Running for my Disney - Finally a TR!

[zanzibar138]

Wow what a long day! You did well to keep going so long. I am always torn between queueing for fireworks etc early and rides. Nice your parents and you all get along so well and can travel together-I believe DD and us will be like that, I guess subject to who the partner she ends up with is like. Hopefully she will chose well (aren't girls meant to chose a partner like their Dad?)

It sounds like you have a similar relationship with your DD as I do with my mum, so I think you'll be good My DH is the son my parents never had

I've never really been one for staking out a spot for shows that early, but for some reason Dad has been keen to. Over that weekend we definitely did need to get there early for a good spot with the crowds.

 

[zanzibar138]

Anaheim - Palm Desert

The only place we had to be today was Angels Stadium by 12:30pm. We had a relaxing morning, getting up our leisure, grabbing some breakfast, and leisurely getting packed and ready to hit the road. When we were ready, Dad and I walked to the Hertz office on Katella, leaving Mum and Nick in charge of finishing up in the room and checking out with all the luggage. It was another hot day already, and we were glad to get into the air-con at the Hertz office after a 10 minute walk in the sun.

We got a lovely helpful young lady at reception, who showed us a couple of different cars and let us decide which one would be most suitable. We ended up going with the one we’d booked anyway (the mid-size SUV), but were grateful for the opportunity to check that we thought everything would fit. I’d booked the car and given my credit card details to hold the booking. There was enough money there to cover the cost of the car, but I didn’t realise they were going to hold an extra $400 as a refundable damage deposit. This took the total amount to well over $1000. Dad offered to use his credit card instead as they have a larger limit than us, so the lady switched over all the details. She informed us that the spouse of the main driver could also drive without being listed as an extra driver. It ended up just being Dad and I that drove, as Mum was unwilling and DH hadn’t come with us to be added as an extra driver.

The plan was to pick up Mum and DH at the hotel, then drop the boys off at Angels Stadium, and finally find some shopping. I offered to drive, because I figured I’d have to drive once we got to the hotel anyway, and would prefer to practice with just Dad in the car first! The car was great, very easy to drive even though it was quite large. I didn’t have too much trouble getting in and out of the hotel driveway.

We did, on the other hand, have a bit of trouble getting to the stadium. We got TomTom going, and he gave us directions to the general vicinity of the stadium, but seemed to take us into a back car parking area. Luckily, there was an attendant there who must have taken pity on some more lost Aussie tourists and let us in just to drop the boys off.

Mum and I eventually managed to find the Outlets at Orange on TomTom, after discovering it used to be called The Block at Orange. Our maps are several years old now, and it was really the only time we had a problem with them. On the way to the outlets, I encountered my first 4-way stop intersection, and had NO IDEA what to do lol! Someone waved me through in the end, so I just went.

I was pretty pleased to get there in the end, and we decided our first stop would be a coffee shop!



We struggled to find a coffee shop like we wanted. There were a few restaurants around, and some fast food places, but no coffee shops. We ended up at Starbucks, which was certainly NOT the place to go to de-stress lol! Mum couldn’t figure out what on earth they were talking about when they asked her if she wanted ‘room’ in her coffee. Turns out they were asking if she planned to put milk in there. Then they forgot our order, and when we finally did get it, it wasn’t quite what we ordered. It was ok anyway, and by that time I was so frazzled it was all I could do to sit and enjoy my iced chocolate type beverage. After the Starbucks debacle, we were at a bit of a loss.



We had a look at the Crocs store, where I ended up buying a pair. I’m really not a fan of the original style crocs, and would never consider buying a pair. However, they had a great range of more normal looking shoes, and the pair I bought are some nice strappy sandals with a wedge heel. They’re so comfortable and will be perfect casual summer shoes! Mum was pretty keen too, but unfortunately they weren’t the right fit for her foot. She ended up buying a different pair that were strappy, but still looked like crocs. They were going to be her ‘around the house’ shoes mainly though, so it didn’t really matter.

After that we had a look in some of the sports stores. I think we were looking for something specific, but didn’t find it. I can’t remember what it was though! We ended up in H&M, and bought a few things there.

The boys were going to walk to the shopping centre when the game finished (it was supposed to be about a half an hour walk), and we’d already figured out a meeting place. After H&M, it was just about time to meet them, so we wandered over to the meeting place. We were sitting there for ages. We ended up getting in touch on the phone (can’t remember who called who), and it turned out the boys had gone the wrong way on the main street and were now miles away in the opposite direction! Apparently they were in the middle of an industrial area where the roads were quiet and there was plenty of opportunity to pull into carparks, so I said we’d pick them up. We got the address from them and got going.

I’d noticed a couple of times as I was taking photos today, my camera had taken a while to autofocus. It just took a few seconds of zooming in and out after it turned on for it to do anything. It wasn’t causing too many issues, and I thought it must have just had a bit of dirt on the lens or something. As I was driving, DH gave it a quick clean for me, which did seem to help.

It was a fairly uneventful drive to Palm Desert, where we checked into our fairly generic hotel.





It was nice enough, right on the outskirts of town but had a couple of onsite restaurants. My main concern with location was being close to the meeting point for our tour the next day, which was to start at 7am. We had ended up just booking separate rooms, and were on different floors. After settling in, we met in the lobby for dinner. We ended up going to POM, one of the onsite restaurants, which was on the expensive side, but pretty nice.

We retired fairly early, in preparation for yet another early morning.

 

[zanzibar138]

Palm Desert

We were up at the crack of dawn again this morning. We’d actually organised to meet at the Starbucks (at our hotel) for breakfast, but they didn’t have any breakfast items, so we ended up at POM again. Being a full table service breakfast, it took slightly longer than we had been anticipating, and we were in a rush to get to our meeting place for the tour. It didn’t help that I really had no idea how the valet parking worked, and didn’t have the little stub with me. I had to rush back up to our room to find it, and then we were finally able to get our car.

Luckily we had picked a hotel nice and close to the meeting place (which was a supermarket carpark) and it was nice and easy to find. By the time we got there, we were running about 10 minutes late, and all feeling pretty bad about it. We pulled up to find everyone standing around waiting for us, and apologised profusely for our tardiness. There was one other group of 4 (I think) adults. I forget where they were from, but they were very nice about it and good company for a few hours.

We left the car there and all got on a minibus with a trailer attached where all the bikes were. Our guide was also our driver, safety manager, local expert etc. We were given heaps of information on the way out to the start of the ride, about the different plants and geological formations we would see along the ride. I’d estimate it took us half an hour to reach the starting point. When we arrived, our guide unloaded all the bikes and helmets and kitted us out.



We were able to ride around the carpark to get acquainted with our bikes before taking to road, which was excellent for me having not ridden a bike for about 18 months.





We were given instructions about how to ride safely, and signals for various situations (eg single file, pull over etc). Then we all headed off on the ride, and the guide followed behind in the minibus for safety. It would have been about 8am by the time we actually got going. It took me quite a while to get used to being on the bike, and I felt a bit unsteady for a while, not wanting to go too fast. It was pretty much all flat or a gradual downhill slope, so it wasn’t too much work, which was great being as it was already so hot. Eventually of course I started to feel more comfortable, and was even enjoying picking up a bit of speed on the downhill bits. I wasn’t comfortable enough to take photos from the bike though.

We stopped about halfway for a brief rest. The guide handed out water and cookies while telling us about the change of scenery we were about to see. We were about to go from relatively gentle, rounded rock formations to crazy angled pointy ones. We were entering the heart of the fault line, where the earth had forced the rocks up sharply in great upheavals, rather than a bit at a time. DH took the camera for the rest of the ride.







We stopped a bit further along, where there was a massive lake and the scenery changed again, into agricultural area. This was the only part where there was any kind of hill, the little bridge over a canal from the lake. We were warned that it was coming, but everyone in the group was pretty fit, so nobody had any trouble getting up.





For the rest of the ride we played ‘name that crop’ lol!





The ride stopped as we were coming into the little town, where there was more traffic and cross roads, and the downhill slope stopped. We hadn’t noticed much as we were riding along at 20km/hr, but the heat was getting quite oppressive by then. It was mid morning, and the sun was starting to get serious. Luckily there was a short stop on the way back to Palm Desert, at a date farm. As part of the tour, we were all given date ‘milkshakes’. It was actually soft serve which we ate with a spoon. I never would have considered crushed dates as a nice accompaniment to ice-cream, but it was really nice! Very refreshing. While we were there we also got to taste several different varieties of dates.







After the date farm, we all clambered back on the minibus for the drive back into Palm Desert. We went the ‘scenic’ route along the back streets rather than going back to the freeway. Our guide pointed out some more geological features along the way. She was very knowledgable and enthusiastic. We could tell she really enjoyed taking these tours. We found out on the way back that she was semi-retired and it was basically a hobby for her.

Back at the carpark, we all parted ways. We headed back to our hotel via a Home Depot, as DH wanted to look at some tools. I was pretty exhausted, and looking forward to some relaxing pool time at the hotel.

To be continued

 

[WearegoingtoAmerica]

I am enjoying reading your TR. Sounds like you had a great time. Love all the photos.

 

[zanzibar138]

I am enjoying reading your TR. Sounds like you had a great time. Love all the photos.

Welcome aboard! Glad you're enjoying it

 

[PrincessInOz]

Catching up! Although.....I suspect I might have to come back and re-read your posts at the weekend when I'm back in the timezone.

Great pics and it looks like you had a fantastic time at Disney. That bike ride at Palm Springs looks great too. How did it feel getting on a bike so soon after running the 5 and 10?

 

[zanzibar138]

Catching up! Although.....I suspect I might have to come back and re-read your posts at the weekend when I'm back in the timezone.

Great pics and it looks like you had a fantastic time at Disney. That bike ride at Palm Springs looks great too. How did it feel getting on a bike so soon after running the 5 and 10?

Welcome back!

I actually did pretty well and wasn't really sore after the running. By Monday my legs felt absolutely fine. I suspect it still would have been ok since it's different muscles involved in cycling. Plus there wasn't that much pedaling involved anyway. The worst part was just not being bike fit. My behind was pretty uncomfortable after about 5 minutes in the saddle, and part of my thumb is still numb for some reason

 

[WanderlustNZ]

You and your family are so fit and energetic. I admire all the athletic things you did on this holiday.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Catching up! Although.....I suspect I might have to come back and re-read your posts at the weekend when I'm back in the timezone.

Great pics and it looks like you had a fantastic time at Disney. That bike ride at Palm Springs looks great too. How did it feel getting on a bike so soon after running the 5 and 10?

Welcome back from me also. I hope you had a wonderful time.

 

[zanzibar138]

You and your family are so fit and energetic. I admire all the athletic things you did on this holiday.

I must stress how inactive the bike ride actually was. We basically just coasted down a hill

Mum and Dad however, did finish off their trip with a week long cycling tour of the Napa Valley area.

 

[zanzibar138]

Palm Desert

Back at the hotel, we all headed down to the pool. Mum and Dad managed to nab a table with an umbrella, which provided us with some much needed shade. We decided to order some lunch and drinks first, and took a short dip while we were waiting. It was a nice pool, and not too busy, cool enough to be refreshing. The same cannot be said for the spa which we all stuck our toes in and felt like we were stepping into a pot of boiling water!



After lunch we hung around for a bit longer, had a bit more of a swim and lounged around in the shade. I started feeling quite unwell after a while, and headed back up to our room. After a nap in the air-conditioning I woke up feeling much better. I think I was just starting to get a mild bit of heatstroke.

By the time we were done swimming and napping, time was getting on, and I was actually starting to get worried about getting to the cable car before dark! We quickly got ready and hit the road. It was about a 40 minute drive and, by the time we arrived, the side of the mountain was quite dark with shadows. Nonetheless, it was still technically light, and because we were late, we were able to get a twilight pass and save some money. Also, there were only a couple of small groups in our cabin, so we were able to move around for good photos (the cabins rotate anyway, so even if it’s crowded, you still get to see everything).







It was much cooler at the top of the mountain. It was one of the few times on this whole trip I would have been comfortable in jeans.

We decided to head to the viewing deck first before it got too dark. There were a few different levels and positions where you could view the city, the desert or the forest.













We were sad that we hadn’t arrived early enough to do any hiking, but we decided to at least do a short walk close to the cable car station. First we had to get down to the hiking area.



We thought at that time of night we might have a good chance of seeing wildlife, but I think there were still too many people around. In the forested areas it was really too dark for getting decent photos, especially with Dad continually hurrying us along! He relaxed a bit once we were back at the bottom of the windy pathway, and I was able to briefly stop for some photos on the way up.




We had a quick look at the gift shop on the way back through, and stopped at the café for a bit of refuelling. By the time we got back out to the viewing deck, it was well and truly dark, and we were able to see the bright lights of Palm Springs city.



We decided to head back down the mountain, and soon realised that there was a cable car due to leave quite soon. We were the last ones in line, and were warned that we may not fit on due to weight restrictions. It turned out now to be a problem at all – people in line must have been lighter than average lol!

It was a packed, but fun ride back down the mountain. There wasn’t much to see in the dark, so it didn’t matter that not everyone got a good view out of the window. There was a large group of people in the cabin, and every time we went over one of the towers, they would all go ‘ooooh’. Mum got some video of it – it was really quite amusing lol!

On the way home, we all decided we couldn’t be bothered going out for dinner, and we’d just grab some pizzas from the Italian kitchen at the hotel. Boy, were we wrong on that one! We ordered two pizzas. After about half an hour, one of them came out. About 10 minutes later someone came over to us and said that the other one would be a while because they needed to remake it (they must have dropped it or something). It was about another 20 minutes. They were terrible pizzas too – kind of soggy and disgustingly greasy. None of us ate very much of the second one, which was even soggier than the first (I think they were rushing too much and didn’t cook it properly). We weren’t finished there until nearly 10pm, then we all had to go to bed with all that awful grease in our tummies. Not good! It actually put my parents off eating any more pizza for the whole trip.

We made plans to meet in the morning, and went our separate ways.

 

[zanzibar138]

Palm Desert – Twentynine Palms

We got up and on the road early again today, to try to beat the heat. We stopped at a petrol station on the way to top up with gas and stock up on water. Just in case. Plus, the petrol station had a whole slab of water bottles (24 I think) for $5. It was about 20 minutes on the freeway to the entrance to Joshua Tree National Park. We actually got off at the same place we did for the bike ride, just turned left instead of right!

We had just entered the park at the Cottonwood entrance when we were stopped by a ranger. They were doing some serious roadworks and half the road was closed for about 4km. We needed to wait there until the pilot car came back, then we would be escorted through the roadwork section. We were advised that he would be about 20 minutes, so we turned off the car and got out to have a look around.



It wasn’t a particularly scenic area, but there were a few yuccas around, and we also had a bit of a chat with the ranger while we were waiting.



We finally saw the pilot car coming and got the car going again. The next stop was the Cottonwood Visitor Centre. Unfortunately this was only halfway through the roadworks, and we had to watch the time so that we didn’t miss the next pilot car! We did the short botanical walk around the visitor centre, which had a good selection of different plants that we would see during our tour. No Joshua Trees though.

Ocotillos are usually just bare branches, but we were lucky enough to see them in leaf because of the recent rains in the area.





After the little walk we had a quick look around inside. It was a pretty basic visitor centre, and the poor girl in there said it had been particularly quiet since the roadworks started. She was pretty pleased to have some visitors lol! We asked about the park passes, and she said we could buy them at the other end. Unfortunately we didn’t have that much time to chat to her since we had to go and get ready to catch the pilot car.



We got through all the roadworks and were heading towards our next stop, the Cholla Cactus Garden. On the way, we passed a little turn out that looked like it was worth stopping for. You can see how green the landscape was compared to the photo.



Our next unscheduled stop was at a large group of ocotillo plants. We couldn’t believe how the landscape kept changing. I guess it was the different elevations or soil types being particularly suitable for different plants. We were impressed by the size of these ocotillos, and we even saw a couple that were still in bloom!





Just around the corner, the ocotillos disappeared, and the landscape was dominated by cholla cacti. The official Cholla Cactus Garden wasn’t far away.



There was a short walk through the cacti.





We noticed some little yellow pods on a lot of the cacti, which we assumed to be the fruit.



After oohing and aahing over the chollas, we moved on. I had no other stops scheduled between there and Twentynine Palms, but there was still plenty to see! We pulled over a bit further up the road where there was a big pile of rocks just randomly next to the road. It wasn’t an official stop, but we spent a few minutes exploring the rocks.











There were a few small desert flowers blooming between some of the rocks. I guessed that was a result of the recent rain as well.



Unfortunately my camera was starting to play up again. It was kind of random when I turned it on whether it would get itself ready immediately or whether it would spend a few seconds struggling to autofocus. It was ok for taking landscape photos because it didn’t matter if there was a few seconds delay, but I did end up just leaving my camera on until it shut down automatically since it was getting annoying.

Leaving the rocks, we drove over the crest of the hill, and suddenly there were Joshua Trees! You’ll have to wait until the next post to see pictures.

We pretty much went straight from there to our hotel in Twentynine Palms. There was more roadwork coming up to the Twentynine Palms entrance, but it wasn’t as involved as the other roadwork. We were quite lucky and managed to time it so that there wasn’t much wait at all. We noticed as we drove through that the road had been damaged around a wash, which we figured was also a result of the recent rain.

We exited the park, and were looking for somewhere to purchase our park passes, but couldn’t find anywhere. We were planning to go back later, so we figured we’d get them then.

I was quite surprised at how big the town of Twentynine Palms was. We made our way through the town to Sunnyvale Garden Suites, which was on a back street in a residential area.





Mum and I went to check in while the boys waited in the car for directions. The guy who checked us in was very chatty and we took quite a while! He apologised that because we were early they hadn’t started the air-con yet. We were just pleased to have access to our room!

We got a little tour of the grounds on the way to our room. The boys were invited to just leave the car there and come along too.





We had booked a two bedroom suite, which was an upstairs unit. It had 1.5 bathrooms, a kitchen and living area.





I have to admit that we were slightly disappointed with the suite. It was a little dilapidated looking and feeling. In the kitchen, doors were hanging askew. The robe doors in the bedrooms were difficult to open. Switches didn’t do what they were supposed to, and it seemed like some appliances (eg air-con) had been updated, and they had just left the old control panels in the wall. The ceiling fan in the second bedroom looked like it was falling off the ceiling and DH didn’t want to turn it on in case the momentum made it fall down. As the air-con was only located in the living area, we really needed that fan! To their credit, they did try to fix it while we were out in the afternoon, and when they couldn’t they provided what looked like a brand new pedestal fan in that bedroom. The pool towels were supposed to be in the bedroom robes, but there weren’t any in there. We ended up just taking our regular towels.

The other problem we had was the wifi. It worked fine, but we could only connect one device at a time. For four people, all with iPods, iPads, phones and laptops, that caused a bit of an issue. I know that Mum and I like to stay connected, and DH needed wifi to keep up with work, so I did specifically book places with free wifi. Since we were only there for one night, we just gave DH priority.

To be continued

 

[WanderlustNZ]

What a shame about the disappointing accommodation. Thankfully it was only the one night.

The cable cars look like fun. It must be a strange sensation that they rotate as well as climb.

I remember also stocking up on a massive pallet of water for about $5. I really miss USA prices and always get sticker shock when I hit the NZ supermarkets after a trip away.

 

[zanzibar138]

What a shame about the disappointing accommodation. Thankfully it was only the one night.

The cable cars look like fun. It must be a strange sensation that they rotate as well as climb.

I remember also stocking up on a massive pallet of water for about $5. I really miss USA prices and always get sticker shock when I hit the NZ supermarkets after a trip away.

It wasn't terrible, just a bit disappointing because I had high hopes for that one!

I am still getting used to restaurant prices back in Australia

 

[zanzibar138]

Joshua Tree National Park

After checking out our accommodation, we decided to head back to the national park pretty much straight away. We had to take care of lunch first though. There was a handy mudmap in our unit showing all the local eateries. Dad was keen on Subway, which was just a short drive up the highway. There were no complaints, so we headed there first.

After our Subway lunch, we headed back into the national park via the Twentynine Palms visitor centre. This was a much bigger and more modern visitor centre than the one of the south entrance, with lovely desert gardens, and had an extra room that was like a mini museum. The assistant was very helpful and suggested we head to Barker Dam as it still had water in it from the recent rains, and there had already been sightings of longhorn sheep that day.



With map in hand, we set off again. Unfortunately we didn’t have very good luck with the roadworks this time around, and had to wait 10 or 15 minutes to get through. Fortunately, we were stuck right next to some particularly photogenic Joshua Trees.



When we finally got going again, we came to a side road for Split Rock, and decided it looked worth checking out. Best decision ever! The road led to a picnic area in the vicinity of some incredible rock formations.





We saw the trailhead for the Split Rock trail. The trail was a circuit of a couple of miles. We ummed and aahed for a while. It was hot and we weren’t particularly prepared for desert hiking. In the end we decided to go for it. It looked like an easy and interesting trail, and we had plenty of water and would be able to take our time.



Another best decision ever! It was great fun walking through and climbing over the rocks. There were even some nice shady places in rock crevices for us to take short breaks. And the best thing was, we never saw another car or person the whole time we were there.





I thought this one looked just like Santa Claus!



Some of the rock formations had amazing seams of smaller rocks through them, that looked like someone had actually come along and made an artistic mosaic.







This one looked like a gorilla’s face.





This area wasn’t dominated by Joshua Trees, but there were still a few around.



We took a short detour, following a sign that said ‘Face Rock’. After some of the other rocks we’d seen, it was actually a bit of a disappointment.

After a good hour and a half, we made it back to the carpark. Being a picnic area, there was a handy pit toilet which some of us made use of before moving on.

To be continued

 

[zanzibar138]

Joshua Tree National Park

After our short hike, we hit the road again heading to Barker Dam. There was a short circuit walk (about a mile) from the carpark that included the dam, plenty of Joshua Trees, and some petroglyphs.

There were plenty of rocks alongside the track heading to the dam. We all kept our eyes peeled for longhorn sheep, but unfortunately had no luck.





The dam itself did indeed still have water in it, albeit pretty yucky looking close up. We all enjoyed climbing around on the rocks and down closer to the water. Although it was hot, and a cool dip would have been lovely, we were all very careful not to fall in!



Unfortunately the dam wall had been terribly vandalised, although it was only really noticeable up close.



We eventually had to concede that today was not our day to see the longhorn sheep, and continued along the track.



The track came out at the bottom of the dam wall, where there was no stream flowing anymore, but still quite a bit of moisture around. There was an old trough there from the days when people thought it seemed like a great place to farm cattle (?).



This is a bit of a gross picture, but you can see all the tadpoles in this tiny puddle. We hoped they were going to grow into frogs soon!



A little further along the track, we heard some rustling noises coming from a bit of scrub. Suddenly, out popped a bunny! Well, jackrabbit to be exact.



There were plenty of Joshua Trees in the little field between the rocks. There were a couple of European guys following us who were quite into their photography. We eventually left them behind.



A little further along the track there was a side track to get to the petroglyphs. We debated whether we should go or not until we realised that the sign said .1 of a mile instead 1 mile lol! The petroglyph site was very small and there wasn’t any information about it. I don’t even know if they were real or not lol!



I’ve included this photo so that you can see how different the Joshua Trees were. Some were pretty skinny and spiky. Others almost looked like actual trees!



As we were finishing off the walk, we saw another bunny on the side of the track. This one had obviously seen plenty of people, because it was just going about its business, not bothered about the small crowd that had gathered to watch it.

By the time we got back to the car it was definitely getting towards sunset time. We had a decision to make. We could go and watch the sunset at Keys View, or we could go to Hidden Valley, or somewhere else. As much as I would have liked to have seen the view at Keys View, I had heard it wasn’t that good for sunset photography as there was really nothing to use as a focal point. I had heard Hidden Valley was a good place for sunset photography, but I didn’t really know why or where any specifically good spots were. We decided to head there anyway. I do wonder what I missed out on at Keys View. Will have to go there next time!

We took the back road to Hidden Valley, as DH was convinced it was shorter. It probably was, but it was also a fairly rustic dirt road, so we had to go a bit slower. However, it was on that road that the boys saw a coyote. Mum and I were in the back seat and couldn’t see as well, so we missed it!

The path to Hidden Valley started as a short scramble over the rocks (I suppose the ‘hidden’ nature of the valley). Once inside, I started to wonder how on earth I would get good sunset photos, as the valley walls were high rocks. We saw a European couple with a big SLR and tripod wandering around, and asked them where they were headed, but they were in much the same situation as me and didn’t know where they would go. We climbed to the top of a rock pile near the edge of the valley, but it was clearly not going to be much good.



The back lighting on some of the rocks was quite beautiful, but not what I was after.



With a little time left before the sun set completely, we decided to ditch the Hidden Valley idea, and made our way back to the car. There were some nice silhouettes to be had in the valley.



On the way back over the rock scramble, DH suddenly exclaimed. I turned around to see the tail end of a little black snake slithering away. My parents were too slow and didn't see it. DH was thrilled to have seen a snake lol!

We decided to just start the drive back (we were going to use the west exit to complete the northern loop of the park), and pull over if we saw a good spot. Not too much further along, we found a turn in with a fairly clear view, and some nice Joshua Trees. We were getting close to running out of time, so we figured it would do. They’re not the most spectacular sunset photos (in my defence, it wasn’t a particularly spectacular sunset that night), but for a non-photographer with a point and shoot, I think they turned out alright. I would love to see what someone like PIO could have done with it!







As night fell, we exited the park into the town of Joshua Tree. We went to a Mexican place for dinner, that turned out to be like a Mexican version of Maccas lol! We didn’t mind in the end – it was cheap and filling, and not at all bad tasting.

We still had about a 20 minute drive back to the hotel. When we got back DH connected to the wifi and caught up on work stuff. Mum and I did a load of laundry, and sat in the spa while we were waiting for it to be ready. Well, Mum actually went in the spa, I just dangled my legs in. This place didn’t have a pool, but they don’t heat their spa during summer, so it was actually nice and refreshing. When the laundry was done we headed back up to the room and got ready for the next day’s adventures.

FWIW, DH and I actually had a very comfortable night’s sleep with our little pedestal fan!

 

[WanderlustNZ]

I think your sunset pics came out lovely, particularly the first one.

Exciting (but also kind of scary) that you saw that snake. And what a shame you missed the coyote.

 

[PrincessInOz]

I'm loving your TR and your pictures. They are beautiful! You did well with them.

Looks like you all enjoyed JTNP and I think that walk you went on was fantastic.

(Sorry I haven't been around much this week; we came home to internet connection issues. Hopefully the technician will be able to fix it on Tuesday when they come round.)

 

[zanzibar138]

I think your sunset pics came out lovely, particularly the first one.

Exciting (but also kind of scary) that you saw that snake. And what a shame you missed the coyote.

Thanks

I wasn't too concerned about snakes in the US. In fact, I was hoping to see a rattlesnake (from a distance ). We learnt during the trip that there are only 2 deadly snakes in California. Unlike Australia where practically any snake you see can kill you!

What concerned me much more than snakes was the possibility of seeing a tarantula

I'm loving your TR and your pictures. They are beautiful! You did well with them.

Looks like you all enjoyed JTNP and I think that walk you went on was fantastic.

(Sorry I haven't been around much this week; we came home to internet connection issues. Hopefully the technician will be able to fix it on Tuesday when they come round.)

Good luck with your internet. What bad luck coming home to that.

Yes, we all agreed that Joshua Tree NP was absolutely amazing, and definitely one of the highlights of our trip

 

[zanzibar138]

Twentynine Palms – Calico Ghost Town

We had another big drive today to get to our next destination. We got on the road early, but were held up stopping for breakfast at Denny’s. The service was a bit slow for some reason. We ended up heading out a bit later than we’d planned.

It was a pretty boring drive for the most part. There were a lot of straight desert roads and no real towns. Nonetheless, we were surprised by how many houses we saw in the middle of nowhere. We did drive over a desert mountain range which provided some interest.

Eventually we headed back to civilisation, entering the city of Barstow. Given the considerable lack of really anything else in the area, it was a very decent sized city. Calico Ghost Town was only about a 10 minute detour from there. We spied the giant ‘CALICO’ letters on the hillside from a distance, and watched as they got bigger and closer.



We paid our entry fee at the bottom gate and drove up to the top carpark. This place must get crazy busy as there is a whole heap of car parking. As it was a weekday in the height of summer, it was not very busy for us.



The small main street was lined with a variety of shops. It was on quite a steep hill, which was a bit of a tough slog in the desert heat, especially when I was rushing around looking for DH when I thought we’d lost him lol!



Some of the buildings housed mini museums or displays.



One of the buildings was a saloon.





There was a train line offering a small circuit tour at an extra cost. We decided not to bother. We could see the whole track anyway.



There were quite a lot of things that just seemed there for the novelty factor, without actually achieving much. This house was one such item.



There was also an 'oddities' house, kind of like a small Ripley's Believe it or Not. We also didn't bother with that one.

We decided to pay the extra to do the small self-guided mine tour. It was only $2 each or something. Compared to tours I’ve taken in Australia, it was pretty lame. Everything was so overdone, it felt more like a small museum than an actual mine shaft. It was a nice break from the hot sun anyway! There was another place where you could pan for gold for a small fee.



The mine tour exited halfway up the hill to the lookout, so we walked up to the top. This was by far the best ‘attraction’ there.



Dad and I also enjoyed the short walk to the old school house, although it would have been much better if we could have gone inside.



We stopped for a bite to eat at a little café at the top of the hill. There was a nice shaded patio area where we could eat with a great view of the landscape. The food was ordinary and overpriced of course.



We wandered through some of the shops on our way back down the hill. I thought it would be wise to have a quick pitstop before hitting the road again, however there was a guy there just closing the bathroom for cleaning. He told me there was a second bathroom at the top of the hill. I jokingly asked him if he was really going to make me climb all the way back up the hill that I’d just come down? He must have felt sorry for me because he told me to be quick and let me through! Sometimes it’s worth being the squeaky wheel lol!

DH was still finishing off his browsing, so the rest of us sat on a bench on the verandah of the leather shop and waited for him to finish.

When he was done, we headed off again.

My thoughts on Calico. It was definitely an overdone tourist attraction. However, the price for both entry and activities was very reasonable, and it was somewhere interesting to break up the journey almost exactly at the halfway point. We were definitely all keen to stretch our legs by the time we got there. Would I recommend it? Yes, if you’re going past anyway and using it to break up the journey. It was a bit of light hearted fun. I definitely wouldn’t make a special trip though. For fellow Aussies who have been to old mining towns over here (eg Walhalla, Sovereign Hill etc), you will be underwhelmed.

The highlight of the detour was possibly when we saw this massive willie-willie blowing through the farmland on the road out lol! Seriously, none of us had ever seen anything like it! We saw a couple more on the next part of the drive, and were equally intrigued by each one.



Soon we’d headed back through Barstow and were well on our way to our next destination.

To be continued