SoCal Christmas 2017: Day 3 Joshua Tree and Palm Springs

[Melbatb]

First of all, Merry Christmas!

Well our day started at 3am when F woke us up as her glycemy was very high. We checked her ketones which were thankfully zero and gave her an injection to hopefully bring her down. No idea why she was so high as she was at the lower end of acceptable when she went to bed.

We managed to get back to sleep until about 7am so not bad!

The stockings were opened. Kids were happy with what was in them!

Breakfast was similar to yesterday - bagels, waffles, yoghurt and coffee!

There may be a bit of an overload of pictures!

At 8.30ish we headed off to Joshua Tree National Park. We stopped at the Info Office though the lady serving us was rather functional. No real advice except for giving us the map!

We drove in and paid our $25 fee for a 7 day pass!

First stop was just a picnic area not long after we entered the park.

When we got there there was a RV. Its inhabitants were walking back to it - two older people in Christmas jumpers walking their cat! It was funny to see.

The views were amazing - it was very lunar like.

The kids and J loved scrambling up the rocks.

We then drove up to 1600m and Key View Point.

From here you could see Palm Springs and Desert Springs

Again stunning to see. Apparently it is often hazy so we were lucky that it was relatively clear.

We were then going to do a 4mile hike but the car park was already full.

So we went to Hidden Valley Trail which was only 1.5 miles long.

Lots of people on this and lots of different cacti.

Again we had a lot of fun climbing up and around all the rock formations. There were some people actually rock climbing which made F a bit nostalgic as she did this for 4 years.

It was getting quite warm - around 20C. The kids commented that it didn't feel very Christmassy!

As it was getting busy we decided to head to Yukka Valley to try to find lunch - a lot of places were closed due to it being Christmas Day.

We did find a Panda Express which everyone was happy to try.

I had honey walnut prawns with some sweet and sour sauce

The kids had teriyaki veggies which they both declared as delicious.

J had a chicken dish.

It was a very reasonable $24!

We then drove to Palm Springs. I don't know what we expected - more older people? But it was actually very pleasant.

We wandered up and down the main street.

Shakes were purchased!

Mine was a mint oreo one. They were of course calorie free and totally divine.

We got a bit lost coming out of Palm Springs and ended up at a dead end - the views were still stunning though!

One strange thing were all the wind turbines - hundreds of them. But not of them particularly going round. I guess at sone stage it must be windy!

We stopped to look at the San Andreas fault line - not that there was really anything to see but we were fascinated that it was there and whole towns seem to have been built within striking distance of it!

It was getting dark as we got back. Everyone was tired so we mooched around. F fell asleep - whoops and we had to wake her up. Not a good move.

Again pickings were slim for dinner. We went to a local Mexican chain called Castana's. F refused to eat and to be honest that was the best decision. It was truly hideous. Thankfully it was cheap.

We drove back into the NP to stargaze - it has one of the last amount of light pollution in the USA. It was amazing - even though there was some haze you could see thousands of stars. It was however also very cold. And impossible to take photos of!

We headed back and straight to bed. Hoping for a better night!