We almost had a person kayak tour, but right at 1:30pm another couple stopped by the shop and signed up. They are from Texas and seemed annoying, but ended up being pretty cool. Usually the tour includes going into one of the caves, but the tides weren’t cooperating, so we couldn’t go in. We later found out the area is under a Tsunami watch. The water was pretty clear, so we were able to see a lot of fish, a stingray, and sharks.
Mark had offered to let us stay another night at their place, but we wanted to get a bit closer to Joshua Tree so the drive wouldn’t be as long this morning. When I checked into our hotel in Palm Springs they desk guy said the internet was out in the surrounding 5 counties. Wonder what was up with that. I didn’t even try to hook into the internet to blog. Is anyone even reading this anyway?
A few cities down was a brewery and BBQ joint. The beer wasn’t all that god and the food lacked, too. But I still managed to eat too much! My stomach was a bit queasy from the earlier activities, and the beer/overeating wasn’t helping with my nausea. And we thought it would be a good idea to check out the hot tub. My tummy really hated me after that. I feel asleep as soon as I hit the bed.
We were finally able to sleep in this morning! At 8am, I took a brief swim in the hotel pool. It was probably 10-15 yard across, so I didn’t swim in circles for too long. The temps were pretty cool out, so I was very tempted to go for a run instead. The area seemed safe, but I opted to be lazy.
By 10am we left for Joshua Tree. We drove in the northwest entrance, dropped down to Key View, then out the northeast entrance. It was cool to visit, but we were only there for just over an hour. At Key View we were able to see Palm Springs. I think it’s the highest point in the park and it was WINDY! All of the wind turbines in the area should have tipped us off. There had to be at least a thousand of them!
After checking the time and distance left to the Mitchell Caverns, we knew we couldn’t make it to the 1:30 tour, and you can only view the caverns in a tour, so we had lunch in Twentynine Palms.
The options to Las Vegas were through Mojave or around it. Might as well go through. We only made one stop, which was the visitor center in the middle. It probably took about as much time to go through as around. I drove 70mph most of the way and there was hardly any traffic. I had to pass a car once and only saw about a dozen total. There was almost an accident with a couple road runners. It was about the only wildlife we saw, and it would have been bad to have killed it.
There’s not much to see in Mojave. A section of sand dunes and more Joshua trees. I drove and Wes was the navigator. We work much better the other way around, but we did get to where we wanted to go…just a bit longer then needed.
We’re staying at the Sunset Station in Henderson. I thought it’d be better to be off-strip, but there’s really not much to do around here. Last time we stayed elsewhere we were near Lake Mead which is really cool, but really expensive.
Across the street is the Galleria Mall. The hotel guy said it’s the second largest mall in the Las Vegas area, but almost all of the stores we have in Iowa. Not so fun. I looked up REI and it was close, so we went there. It ended up being in a pedmall shopping area that we had been to last April. A Whole Foods was also there! Yeah! Did a bit of shopping, then ate there. Wes said he wasn’t very hungry, but still managed to eat 2 pounds of food from the buffet! He’s been eating crap all day. I don’t understand how he doesn’t put on weight! Not fair! I also needed to get some honey roasted peanut butter. The rest of my first batch I left for Mark to share the goodness. I also want to take some back to Iowa with me…if it lasts that long. It’s soooo good!
The hotel doesn’t have a coffee maker and there is no microwave to use. My idea was to buy a coffee maker and an oven-proof container for breakfast making tomorrow morning. After brewing the coffee I hope to use the coffee-burner thing to cook the eggs in the oven-proof bowl. Wes needed a coffee maker for work, and we have room for it to carry-on, so it’ll get use after today, too. One of my vacation pet peeves is paying a lot for toast and eggs. I’ll pay a lot for lunch and dinner, but breakfast isn’t worth it!
There is a bowling alley in the hotel and tonight is $1 games, so why not? I suck! It’s been years since I have played and it’s rare that I break 100. Tonight was no exception, but I had fun anyway.
Hopefully tomorrow’s weather will be warmer. The pool is closed due to the “cold”.
Tomorrow we’re going to Lulu!!!
Yes, I am reading it. It is so fun to see what you are doing everyday. Have fun these last few days.
ReplyDeleteI am also reading your blog. I just love reading about what you are up to. Keep blogging!
ReplyDeleteNancy