California and A Palm Storm

Packed and ready to go our luggage looks a bit different than last time!




Goodness, all that camping gear makes us look high maintenance...

A smooth flight and quick shuttle over to the car rental place has us picking up our minivan and on the road by 1:30 p.m. Yes, you read it right — a minivan.

We'd opted for the "surprise" vehicle and were quite "surprised" indeed to learn a minivan was what we'd been allotted. Upon further reflection, it has the potential to be perfect for our camping plans! The seats all fold down in the back making an ideal place to store our gear (and even sleep if need be!) and the back trunk provides a shelter to cook under during inclement weather. Like a blistering sun storm maybe?

As a bonus, it is the ideal family car to all get around in when Roy, Margaret and Susan join us in October.

Keir has already nicknamed the van "Honky" because "it seems like a good name for a white car from LA."




We make the drive through the sprawling metropolis of Los Angeles along the I10 and head for our hotel in Palm Springs. To the north and over the mountains we can see some VERY dark clouds rolling in. We manage to avoid most of the storm as we drive. It takes a while to get out of LA and the slowest part seems to be when we reach San Bernadino. Yet, it's smooth sailing from there on as we zoom into a desert landscape. The car thermometer say that it is 94 F degrees outside. Camping will be so much sweaty fun!!




We take the turnoff to Palm Springs, find our hotel, have a quick dip in the pool with Dean Martin and Sinatra and then head to Native Foods for dinner. What a great veggie find Native Foods is. Check out their website and menu here:

http://nativefoods.com/

Needless to say we were both stuffed — so many good things to try! The homemade Lavender Lemonade is a perfect thirst quencher!

As our knack for preceding and/or following natural disasters goes, we experienced a once a year (if that) event in Palm Springs yesterday... a thunderstorm! Those clouds to the north finally caught up to us. As it only rains here all of seven days in a year, we happen to experience the even rarer event. The thunderstorms of yesterday also caused flash flooding in Joshua Tree National Park where we are headed today. Here's a shot of the carnage we found online at the LA Times.




Lucky for us, the upper section near Black Rock and the Wonderland of Rocks is still open. Unlucky for us, all the campers from Cottonwood may be heading up there!

We'll see what the day brings!