We headed first to Joshua Tree National Park by way of Mojave Desert. Actually Joshua Tree is partially part of the Mojave Desert too. For some reason I always think of deserts as either flat or sand dunes. This was neither. We climbed 3 mountains while in the park.
It is a climbers park with lots of rock formations. Joshua trees are fascinating like something right out of Dr. Seuss. We first saw them near SAltillo in Mexico and had to find more. Weather was perfect for for hiking in the mid 60's with cool mornings and evenings and lots of sun.
We were surprised by the proximity of snow capped mountains.
pathEvery thing in the park is preserved. We ran across several old cars, foundations and gold mines, sadly, no gold.
This is what was referred to as a 10 stamp mill where the rock was crushed so the gold could be extracted. It was in a very remote area up what could barely be called much more than a path. All the equipment had to be brought in and the gold out along this path.
Cholla --- were almost as Dr. Seussian as the Joshua trees!
We then traveled north along the coast highway and soaked in more sun with a taste of ocean. This I think was Morrow Bay. I just loved the plant -- it is real.
Of course no trip to CAlifornia would be complete without visiting the kids and Oliver.I love his contemplative look
Of course he didn't sit still for long!
