The Trip to Joshua Tree

On Wednesday we drove the car to Joshua Tree National Park about an hour north of Palm Springs. The elevation there is around 4800 ' and PS is at sea level. The air was just delicious!! We stopped in three places: first, we went to Hidden Valley where we hiked for about an hour. We were there about 15 years ago and loved seeing and experiencing it again; then we went to Cap Rock and watched a party of climbers, quite a sight on a crystal clear day; lastly, we took in the view of the entire Coachella Valley, Palm Springs Area and the Salton Sea. Unfortunately, the haze created by the smog from LA made it hard to see things clearly....a fact of life nowadays! Here are some pictures from that trip.

Super Bowl Sunny Sunday

Lots of rain yesterday caused many road closures in PS area. It really came down and put a damper on all the usual weekend activities. Costco became the place to go yesterday afternoon and the crowds were huge. It was shopping as entertainment with lots of sampling going on! We went to dinner at our friends, the Shearers, new place in Palm Desert. Gailene's brother John & his wife Leslie were there and it was wonderful to see John and meet his wife. John is the same age as Barbara and we have lots of memories of camping trips in the 70s.

Today we will be watching the big game with the Nagles....I like the commercials!

Today there's not a cloud in the sky. Life is good!!

The beauty of the desert.

Some pictures taken while in Quartzsite. Some are of the "western wallop" storm that plowed thru on January 21st. It was wild!!

Left Quartzsite, back in Palm Springs!

We are back at the Cathedral Palms for the month of February. It is now "high season" and was tough to get a booking and a car rental, however, we have both ! Quartzsite was fun both the boondocking on the bare desert and in the 88 Shades Park. We even looked seriously at buying a place there. Very good prices right now. We found lots of bargains at the RV Show in the Big Tent and at all the hundreds of smaller tents and swap meets. We also met at least 30 new GMCers and re-aquainted ourselves with many friends from the past rallies. We were sorry to say goodbye to the Sanders & the Engmans but we will see them again in a month or so. I am feeling a little homesick for home but, then I read the Edmonton Journal online and am reminded of the winter weather so...happy to be here where it's warm.