Joshua Tree National Park

I’ve had Joshua Tree on my list for quite a while and today I finally got to visit it.  Unfortunately it was cold & windy, so we didn’t do too much hiking, but we were able to take in the sites.

Jason was excited about visiting a new park too.

We saw the famous trees right away.

At this viewpoint, we were able to see the San Andreas Fault off in the distance.

There were other interesting desert plants as well.

I was impressed with the size of these plants…

I’m not sure if these were blooms, but beautiful nonetheless.

 

Near the springs, there were palm trees – an usual sight in the middle of the desert.

San Diego

After our cruise, we traveled a few hours south to San Diego.  Our two big activities here:

1. The zoo

My favorites were the koala bears and panda bears.

It was a beautiful zoo.

With lots of interesting plants too.

I don’t what that is (below), but it’s growing out the side of the tree.

I was just as impressed with the landscaping as I was with the animals. Here’s Jason in some thick vegetation.

Our 2nd attraction was Sea World.

We’re got a great deal on a hotel right downtown, so enjoyed walking around downtown too.

Our view out the window

 

And Jason’s view :)

Mexican Riviera Cruise

We’ve been talking about going on a cruise for years…and we finally did it!  We took a seven day cruise with Royal Caribbean.
Here’s Jason’s reaction as we parked at the port.

Because, look at the size of our ship!!

We had a great stateroom.

 

As we had heard, our stateroom attendant left several surprises for us.

 

We dressed up for formal dinners.

In the beautiful dinning room where we enjoyed a 3 course meal each evening.

We enjoyed some Mexican beaches.

 

Kayaked around that island out there.

Enjoyed the local beverages.

 

Luckily didn’t have to use the lifeboats, but the crew did a drill and we saw them all out in the water.

 

Lots of fun on the ship as well.

The caption’s welcome.

The promenade.

 

The pool deck

Shows in the theater.

All in all, a great time.  The service was fantastic – we felt spoiled the entire time and the food was really good.  A bit too much food though…I know we both put on some weight.

Los Angeles

We stayed with my old college friend Rebecca in LA for a few nights.  She has a beautiful home and gladly cooked several meals for us.  She also offered to be our tour guide and took us all over the city – Mulholland Drive, Rodeo Drive, Sunset Blvd, the farmers market, Chinese Theater, Hollywood Blvd.  She also took us to a few of her local favorite restaurants.

We had a great guestroom with a fridge stocked with drinks and snacks.  And, we again had beautiful weather…

 

 

Death Valley National Park

The drive to Death Valley is long and it’s amazing how much of the land out here is desert.  We were careful to have plenty of gas and water…and we were glad!

The campground….well, it is a desert.  No shade or structures at all. 

There’s some vegetation, in some areas…

 

This is the lowest point in North America, 282 feet below sea level.

Here’s a close up of the salt on the valley floor…

The late afternoon light up the landscape beautifully.  Such an interesting area…unlike any place I’ve ever been.

Next up…LA and the Tonight Show tomorrow.