Greetings from the Desert

"Bless us readers for we have sinned, it has been 2 weeks since our last post" so here we go. It has been a very full 2 weeks as we have been extra busy with our regular activities and some extras for good measure. The three hikes we have been on were unique and quite interesting. We did Black Mountain a 4 mile 2800 foot elevation gain uphill, but that's ok you get to come down the same 4 miles. Elevation at the peak was 7772 feet above sea level.

If it looks steep that's because it was

Maybe the East Coasters could help identify the white stuff in this picture.......We understand it is native to your area

Fuel tank for the Ranger Station/Fire Lookout

View from the top

The next hike was the Panorama Loop in Joshua National Park. This was a much gentler hike with only a 700 foot elevation gain and 7.5 miles. 

Hikers under a Joshua Tree

The third hike was today and we spent 4 hours just climbing over boulders and rocks. We hiked into Rattlesnake canyon and bouldered around learning proper techniques. Just a day of fun!!

Don't know if that rock will still be there next year.

June blending in with the rocks

One happy group

June coming down

No Rattlesnakes but this guy was sunning himself on the rocks

In between hikes we spent time house sitting for our friends Geoff and Brenda. They are also from Sidney and they took their son, daughter in law and two grandchildren to Disneyland while we looked after Yoda the dog.

We saw some of the best Pickleball that can be played at the Desert Palms senior games. We watched an men's doubles bronze medal game where all 4 players were ranked 5.0 which for Pickleball is the highest ranking. They were very good.

On Valentines Day we went down to Cathedral City for the Balloon Festival and watched as a dozen "Hot Air Balloons" were inflated and then illuminated all at once. They were grounded as they cannot fly at night, during the day they were tethered but restricted to how high they could go because President Obama was in town.

Every time I saw this I thought...."Flame On"

Two flame are better than one

The World is full of hot air.

June lending a helping hand

Night becomes day as all 12 balloons hit the flame at once

The whole inflation process was interesting as neither of us had seen it before. We also couldn't get over how close we could get to the balloons. They encourage people to get closer for pictures etc, The big surprise was the noise level when "Burners" were fired it was quite loud.

Well that gets you up to date with us. We only have 9 days left till we leave here and head back to Victoria. We hope to do one more Blog before we go but finding time may be a problem! 

Take Care and stay warm(especially back east) thank-you for reading this.

Junkel

16 Months and still Loving It!!

Hi all long time no type for Kelly. It has been a strange month and I will do what I can to fill in the gaps. We have been very busy doing everything there is to do. We have been on multiple hikes and have played hours of pickleball. I figured out that if I am not writing the blog it is because I have been to busy living and not making the time to write. So today is the day I write.

On the 5th of January we hiked the North Lykken trail, it was more of  training hike than our standard hikes but still enjoyable.

This Hawk swooped by to check us out

Not a bad view of Palm Springs and the valley

The area we are in has been experiencing abnormal rainfall this year and on our next hike the result of all the rain could be seen.

Following a cow trail up the hill

We had just walked up through this valley

The amount of green grass on the side of the hill was amazing. We did a walk in this area in February last year and it was "Monochromatic" without colour.

The green green grass of Whitewater Preserve

Now this is what a true desert hiker looks like

Yup some things never change.

We still play crib on Tuesdays and Kelly plays Texas Hold'em on Sundays. June has started to play "Mexican Train Dominoes" on Mondays and the rest of the week is taken up with happy hours, potlucks, dances and what ever else is going on.

Our year in review included counting the number of different RV parks we stayed in in 2014  - 76 the number of states traveled in - 18 and 4 provinces. The total kilometres driven - 34,284. We didn't want to calculate the money spent so lets just say quite a bit. You can not put a price on the people we have met, both old friends and new. Thank-you to all of you that have helped us have a great year! Those of you that we missed this time around lookout because in the spring we will be on the road in BC and Alberta.

Take care and thanks for reading our ramblings. Junkel