Joshua Tree

When you go to the mountains, or to National Parks in the forest, you can't get away from John Muir. In the desert it's Edward Abbey.  I read Desert Solitaire while visiting Arches Nat'l Park in middle school. That fact is one among many that makes me wonder if I was the weird kid in school.  Feel free NOT to answer that pondering, or at least commit to lying about it. 😉

About the desert Abbey said:

"There is no shortage of water in the desert but exactly the right amount, a perfect ratio of water to rock, water to sand, insuring that wide free open, generous spacing among plants and animals, homes and towns and cities, which makes the arid West so different from any other part of the nation."

What we learned at Joshua Tree is that there are organisms that thrive in the desert, but humanoids from the North Coast are not amongst them. 

Erica at 90 degrees. I put this picture first, only because it shows up on the FB preview, and I'm almost liquified in the next one. HA! But the below picture is how this adventure started. 

Erica at 100 degrees: My face is burning off!!!!!

I created this humorous picture from the comfort of the Jeep. I firmly believe that our ride has the best AC in the state. 

Joshua Tree National Park is located at the confluence of the Mojave Desert and the Colorado Desert. Several days ago, we probably could not tell you the difference, but we feel pretty well versed in it now! For starters both of them are H O T. Even so, each desert has specific plant life and geologic formations. 

Our first look at the park was an hour or so before dusk, and it was still 100 degrees! If you're from a place where it easily can rain 100 inches in a year, this is too hot! And if you happen to run air conditioning in that place so that your space is a brisk 68, the air conditioners in this part of the world aren't cutting it! Our hotel room was almost 30 degrees cooler than it was outside, but it was still a sweaty sleep. 

Anyway, the first night, we drove through the big loop that most parks have, and saw about half of it in the beautiful light before nightfall. The first half of the park, and the pictures below, are from the Mojave portion of the park. We thought we might see some creatures creep out as the temperatures cooled, but mostly we just saw ants. So many ants. The light was beautiful, and there are a few pics in the fading light. I firmly believe that black and white photos convey heat much better than color. 

Joshua Tree Park is obviously know for its Joshua Trees. They are odd trees that bear some resemblance to saguaros in that they have arms sticking out at odd angles and are a bit comical. 

What was a whole surprise were the cholla cactus. They are so cute! From afar they look like fluffy little clouds, but of course, they are super prickly. There were a few in the Mojave Desert, but an entire "garden" in the Colorado Desert. 

It was here in the Cholla Garden that we learned that two and a half minutes is how long we can last in the desert if the desert is 110 degrees. It was hotter in the Colorado Desert by about ten degrees, and those ten were very impactful. Never thought 98 degrees could feel so good!

After the garden, we made one last stop, which was an overlook of the valley. I don't even know if that's the right terminology, but we could see out over to Palm Springs, and the San Jacinto Mountains. 

In addition to the plant life, there is amazing, and varied geology. I didn't retain most of it, but if you're rock people, I'm sure it's easy to look up! ;) We had two take aways from this park: 

One: How does anything survive here? Even observing the evidence of survival, it's hard to understand. What is knowable is how dangerous the heat is. I won't forget being that hot again, and feeling the slight panic of my body overheating. Don't get excited, it was 2.5 minutes, we were with other people, had water, and right near our car. We are adventurers, but the smart kind. But still.

And the second take away: Travel is an amazing gift. Without being here, without feeling the heat and observing the landscape, there is no way to understand this place. I still don't understand much of it, especially how people traveled through this area hundreds of years ago without all our modern conveniences. Why do people settle here now?   And how blessed are we to be able to choose where we live? It's an amazing privilege. 

I don't imagine we will pass this way again, and that makes this experience all the more special. National Parks always hold a surprise, always show you something that makes you stand in awe of nature. 

#findyourpark

Field of Lights

After a delightful day on the coast, we headed inland. You know, just to see if these coasties would melt or not! Last week one of my classmates from high school posted a beautiful photograph on FB. I looked it up, and sent the link to my mom, who then made us this delightful detour to Paso Robles. Though it was hot, and though we rolled into town during the state fair (or mid-state fair), it was well worth the trip. 

Before we headed to Sensorio, we had a delightful dinner at Taste. We're restaurant people, so it's hard to completely surprise us. But this -- we needed directions! You order a duo, trio, or quartet, meaning you choose that number of items off the menu. We had sliders and Brussels sprouts. Oh my -- the Brussels sprouts -yum! I had "summer sprouts" with peaches, goat cheese and pistachios. Mom had the "savory sprouts" with mushrooms, caramelized onions and balsamic. We loooove fancy sprouts. And let's be honest, the garlic fries were on point too!

Okay, on to the main event. Sensorio is an artist installation by Bruce Munro. The first installation is called Field of Lights. It all comes alive at dusk, so we got there just before. Even before dark, it was beautiful!

As it got darker, it just got more magical. There are paths winding through the lights, as well as benches to sit and enjoy. The lights do change color, but they do so very slowly, and almost so subtly that you miss it. 

Through the Field of Lights were the Light Towers. As a nod to the surrounding wine community, there are towers of bottles with lights within. The towers are different colors, and music plays as you walk through. Experiencing this part was far more powerful than it probably is reading about it!

Through the towers were two more installations. One, Gone Fishing, is made of repurposed fishing poles, set over a dry creek to represent standing next to a stream. The other is apparently called Fireflies, though we enjoyed them as jellyfish. :) Art is a little bit about interpretation, right?

And then, we wound back through the Field of Lights, and up to the car. We spent several hours here and loved all of it. If you're close, or can catch one of his installations elsewhere, do it!

Photo creds to the amazing, OG T&L photographer. 💚

Monterey

 It's so hard to blog while you're watching soccer! That's what we're doing, me and Ivy the Otter. I bought Ivy at the aquarium gift store. At the time I was justifying the purchase because I can take it to my classroom. Only I'm not an otter anymore (yes, yes- ALWAYS an otter 💙). But I think the thing is, I just love a good stuffy, and I'm totally owning it. 

Today we took to the trolley to the Monterey Aquarium.  We hadn't been in years -- 25+? I feel like I was in college, although I can't put my finger on why we were down here. I think Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park is my favorite, but this one was pretty good! 

We had three favorite exhibits, one of which was the jellyfish.  The exhibit hall was dark, so you could really see (and enjoy!) their bioluminescence.

The second thing we loved was the kelp forest. Apparently we love forests! The kelp appears to just breathe in the current, and we were mesmerized watching the various exhibits. 

And finally, we loved the otters! We watched them for a while in the morning, but also went back for a feeding in the afternoon. They are fed with a series of toys, that keep their problem solving acute. They are given toys that are full of shrimp, squid, etc. They do a lot of creative thinking to get the food out! One of their strategies is to pound the (thankfully!) plastic toys against the windows to shake the food out. We loved watching Ivy as she was playful and determined. And thus the otter stuffy! ;)

And then we had a wonderful dinner at Old Fisherman's Wharf. Mom found a delicious Italian seafood restaurant. The setting couldn't have been better, and the food was amazing. It had a real Kirkland circa 1990 feel to it. What a great day!

We finished with a dessert of cannolis. I'd never had one before! I know, right? But usually I just order tiramisu and don't even look at the other options!  This one had hazelnuts, so I chased it with some Benadryl. Ha! (Don't worry about it -- I have it under control. ;) )That cannoli cream is YUMMY! 

On the way back to the car we watched the sea lions for a while. They were chilling on the rocks near the wharf. Well, chilling out, and then causing a ruckus, as sea lions are want to do. 

Tomorrow we head into the desert!

Bewildered Pig

This was a sign we saw early in the day, for what, I have NO IDEA! We went about 24 hours, and not as many miles as we had wanted without cell service. There are a great many things I would have wanted to look up in that time, including this mystery. Vineyard? Farm? Roadside attraction? I could probably Google it now and figure it out, but so many miles, and HOURS, have passed. Plus, the phrase took on a life of its own, and is now a common roadtrip phrase. Sort of like "Pork Makes a Great Gift" from our famed Gatlinburg trip. Why are all the road sides swine motivated? Ew.

These "bewildered pigs" were heading to the Monterey area today. It should have taken a little over 4 hours. I refuse to actually calculate how much time we were in the car, but it was all day, including a car picnic. We spent the first half of this long day on Highway 128 in Mendocino County. The mile markers said "128 Men" which was almost the title of this blog. 🤣  The posted mph was 55, but we spent the ride behind two cattle semis. And despite the "slow vehicles must turn out" signs, they did not. There is NO way we could have gone 55, but we might have gone faster than 12 mph. 

These semis should not have been on this road, as they had to drive in the opposite lane (even around a curve!) to make the turns. Lots of cars going in the opposite direction were slamming on their breaks. I was tempted to hang my head out of the window a la Harry and the Hendersons and make a siren sound, but I didn't. Mostly because it was nearly 100 degrees. I did wave at all the traffic behind us on one of the hair pin turns!

At the end of that wagon train was a bathroom and a chance to look at the map on WiFi. Thank you Starbucks! 

The rest of the day is a blur of traffic, traffic, and more traffic. So. Many. Cars. And so many lanes! How do people deal with this amount of traffic? I will gladly hop back in the summer line from Cannon Beach to Seaside after this! Perspective is everything.

Our hotel, happily, has a little bistro, and booths with their own TVs. We are watching FIFA soccer, and happily making plans for tomorrow. 

We appear to be the only hotel customers NOT part of the rodeo that's in town, so that's been fun people watching! ;)

Forest Bathing

When this concept was first presented to me several days ago, I had a lot of fun with it. Not quite as much fun as my dad would have had, but I ran down all the list of literal funnies that were to be had. And then a couple more.  I'm going to let your inferencing skills run wild and not bore you with what I actually said. Ha! 

"Forest bathing" is an actual real term that came out of Japan in the 1980s. Its purpose was to give a respite to the dot.com boom that was sweeping the nation and to give people time to reconnect with nature. It is sort of eco-therapy. The idea has turned trendy as of late as a way to disconnect from ALL the screens, become one with nature, and also as a way to keep forest conservation at the forefront of our minds.  We did a little forest bathing at lunch while we savored our last moments among the giants in a no cell service area. But we learned A LOT about conservation today.

Click on this one - it's a panorama, 

and you'll want to see the whole forest!

We spent the day in the Humboldt Redwoods Park, which is the southern most park that is included in the Redwood National Park "collection". It is also where the Save the Redwoods League was started in 1917 by three conservationists that were asked to take a drive and see what they might see. Since that time, the League has saved/protected over 200,000 acres of redwoods. At that point (1917), the redwoods in old growth forests were being cut down at an alarming rate. The visitor's center had a great display about the history of the area, and posed a rather thoughtful question: 

"What decisions do you think are being made today that we may not fully understand until 150 years from now?" 

Oof. What decisions indeed. This means things that I'm not actually thinking about yet. Much food for thought. 

There was also a section of the visitor's center dedicated to informing and remembering the flood of 1964. We know 1964 as the year of the Alaskan earthquake, and tsunami if you're in Crescent City, but this flood was also very damaging. There were a series of storms over the Christmas season. The river crested at 46 feet where the visitor's center stands now, and obviously did an immense amount of damage.

She's such a good sport. 

Our main adventure was driving the 32 miles of Avenue of the Giants. It's what the founding League conservationists drove, albeit on a dirt rode, all those years ago. 

Cars for scale!! 

One of the groves we passed was the Rockefeller Grove, purchased with money donated from John D Rockefeller, Jr. It is the largest remaining contiguous old-growth coastal redwood forest in the world. So that's pretty special. :) In general the trees in this end of the park are larger than the others we've seen. 

The last grove we visited was actually the first one designated in the Humboldt park. Bolling Grove was named after an aviator killed in WWI, Raynal Bolling. And it is here that Verizon provided us with our forest bath. Even on the side of the road, the forest has a pervasive silence that is so soothing. We had our picnic lunch and soaked in the last of these coastal giants. 

Also, it should be noted that a lack of cell service does not stop one from fooling around with their camera after said forest bath. :)

And then <sigh> we had to leave. When you're not here, you forget. You forget how big they are, forget the footprint they have in these forests, forget how they quiet your soul. And so. We are excited for the rest of our summer adventure, but driving away was hard!