on us that it would be so popular the day after Thanksgiving!  We waited in line for over an hour and a half just to get into the park!

 We decided we might as well wait it out, even though we knew that parking would be an issue. Instead of parking at the hiking trails, which was our original idea, we parked along the roadway and explored the boulders nearby.













It wasn't exactly the outing we had hoped for, but we had a great time, and got to show Jess at least a little bit of the park.







Once Jess left for home, we had no intention of doing the same. Since we were out and about already, we kept going.

Our next stop was El Paso, to check in on Paul's mom.  Since it was a two day drive, we broke the trip up with a stop in Tucson, where we met up with our friends Dave and Nancy.

 After a couple of days with Paul's mom, we headed for our next destination- Bisbee, Arizona.











Our objective was to tour the copper Queen Mine.  We have toured quite a few mines in the past...so many that I could probably have passed on this one, but off we went.

After donning our hard hats, we boarded a small train that took us 1500 feet into the mine.

The tour was actually very interesting, and was conducted by someone who used to work for the mining company.

When I think I am going to be bored, I try to pay attention and find one or two bits of information I can come away with on a tour. I wasn't at all bored on this tour, but still, my favorite take-away was how they would use dynamite to blow an area into rubble. They set an ever increasing circle of dynamite sticks, and connect them together with fuses.
When they are done, they light it and walk around the corner. They don't have to go too far, because the way it is set off, it implodes, instead of exploding. They also needed to stay nearby so they could count the explosions and make sure there wasn't a misfire.

Once we were back on the surface, we drove past the mine on our way to our next destination.










Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument has been on our bucket list for quite a while, and we finally made it there. This national monument is in southern Arizona and shares a border with Mexico.
Pictured is the Organ Pipe Cactus that it is named for.








Our plan was a simple one. Relax, explore, relax some more. And that's what we did. There are two scenic drives- we drove both of them. There are numerous hiking trails.... and most had incredible views.....

At night the weather was perfect for sitting by a campfire watching the sun set.

Once we had had our fill, we headed back home.

And yes, I am on a mission.

Joshua Tree National Park (11-05-13)

 The Hikes

So, in between relaxing in the hot tub, and doing laundry, we’ve gone to Joshua Tree National Park to do some hiking.  The first trail that we picked to hike is closed due to flash floods back in September. 

  We asked the Ranger’s opinion on another trail to hike, and she suggested Coyote Mine.  Well, anytime you say “mine” , sign Paul up!  We got directions and headed out on the “trail”. Unfortunately, the directions were terrible and the trail is unmarked.  We wandered around looking for this mine for a while.  We did come upon some great views along the way!

It’s not unheard of to have unmarked trails in the desert.  We had two GPS’s with us so we weren’t worried about finding our way back home.  We finally found “the mine”.  There were just a few timbers left, and some tailings. No other signs of activity. 

So, we left and headed back to the truck.  We took a different route, and hadn’t realized how high up we were from the valley until we came across this area.  We had the choice of picking our way down the boulders or turning around.

We slowly picked our way through the boulders down the hill, and made it back to the truck. 

Paul did some research and found a trail he wanted to try- to another mine- no surprise there!  We took Split Rock Trail to Eagle Cliff Mine. Split Rock trail was pretty neat- full of the huge boulders that make up Joshua Tree National Park.

Once again we had to hike up a pile of rocks to get to the ridge.  We couldn’t find an actual trail on the way up, although on the way down, we found it.  We know there is a miner’s cabin atop this ridge, and we thought we had decent directions to find it.  Wrong again!

  After reaching the ridge and searching for the cabin, we came across two women who were also searching.  They had the guide book with them so the four of us teamed up.  I couldn’t believe that the directions in the book said something like “ Go to the right of the big boulder, and turn left at the three slanted rocks.” Really?  Look at this picture. There’s nothing BUT boulders.  Which “big boulder??”

The “cabin” is built into the side of some boulders, and the entrance is hidden by a large tree.  If you look in this picture, you can see one of the women we were with.

The cabin was really cool-it has been left just as it was when it was occupied, over 100 years ago.  I am guessing they make it hard to find so it doesn’t get vandalized.

 

Anyway, it was a pretty cool destination, and the whole hike was only about 4 miles.

As our map indicates, we have now moved on from Indio and are staying near our daughter, just outside of Los Angeles, right on the beach (and the flight path for LAX!).

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.

Joshua Tree Nat’l Park (02-28-12)

The Joshua Tree is to the Mohave Desert what the Saguaro Cactus is to the Sonoran Desert.  That’s what it said on the sign. The Joshua Tree is actually not a tree, its a Yucca plant.  They only grow about an inch a year, and can grow to be over 40 feet tall.  I have seen these trees before, but I never realized they were part of the Mohave Desert System.

Hidden Valley trail

What was most impressive to us, in Joshua Tree National Park, was not the Joshua Trees, although they were plentiful and interesting to see, but the boulder configurations.  Every where we turned there were huge rock formations.

 

We checked in at the Visitor’s Center to get a game plan together for the day. We decided to walk several trails- the first one was the short Hidden Valley Trail, where the boulders were so inviting, it was difficult to resist climbing. Somehow, it feels like a Disneyland for adults, although most of the boulders would require some serious rock climbing experience to climb.



The San Andreas Fault line from Joshua Tree



Driving to the top of one of the several mountain peaks within the park,  our view of Coachella Valley was impressive. The San Andreas Fault, which is over 500 miles long and reaches across the state of California, is clearly visible as a line of raised earth along the center of the picture.  It’s a little spooky to realize that the valley is growing by about two inches a year, due to the action of the Pacific Ocean Crust sliding past the North American Crust.  That action is what causes many of the earthquakes in this area.

Lost Horse Mine

Our second trail was longer, 4.5 miles, to the Lost Horse Mine.  It was named the Lost Horse Mine because a cowboy was looking for his horses that had disappeared overnight while he was camping in the area,  when he came across a sign post marking a gold claim.  He bought the claim and over the years, 10,000 ounces of gold were taken out of this area.  There are actually over 300 mines in Joshua Tree National Park, but very few produced any gold.  What we’ll remember about this trail is the fact that we froze our butts off.  At this elevation the temps were in the mid 40’s and the wind chill was probably in the 30’s because it was pretty windy!



time to turn this sucker around



For our next adventure we decided to stay in the truck.  We headed down a road called Geology Trail Rd., an 18 mile auto drive that shows off some of the unique geologic features of the area.  4 wheel drive is recommended, so off we went down the sandy, one way, unpaved road. Unfortunately, the box with the brochures that explain what we would be seeing, was empty, so we took the tour without the information.  Almost halfway through, we realized the sign should have also said “and if you are a dually, don’t bother!”  The road got so narrow, we definitely added some “Texas pin striping” to the truck.  That’s when the shrubbery intrudes so far into the “road” that it scratches down the side of the truck.  When we found a wide spot in the road, we turned around and carefully made our way back to civilization.

All in all we saw a lot in one day, and will try to extend our stay where we are so we can do some more hiking in Joshua Tree.  After doing a drive by one of the campgrounds and hearing Elaine’s opinion about the National Park campgrounds, we have decided that no matter what they say, we don’t fit in their sites.

Meandering around Arizona (02-20-12)

Well, Sedona was disappointing, but only because the weather was so cold we didn't really see it. Pretty much every morning there was fresh snow on the nearby hills. We spent one day driving over the mountain to visit my aunt and cousin, and passed two snow plows headed in the other direction. There were some icy spots but not too bad at that point. However, by the time our visit was over, we could see the precipitation that had already started again in the higher elevations, so we took the slightly longer way home and avoided it.

We gave up on waiting for the weather to warm up and left earlier than planned. We had plans to meet Elaine and Robert in Quartzsite on Saturday, which gave us two days to kill, so we went to an Escapees park near Wickenburg AZ. It was somewhat warmer there, due to the lower elevation, and we were able to explore the town of Wickenburg.



 We happen to hit it right for their Gold Rush Days, which is like a local county fair. There was a classic car rally, numerous craft booths and carnival rides. The local ice cream parlor had live music, so we listened as we ate. Wickenburg is pretty historic but the admission fee to the local museum was too steep so we took the cheap way out and wandered around looking for the strategically placed mannequins. Each one "tells their story" via an audio box that you push a button to activate.
Saturday we landed in the desert at Quartzsite and waited for our friends to arrive. They found us with no problem, and in no time we were sitting around, catching up on the latest news. It doesn't take too long to set up in the desert, with the wide open spaces you just stop where you want to be, and there is nothing to hook up. We just have to disconnect the truck, which doesn't"t take too long.

Paul has wanted to check out a place called Palm Canyon, that sounded intriguing to him, so the next day we all packed a lunch and took off. These palm trees are in the crevices of the rock and the sun only hits them for a short time during the day. Luckily we happened to be there when it did. In the end, it was a short hike into an interesting canyon, and a pleasant way to kill a day. We also walked around downtown Quartzsite a bit, investigating the venders that are still here. 

After that excitement, we spent the next day relaxing, doing nothing but talking. Elaine and Robert have never been to Quartzsite and wanted to see what it is all about, and actually, sitting around in the middle of the desert socializing all day is a pretty good idea of what people come here for.  Of course there are the vendors and the RV show, but mostly I think people come here for the friends and the camaraderie.  Naturally, we did go to Silly Al’s for pizza, but then we came straight back and got a campfire going.

Paul and I were originally going to head to Joshua Tree National Park with Elaine and Robert, but we made a last minute change.  We are in Desert Hot Springs for a week so I can get some physical therapy.  In the meantime we are getting our mail forwarded so we can get our tax information sent off.