SoCal Trip {3/3: Beach, Joshua Tree National Park}

Friday morning was our last in Carlsbad, and we spent it (where else?) at the pool! (6 for 6!) But after the pool, where did we go? The beach, naturally! We picked a new one up the road a ways at Tamarack Surf Beach, and it was definitely a surfer's hangout. We counted probably 40 surfers out trying to catch a wave while we were there.

Goodbye beach! We will miss you!

Those black specks out in the water (maybe you can see
them?) are surfers.

From the beach, we headed North and then West to Joshua Tree National Park. We arrived at lunchtime and Gregg made sandwiches in the back of the car while the kids and I went into the visitor's center to get acquainted with the park (and to pick up Jr. Ranger booklets, of course). Our first stop inside the park was at a random pullout where we could get out and climb on the rocks. The kids were super excited to try this after we read about it in a book in preparation for our trip. And it was really fun and easy to climb up the piles of boulders. The rock was very rough and grippy and we made it up to a high spot with a nice view of the Joshua trees below and the (snow-covered) mountains in the distance.

They didn't have printed copies of the hiking
trails, so we followed the note and snapped a pic
of the trail guide.

Baby Joshua Tree and with our destination
rock pile behind.

From our rocks, looking back toward the road and our car.

I spy Cal in that little window.

I just liked the seams in this rock. Looked like 
someone glued it back together.

Sam is there in our selfie, photobomber style.

It was definitely good for everyone to get out of the car
and stretch our bones.

Yes, I took two photos of almost this exact view/set up.
Oh well.

I thought this might be one of the famous
cholla cactuses, but now I'm not so sure, since
they were in a different part of the park which 
you'll see below.

Our next stop was at Hidden Valley for a little hike through the valley naturally enclosed by rock pile hills where ranchers used to keep their livestock.

It had snowed just a day or two before we
got here! I don't know how common that is
for this area, but it seemed kind of special.

Cal named this one Belly Button Rock.

Someone before us on the trail had made these
cute little snowmen on the rock.

If you zoom in on that roundish rock in the middle
of the pile, you'll see why we named this one
Hamburger Bun Rock. ;)

We kept driving toward Skull Rock, but I really wanted to get a family pic by some of the big Joshua Trees, so we found a pull out in a field of them and hopped out to snap a timer pic by a tree. (Thanks, family, for humoring your mom/wife.)

Skull Rock definitely lives up to its name.

And then we headed toward the Cholla Cactus Garden. The ranger had told me that we would drive 15 minutes down this road and then we'd see it. Gregg was timing it and wondering what exactly we were going to see since the landscape looked pretty much the same all the way down - not so many Joshua Trees anymore as we moved from the Mojave Desert to the Colorado Desert, but definitely deserty. And then, boom! There we were, surrounded by the Chollas. Holy smokes, what weird plants!

They're also called Teddy Bear Cholla.
(No, Pop, no! Don't sit on that!)

Are these flowers? Fruits? They were cool
looking whatever they are.

We thought the insides were pretty cool, too.

After Joshua Tree, we picked up pizza in Twentynine Palms, just outside Joshua Tree, and then continued our journey eastward. We didn't have an official plan for where to stop for the night, but we just kept driving until we were ready for bed and found a hotel that wasn't too crazy expensive. Primm, NV was the place, in the Buffalo Bill's Resort and Casino. It wasn't spectacular, but we only needed to sleep there, and then we continued our journey homeward the next morning. We had originally planned to visit my grandma in St. George but she wasn't feeling well, so we skipped that. We also wanted to ski at Brian Head, but the weather was shaping up to be nasty later in the day, right when we'd be driving after skiing, so we skipped that, too. Kind of a bummer ending to a really great trip, but it all worked out in the end, when we got home and it started snowing on us. I'm glad we weren't driving in it, that's for sure.

An epic pool at Buffalo Bill's - but it was not open since
it was winter, so our streak was broken at last.