Johns Trippin'

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear "Death Valley?" Heat, probably. Death Valley was one of those places that I had heard about throughout my life, but I really couldn't tell you much about it other than "I think it's hot there." It sounds stupid, but the word "valley" in the name never really registered until we arrived. "Oh, hey... there are mountain ranges on each side. This place is a valley!" And that's one of the reasons for the heat. And to be clear: Yes, it can get very hot in Death Valley (as of this writing, it holds the world record for hottest temperature ever recorded of 134 degrees), but it was quite pleasant the day we visited. It was even a tad chilly when we started out, and it was downright cold when we finished! It was very pleasant for most of the day Our campsite was just a few miles south of the park in Shoshone, CA (population: 13). The park itself is enormous, so our campsite dictated th...

Palm Springs is in the desert and for some reason has way more golf courses then any reasonable city should have. Courtesy of Google Maps  It's also very windy. There were hundreds of wind turbines in the Coachella Valley. Lots and lots of wind turbines We stayed in Palm Springs for a month. Our campsite had a pool, three mineral hot spring tubs, Pickleball courts, a climbing wall, mini golf and a free train ride. While on the train, Caleb found out that there was a bike track here! We went there so much. There was a good library close by. One day we bought unlimited climbing wall passes and had fun. One day we went on a five mile hike up a mountain that was a KOA Activity. We could see the campground from the top of the mountain. When we went to Joshua Tree NP , we went to a ranger talk. We learned that Joshua trees aren't actually trees but a kind of yucca. The ranger said that "Joshua Shrub-like National Park" didn't sound as good. We also learned that birds wi...

Joshua Tree National Park is one of those that holds near-mythic status among people that have been there. It's up there with the likes of Yellowstone and Zion . When people find out we're going to National Parks, and especially when they find out we're currently in California, we are almost inevitably asked if we're going to Joshua Tree. Don't hear me wrong, it's a neat park, but we need to be honest: It's over a thousand square miles of desert. But there are Joshua trees! Kind of. Let's go over some trivia about the park. Joshua trees aren't trees. They are large yucca plants. If you cut one down (don't, it's illegal), you'll see that they don't have rings. Therefore, they can't be accurately dated. The rangers guess their age based on height. Joshua trees are only in a small portion of the park (the northern end). This is due to the fact that they are quite picky about elevation, and the southern end of the park is too low. In...