Trail Head
We started the day off right: two cold, slightly stale croissants from the Super 8 continental breakfast and as much instant coffee as the motel maker could drip. We hopped into the cramped car and drove past futuristic hillsides littered with wind power turbines towards Joshua Tree National Park. Towns got smaller and more distant as we moved into the Mojave, which was a welcome relief after L.A. gridlock.
Joshua Tree was beautiful. The kind of expansive, subtle beauty that doesn’t translate well in photographs. We hiked through two separate ‘miniature desert worlds’ and spotted lizards, desert mice, and ducks (!). I’m always amazed at the ways life finds to sprout in inhospitable places.
Then, still feeling the need to move towards a destination, we left. We found ourselves on Hwy 62, 100 miles from the nearest services. From there, we were looking for Hwy 95 to Lake Havasu City. We reached Parker, AZ, where our map showed the junction of 62 and 95. It was a strange resort town with mobile homes and abandoned RVs competing for space on the shores of the Colorado River. It was confusing, but we found what seemed like 95. A road sign warned: “Watch for Burros.” We kept driving. The road wound up through the Mojave mountains, slowing dramatically. An hour later, still winding and slow, Sarah got nervous. I said, “I think this is 95, what else could it be? No, scratch that, I’m sure this is 95.” As if on cue, the double yellow center lane vanished, the road narrowed, and the Lake Havasu City we were looking for appeared in front of us as “Lake Havasu Palms, a Family Resort.” Woops.
An hour out of the way, we finally found our route. We’re in another Super 8 Motel, exhausted, and are planning a tour of the Grand Canyon for the next couple days. Stay tuned.
-Megan
(If you want to see a picture of a great sunset, just click on the picture, it’ll take you to Flickr where we’re uploading our photos.)
Tags: Arizona, California, Joshua Tree, Photography, Southwestern United States, Travel
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Funny to think that you could just turn south and DRIVE to the next continent down. I’m getting more and more jealous as I read your installments. Though we have improbable wildlife in Philly, too. Two mockingbirds have taken up residence in our thorny orange tree.
What a sunset! The photos are amazing, as are the women who took them.
Where are those baroque pools?
Hey Girlie, your pictures are GREAT! I love being able to see where you are.
Hey Folks,
Reading this makes me SOOOO excited. I’m less than 3 weeks away and I can barely contain myself. I’m glad you got to see the beauty of Arizona sunsets; they are certainly magnificent. If you can, check out Utah’s National Parks. In particular, go to Arches on a weekday. Go to Canyonlands and do not miss Capitol Reef. They are beautimus.
zil
I agree, the photos are GREAT! and, so is your story. With every entry I realize you are closer to Tulsa, and that makes me smile. See you real soon.
Dad,
The Baroque pools are at Hearst Castle in San Simeon, CA. It’s the California ranch of William Randolph Hearst the newspaper mogul. The place was UN-believable. He had all of these ancient columns, tapestries, and pieces of furniture imported from 16th-17th century Europe — well, not directly from the 16th and 17th century… I suppose he had them imported from the 20th century… they’d just been around for a long time by that point.
-Sarah