We (Christine, Sam, Rece, & I) made a trip to the desert this weekend for some camping. It was just one night, but the whole trip was a lot of fun.
We started off at a corn maze in Temecula. I’ve never been to one of these and we ended up trying our best to get lost in it - which I was having trouble doing with my incredible sense of direction. I always knew exactly where I was. It was fun to be running around through a corn field trying to lose one another and then to try and find them again.
We drove to Anza-Borrego State Park through some peaceful mountains. At one point we were treated to a fantastic view of the Salton Sea from a turnout on the windy mountain road. Sadly we didn’t think of getting out our cameras at this point. Oh well, we saw it - sucks to be you!
We were able to set up camp very quickly. Having had camped twice earlier this year, we had plenty of practice! We toured the campground area and park, plus the visitor center. They’ve recently put a lot of time (and money) into the park and visitor center - and it really shows. This was a well-designed and modern center. Lots of excellent information about local plants, wildlife, and history. We enjoyed the slideshow presentation and exhibits.
The remainder of the afternoon and evening we spent relaxing by the campfire roasting hot dogs, playing cards, and laughing a lot. Later that night, when the fire had almost gone out, I turned off our lantern and we all sat back in our chairs and just stared up into the star-filled night sky. Being so far away from the city, we were able to see the Milky Way and many shooting stars. For Christine it was the first time in her life she had seen either.
The girls (Christine & Sam) were up bright and early the next morning. They took some fabulous pictures and checked out the tracks left by the coyotes we had heard throughout the night. Christine & I took off for town to pick up coffee and, letting our laziness get the best of us, bought breakfast burritos so we wouldn’t have to cook.
Camp was broken down about as fast as it had been set up and we went back to the visitor center to check out the things we missed the previous day (they closed before we could finish our visit). We then hopped into the car and headed for the Salton Sea.
Driving through the desert is rather interesting. At first glance, there doesn’t seem to be much going on. But if you pay attention, you’ll notice subtle changes in the terrain, a wide variety of very hearty plants, and a lot of geological formations. We had turned off the radio because of the poor reception and this helped us enjoy the drive even more, I think.
The Salton Sea is very large. It is also very stinky. We didn’t want to stay for long because of the smell. We snapped a few pictures and were right back out on our way along highway 86.
Christine really likes palm trees. Such an odd thing to bring up at this point, no? I mention this because along the sides of highway 86 you’ll find a lot of them… in fact they’re set out in large tracts… some might even go so far as to call them palm tree orchards. An orchard? Isn’t that for apples? Well, for lack of a better term (and because I’m too lazy to look up the proper word for it) these palm tree ‘orchards’ are where they grow dates.
After seeing so many of them, we decided to drive closer so Christine could check out the palm trees from a closer perspective. Lo and behold, we ended up at Oasis Date Gardens (I still prefer to call them ‘orchards’ thankyouverymuch). We toured the palm tree arboretum (orchard) and saw a variety of different dates and interesting ways of serving/preparing them. Christine’s mom conventiently loves to eat dates, so she picked up a package of the “Medjool” variety for her. I opted for a date shake - it was delicious!
After the excitement of the palm trees and dates we were back on the road. Our path brought us to the palm desert, where you’ll find fields of windmill generators… I call them windmill orchards. These machines are a curiosity, and since Christine is as fascinated with them as I am, we left the highway to check them out up close. You had to be there, really. They’re big, they’re spinning, they’re humming, they’re whining, they’re generating electricity, they’re cool. Shut up.
Back to the highway, with a planned lunch stop in Redlands. This is a must-do lunch place. Why? Because it’s cool. Shut up.
We ate at Long John Silver’s and ended up creating something funny and very cool: Scuttlebutt, the Hushpupper Fish antenna ball. Check out the pictures.
Scuttlebutt is a tough little fella. He survived the drive home and still rests atop my antenna - completely intact. I’m thinking of getting him shellacked - no, not with rum! - so he’ll last longer.
So there you have it. Another long blog about my weekend camping adventures. If you’re still awake, be sure to check out the Flickr photogallery from the trip.
This entry thinks playing rummy is cool. Shut up.
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