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Old 9 Jul 19, 09:49 AM  
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#31
KayLouise
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Looks beautiful, I can't wait to visit Joshua Tree. Would you mind sharing the name of your airbnb rental please?
Glad your ankle is improving 😊
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Old 10 Jul 19, 04:04 AM  
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#32
liz-paul
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Hi all! Out Airbnb in Joshua Tree was called rancho de colores. I'm rubbish at links on the phone but Google it and it will come up. We loved it but I don't know if it will be to everyone's taste. It was only about a 15 min drive to the north and west entrances to the national park and the Walmart in yucca valley. 28 palms and yucca Valley both had plenty of shops, restaurants etc although all we did was 2 trips to Walmart and self catered (and obviously bought too much!). Joshua Tree Village was smaller but still had plenty of places to eat and quite a lot of cool, unusual looking shops that we didn't go to. I think we could ha e stayed here about a week and happily filled our time. We didn't manage to go to aerial Tramway in palm springs or to palm springs itself 😔 next time!

Some pictures from the airbnb:




I took loads, we loved this place 😁

Edited at 04:12 AM.
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Old 10 Jul 19, 04:46 AM  
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#33
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Day 9. Moving on again

We packed up and left about 10.30 this morning. We were sad to be leaving, we had enjoyed both the house and also the desert (far more than anticipated) and I for one would have liked to have spent more time in the BP, more time exploring the local area and had a visit to palm springs and the Tramway there. I guess we really need a couple of months to do this trip justice 😂

As we were pretty much passing it we took a short detour to pioneertown (a small town built as a wild west film set in the 50s). There isn't much to do there except look around and take pics but I enjoyed it, it was something a bit different. There was one small shop open selling pottery. On the weekends there are gunfights to watch and more shops open I think.



We stayed about 30 mins. I enjoyed it.

We headed on to la jolla (which we discovered is pronounced la Joya) and it took about 2.5 hours. We stopped in temecula as OH was struggling without coffee. Unfortunately we missed the signs for old Town and ended up in mcdonald's 🙄 as we left we drove through I a tiny bit and it looked a nice place for a pitstop. Some time before this we saw a sign for an air museum and as we passed it thought it looked interesting (lots of old planes and helicopters), we might have stopped here if we had known what it was before we were passing it on the other side of the road.

The drive over here is pretty amazing with a the impressive landscapes as you go.


We're staying at the Inn by the sea and it is nice, nothing too exciting but pleasant, clean and good location. Once we checked in we had a stroll down to the sea, walked along until we saw the seals and back up for dinner. We ate in Piazza which was very nice, although our most expensive meal so far at $175 Inc tip for a sharing starter, 3 pizzas, ravioli, 2 desserts and 2 glasses wine. The starter was a platter calamari, Prawns, courgette and artichokes in a light gf batter (delish 😋 ). I had a gf pizza and the boys had a choc soufflé each which was also gf so I shared 😁

Chilling out now with a bottle of wine.
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Old 10 Jul 19, 07:00 AM  
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Mrs Red C
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Air bnb looked interesting, love the outdoor piano! Shame you missed the Aerial Tramway, we always enjoy it. Just as we like the hot springs for a few hours. Looking forward to your next bit
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Old 10 Jul 19, 08:18 AM  
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KayLouise
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The airbnb looks amazing! Pioneertown looks great too 😊
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Old 10 Jul 19, 05:09 PM  
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Just noticed loads of typos in my last posts 😳 some corrections: 29 palms not 28 palms! BP should say NP as in national Park! La Joya should read la hoya, as in how to say la jolla! I must be getting even more tired and I'm sure there are plenty more mistakes! Apologies 😁
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Old 11 Jul 19, 04:18 AM  
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Day 10.

We had breakfast in our room consisting of leftover bagels from yesterday's lunch and leftover pizza from last night. And then we got in the car and headed over to our kayak rental. There were 3 or 4 kayak rental companies all on the same street, we used everyday California and I found a discount code for 20% off when I booked, from somewhere like the San Diego tourist board (I just googled it and found one). Our rental was approx $90 for 2 double kayaks for 90 mins.

We arrived early which was lucky as parking was really hard! Leave plenty of time for parking and/or go early in the morning and be prepared to walk. We were there around 10:50 and it took us 15 mins to find a spot. You check in at the shop and then walk down to the beach and get your boats and paddles there. We got our gear and set off. OH is an experienced paddler and I used to but not any more. However, the rentals are totally suited for novices too, and they run tours as well as rentals. The guides explain where you can and can't go and realistically it's a pretty small area with lifeguards and lots of other people around. We enjoyed paddling around and splashing about and generally being laid back and relaxed. It's beautiful here.


You will get wet, dress accordingly and plenty of sunscreen. We had factor 30 on and myself and the 2 kids all got burnt today 😕 which is doubly frustrating as OH is the one with the real Irish skin!

We all really enjoyed the kayak rental and afterwards headed back to the hotel for more leftovers for lunch! It may have been nice to go out but we all wanted to get in the pool and it seems wasteful to have food sat in the fridge and not eat it.

Afternoon spent splashing in the pool and lazing around. The hotel has free coffee and hot chocolate all day and and iced coffee in the afternoons. Also free filtered water machines dotted around.

After this we shower, changed and discovered the sunburn 😳 and went for dinner. Ate at the cottage, a 5 min stroll from here. Plenty of gluten Free options. Food was great! I had fish tacos which were delicious and a lavender champagne 😋


For 2 beers, 1 lavender champagne, 4 mains, 3 desserts it was approx $140 Inc tip. The desserts were the only time this place fell down. The waittress brought out the desserts to show us and when I asked if any were gluten Free she said she didn't think so. I wanted a dessert but figured she knew her stuff and didnt push her to ask the chef. Everton eelse ordered dessert and they were amazing. I'm told. And when I came to pay the bill one of them was on the bill as gf 😐 this may or may not be why I only tipped her 18% as otherwise she was very nice.

Ds1 hurt his toe in the pool earlier and it's hurting to walk on it so we didn't detour for me to get ice cream after dinner either 😭

Currently enjoying some fizzy wine on our balcony while the kids enjoy some screen time.

LA jolla seems a really nice, cute, trendy town and we've had a lovely day or 2. It was especially nice to see the kids playing together in the pool and not fighting for a change 😍
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Old 11 Jul 19, 07:32 AM  
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KayLouise
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Sounds like a lovely relaxing day, kayaking sounds fun. I would have been annoyed about the dessert too. Hope your sons toe is ok!
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Old 12 Jul 19, 04:46 AM  
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Day 11. It burns it burns 😱

But of a restless night with 10 year old unable to sleep due his sunburn 😔 so we gave him a wet towel for his legs and he drifted off 😴 until about midnight when he woke me up because his bed was wet from the towel 🤦and he was cold. And hot. And sore 🙄 eventually got him off to sleep in my bed and I got the wet one 😐 so with a towel under me and a towel over me I eventually got some sleep! Love my kids to Pieces and really appreciate our family time but hotel rooms have their downsides...

Once we were packed up and checked out we walked over to the cave store (a 10/15 min slow stroll) and went down into the sea cave ($16 for all four of us) and had a look. It was fun but only a short activity. Requisite look at the gift shop and time to find some brunch. We ended up at Richard walkers pancake House. It was nice but in my opinion expensive. It was $90 something dollars Inc tip. The fruit juices were $5.50 each 😱 but we left very full and satisfied and I got a gluten Free waffle 😁

Then we were going whale watching with San Diego whale watch. I think this was in mission Beach? It was near the hyatt. Parking was easy and free. We were there pretty early and spent half an hour looking at the boats go by. Restrooms facilities were sketchy, they are only for marina users but even with the key from the coffee shop I couldn't get in. Had to wait for someone to leave and nip in lol

Whale watching was good, the trip was 3 hours and we spent most of the trip not seeing anything 😕 near the end someone spotted a blue whale! Cue 30+ mins of searching and we got a couple of good looks at a blue whale 👍 as we headed back in we also saw some dolphins.

We all felt fine on the trip and really enjoyed it but some people looked a bit green 🤢🤮

A 15 min drive and we were checking into our hotel, the handlery. Seems nice enough and we ate in the restaurant tonight because it was easy. Food was quite nice actually.

I'm sure I have more to say but am knackered again 😂 still having a great time 👍

Watching the Simpsons and heading for an early night I think.
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Old 13 Jul 19, 06:20 AM  
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Day 12 (I think?).

We slept in a bit this morning until after 8 and OH told us he had hardly slept 🙄 oh yay.

We headed of to the uss Midway, hoping to find some breakfast on the way or nearby. OH seemed highly stressed and irritable. Yay again. We parked in the parking lot beside the Midway ($10 for 12 hours) and went in search of breakfast. We headed to dunkin donuts which was about 10 mins walk away. We tried ordering and everyone else had some sort of melt down while the queue built up. Eventually we ordered a coffee, frozen coffee and 5 mini donuts. Then I calmed everyone down and coached them through the menu with no queue pressure. I went back and got 5 more mini donuts, a bacon croissant and a bagel. We sat outside and had our breakfast and the 13 year old got over the trauma of being rushed... I did not get over the trauma of ordering the wrong coffee 😂☕ after finished I went back in for another donut! There was nothing gluten Free to eat here. Very nearby was a shopping center of some sort that had a cheesecake factory among other things which was easy walking distance from the Midway.

We got back to the Midway at 11 and left at 4pm! 😱 This was approx 4.5 hours too long for thr 10 year old and an hour too short for OH. It was about 45 mins linger than I or the 13 year old needed. We didn't look at everything in great detail but we had a good old look round. We did the bridge tour which had about a 30 min wait. Maybe it has a shorter queue earlier in the day. The flight deck and the main deck you enter on seemed to have good access and I saw wheelchair and buggy users. The bridge tour required the use of steep steps and small spaces. The lower deck claimed to have disabled access but I don't think all of it was acesssible. I would recommend fairly sensible shoes and clothing, I did wonder how the people wearing skirts felt about going up and down all the steps with people following behind 🤔

I felt it was well worth a visit and I don't have much of an interest in the military or aviation. OH thought it was great and he has a pretty good interest in both. 10 year old really wasn't interested and the 13 year old who has a good interest in tech, engineering and how things work really enjoyed it. It will definitely take up at least 2 hours. There is a shop selling snacks, sandwiches and drinks on board. It is very expensive! Over $18 for 3 bags of crisps, an ice cream, a soda and a string cheese. There are plenty of toilets and drinking fountains. There is a pay and display car park the other side of the ship but you can only stay there for 3 hours. I don't k ow how expensive it was.

By the time we left it was 4pm and we hadn't really had a proper meal all day! We stopped at a Ralph's and bought some snacks and drinks and went tnack to the hotel. OH and ds2 went in the pool and then went to the fashion Valley mall for dinner. Pf changs, which has a gf menu. We really enjoyed this food and 1 starter, 3 mains and a cocktail plus tip came to $90 something. We got a free mini dessert as the one ds1 chose wasn't available. I really enjoyed this as it's impossible to get gf free chinese where we live. Back to the hotel and we had a drink in the bar while the kids watched YouTube.

Tempers were a bit frayed today and I feel that we're ready for home 🙄 sharing hotel rooms is getting tricky now, OH really likes his space and so does ds1 really... An Airbnb would have been better but I couldn't work out the rules for San Diego when I was booking... Also the various hotel changes are hard work to an extent with packing, unpacking etc. I really like California so far and am having a good time but I'm not going to lie, we will not return home feeling refreshed, relaxed or chilled out. This is a real shame for OH who really needs to get some recovery time from his holidays. The kids are so much easier on holidays in many ways as they get older but they are also more demanding or moody in others.

I realise this sounds really negative and I dont mean it to but I guess it's not all sunshine and roses even when on a holiday of a lifetime 😉🌞

A few pics from today
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