Winding Down in California

On March 12th, we met up with John & Judy in Joshua Tree to do a trail none of us had done, called the Lost Horse Mine Trail.  Some story about a prospector looking for his horse in a canyon, and he stumbled across a mine.  Something like that.

These 2 characters were on the trail.  Looks like Gerard found his horse!

A rather large specimen.  I don’t think this is the horse though.

This is the mine...and the prospector?

An interesting site to visit.  Not too far - maybe about 2 miles to the mine and 2 back.  We didn’t do the loop which would have been about 6 miles.  We really didn’t have time as we didn’t get there until after 1 pm.  And that’s our excuse.

On March 14th, as is the case every year, Judy had a birthday.  So when they came back to DHS on this day, we had dinner for them, and a cake, of course.

Last Friday, we did a hike behind our RV Resort into the hills.  I think they’re called the Little San Bernardino Mountains.  The cacti are just starting to flower.

And here we are, climbing back down a dry waterfall.  Don’t ask why we went up there.

Later on Friday, John & Judy’s friends from Bracebridge arrived (well, they arrived from Tucson where they were for the last month).  That’s David and Angela LeMaitre on the left.

So Saturday was St. Patrick’s Day, of course.  Another annual event.  We had green beer and the fixin’s of typical Irish grub.  All the food was fantastic!  We’re in our RV here.  It was more of an ordeal to set up the camera than to take the shot.  I’m surprised we’re still smiling.

I didn’t think I’d get this off my hands.  But doing the dishes later pretty much did the job.

And our little Irish hound.  Tibby wasn’t impressed.

Gerard and I were out driving around the other day, and were on this road.  Sand just like snow at home...burying fences and needing to be plotted back.

On Tuesday, the Hollingers and us went out to the Painted Canyon in the Mecca Hills area near the Salton Sea.  What a beautiful place for a hike.  Beautiful scenery among gigantic walls.  Sandstone, I think.

Holes in the sand with ladders propped up so you can climb up and down.

Someone took this photo for us from the top.  That’s the edge of the Salton Sea in the background.

Judy climbing out of a hole.

Great area.  There are lots more trails that we’d like to go back to some day.  We stopped at Shields for a date shake on the way back.  I don’t like dates, but the date shakes are awesome!

Later, these 2 guys are outside watching the Leafs play...in their glory.

Yesterday, we did a bit of a hike just above Desert Hot Springs and later had happy hour (of course).  This is what was going on over Mt. Jacinto.  The clouds had gathered and you could see this coming down.  Since the mountain hasn’t been clear since, we don’t know if it rained up there, or snowed.

So today was a quiet day, doing laundry and stuff.  The wind has picked up again, and the weather has been raining a little off and on all day.  Our plan is to go into Palm Springs tonight for dinner.  It will be our last night together as the LeMaitres are leaving for Lake Havasu and we’re leaving for Las Vegas tomorrow...the beginning of our trek back home.  The Hollingers are hanging around California for the rest of their time as they have a wedding to attend in San Diego at the end of May.  But between now and then they’ll be going into some State parks, and meeting up with Judy’s brother in Los Angeles in early April.

I expect to be blogging a little more while we’re on the move.  Some different things to see and do.