Walking, touring, shopping....

Our Location: Joshua Tree National Park BLM, West entrance, California


I woke up shortly after 2 am (PST) time and couldn’t get back to sleep for a little over an hour. I know this because I was playing a game on my iPad and the clock was showing just about 3:15 when I shut it down again.

First picture this morning...

As I sit here typing this it is 5:30 am and I’ve been awake for about 10 minutes. Sleep is elusive at times for me, it’s always been that way. Some times I sleep the whole night without stirring even once and other times I’m awake off and on the whole night. The time changes are not helping. I heard Riley stirring around when I was awake in the middle of the night. Not a sound from down that way now. I hope she’s getting a good sleep now.

Taken through the opening of a cactus...

Our neighbours with the baby Air Stream. Note the truck tent in the back..

The interstate here, like at Dome Rock, is just a far away hum. We don’t have any plans for today yet. Since we’re going into Palm Desert tomorrow it seems kind of silly go in today to do groceries. We have enough to last until we return home tomorrow night, it’s not like we’re going to starve. So I think we’ll do some walking this morning at least, after that who knows.

The pink hues over the Igloo this morning..

Sunrise through some sage bush straw...

I was out the door at 6:35 am but I was too late to catch the first oranges of the sunrise. I should have known to be out earlier but oh well, I caught some of the sunrise. It was very pretty and I’m glad I managed to get the pictures I did. 

The rays are starting to peep over..

 Back inside we decided on lunch, and as I was sipping my hot drink I was of course prepping lunch and salads. I also decided to make us a breakfast wrap as well. Normally we just have our drinks, or sometimes some toast but we aren’t morning eaters. Mushrooms, sweet onions, garlic, eggs, milks, salsa, cheese, tomatoes, Italian seasoning all cooked up and added to wrap which I then placed in the pan until just toasted, added a little more shredded cheese on top, as well as a  spoonful of salsa. It hit the spot.

Beautifully groomed garden at rest area

After that we grabbed our walking sticks and headed off for a walk. We walked the other direction this time, across the entrance road to the park. We strolled along the top of the levee for a while but then down onto the road. It was nice walking, flat, and for the most part easy going. As we’re chatting and walking along we are approaching a campsite with only a vehicle located there. Very quickly a full grown Doberman is coming toward us, not in a friendly way either. This woman is yelling at the dog but it didn’t listen to a thing she was saying and just kept coming. I hollered at her to come and get her dog, but it took her a while to decide she had better. Meanwhile I’m standing between Riley and this dog, my walking stick off the ground so I can at least jab at it if nothing else. It keeps trying to circle but when I step with it, it stops. The owner is coming toward us and saying, ‘Oh she’s friendly, she just wants to be friends.” This dog does not want to be my friend, this dog thinks we’re breakfast. Finally she grabs it’s collar and then she says,” Oh she just wants to kiss you.” I tell you I must have looked pretty stupid at that comment. A number of things went through my mind but I just said,” Lady, that isn’t going to happen.” She pulls on the collar and is taking the dog back to her car. If I had found a ranger I would have reported her. Animals that aren’t controllable should be on a leash. I’m sure this dog would have attack if she hadn’t come when she did. If we had a dog of our own, there would have been a real problem I have no doubt.

This is a 10 MILE grade according to road signs. Coachella/Indio can be seen in the distance.

We continued walking until we reached a point that was about 30 minutes walking from the Igloo. We then turned around and headed back. Not wanting to pass this dog again we climbed the levee and walked on the other side so the dog couldn’t see us. We arrived home according to the time about 1 1/4 hours after leaving. So we were happy with that effort. 

Thru the dirty windshield but see the buildings below?

Our neighbours with the little Air Stream were packing up and heading into the park, they must have found a spot. We are happy right where we are. It’s pretty quiet, we have a fairly big space and we love the view.

Love the mountains all around....

We discussed going in to the park or taking a drive. Riley chose a drive. Since we had come from the east on I-10 we knew what was there, so we headed west. Well long story short, we ended up in Indio, very close to where we are going tomorrow. However we did manage to get our grocery shopping done, or most of it. We left the list on the table. Imagine shopping at Walmart where you can see palm trees and snow capped mountain in the same picture!! Truly an experience. Nice store, very big, clean and I will say I was disappointed. They had men’s shorts out but not women’s. Now how ridiculous is that? 

Heading east on I-10, we've just been on that other side an hour ago.

Anyway, we both agreed it was an excellent drive with great views. However it was time to head home as we were both exhausted. Seems like I’m always tired here, going to have to nap for a day and sleep all night to get caught up.

The many water paths in the wash along the interstate.

Back home we put away the groceries, I cooked lunch. Today it included green salad, fresh mixed veggies with Italian seasoning, plus spaghetti squash with mushrooms and cauliflower, parm cheese and a bit of butter. Riley had a roasted chicken from Walmart, and I had a couple of turkey dogs. The stuffed squash wasn’t cooked just quite enough to suit us but we were full anyway. Not the best lunch but we didn’t go hungry. 

A much bigger wash as you can see, this one takes a lot more fast moving water as the whole area is flat on the bottom.

After that I sat outside to read for a bit, then came inside, sitting on the couch soon turned to laying on the couch and Riley woke me at 5 pm so I wouldn’t miss the sunset.

Snow capped mountain ahead of us...

Flowers blooming, palm trees and snow on the mountain, all in one pic.

Grabbed the camera and outside to snap a few pictures. Very nice sunset tonight. The sky turned various hues of reds and oranges. As I was taking pictures a fella with a big 5’er pulled in across from us, where the little baby Air Stream had been.

Seen in the Walmart parking lot.

After the sunset I headed inside to edit pics and write this post. I’m looking forward to getting to bed early tonight, so I won’t be lingering long over this exercise.

My first sunset pic of the night.

A very special birthday wish goes out to my son in law Matt. Matt turns 31 today. Matt is a research doctor, and just returned from 2 years working in Switzerland and is currently working at York University in Toronto. Courtney and Matt have been together for over a decade but married only a couple of years ago before heading off to Switzerland. He is truly a wonderful young man and we are very fortunate to have him in our family. Happy Birthday Matt!

Love the colours in the sky...

So that’s it folks, our busy day here at Joshua Tree National Park. We’ll probably make it into the park on Saturday as tomorrow we have plans all ready. Thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your  visit. Please feel free to leave a comment, I read and reply to each.

Night has arrived...

Until next time…. take care, be safe,

Deb