Saturday, December 31, 2011

Happy New Year!

We spent the last week wrapping up our visit with Frank & Etta, then soaking up the sun in Joshua Tree National Park.  On Christmas Day, Frank and Etta drove us out to Whitewater Draw to look at the Sandhill Cranes.  It was a perfect opportunity to use my new telephoto lens!

regular lens

telephoto lens!


We had a nice relaxing day, skyping with my family and having a great meal with Frank & Etta and Etta's cousin Marsha.  On Monday, they took us out to their friends' goat farm where we got to snack on the most delicious goat cheese ever and meet all the goats, dogs, and livestock guardians.  If you happen to live in Tucson/Bisbee area, check them out: www.chivarisa.com.  




We left Tuesday morning for Joshua Tree where we were lucky enough to have a place to stay right outside the park.  We got to "The Cube" late afternoon with just enough time to cook dinner and unpack before it got really dark.  Wednesday we hit the park, not realizing that we would be fighting the masses from school vacations.  It was crazy!  I lingered in the visitor center just long enough to get my stamp, then we took off to find our climbing destinations.  The first one was *packed* with several ropes set up and big groups all around so we moved on.  We climbed all day (and saw a coyote trot by), getting back to the Cube in time to hike up the hill and catch the sunset over the mountains.






I woke up bright and early the next morning and hiked up the mountain to watch the sun rise over the mountains.  Pretty nice way to start the day.




We traded in our ropes for our crashpad (a.k.a our mattress) and did some bouldering in the park. 



Or I should say, Curtis bouldered.  I took these:





We also drove over to see Skull Rock further into the park.  A little overrated since it only resembled a skull from one very specific angle, but still cool.


Again, we made it back to the Cube in time for an awesome sunset.  Curtis started dinner while I ran around and took some photos. 






We had one more day in the park, which we used to drive around a bit more and see sections we'd never seen.  We hiked into the Lost Horse Mine where Curtis snapped this little guy with the telephoto:


Lost Horse Mine trail



We drove out the southern entrance to the park and made our way to San Diego to see Sean & Danielle (and their kitty Sammy).  They led us on a great hike today up Cowles Mountain and then we went to the Pizza Port and munched on some tasty pizza thanks to a gift certificate from Missy & Tom for Christmas.  

View from Cowles Mountain


Danielle brought us out to Seal Beach where we saw these little guys.  



Now we're hanging out playing Apples to Apples, waiting for the stroke of midnight.  We'll be here for the next few days soaking up the sun and checking out more of the area.  More to come soon!

P.S. Dad made us a beautiful cribbage board for Christmas (I'll take a picture) so now we've been playing Cribbage every night and finally getting the hang of it.  Thankfully Dad sent along 2 sets of rules so we don't have to fight over it :)

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