Drive through Mojave Desert

To get to Vegas, we had two options: 1. Take I-10, which drives around the Mojave Desert, thus a longer drive, but with highway speeds; 2. Drive through the Mojave Desert National Reserve, which is scenic, shorter and quicker - if you don’t obey the speed limit.  We went with option #2.

Dust storms

 Kelso Depot

Abandoned house along route with Joshua Tree

An explosion of Joshua Trees before leaving California.

Joshua Tree Hiking: Chollas and More Hikes

After hiking Mt. Ryan, we went checked out some chollas, which are cacti and are not to be confused with heavy-on-the-eyeliner, light-on-the-eyebrows Latina gangsters.  The chollas are found in the Colorado Desert, which is also a part of Joshua Tree National Park.

 Dude, these cacti do NOT play!  It was hard getting the sucker off Ayk's shoe.

Three cheers for happy cactus guy!

Lean like a chola ... towards the sun.

We did a few more short hikes before leaving Joshua Tree for the Grand Canyon.

It may not be Arches National Park, but it'll do.

Day 19: Drive to Joshua Tree

After our short tour of San Diego on Friday, we headed to Joshua Tree National Park that afternoon.  We stopped in Coachella, which other than a music festival every summer, really has nothing going for it.  Maybe windmills.

I would have gotten more pictures of this drive, but it was really windy and taking pictures only makes carsickness worse.

Palm tree farm (not sure what they're cultivating) and Salton Sea in the background. 

Day 16: California Coastline

Late Monday night after Big Sur, we got to Gwendy’s house in Paso Robles, which is in the middle of nowhere.  She spends most of her time in LA (she has three houses along the California coastline… craziness!), so we had the house to ourselves.  It was pitch black when we got there.

She told me any animals noises were from the neighbor's livestock and we didn't need to worry about coyotes.  I didn't even think I needed to worry about that.  Good to know.

Living next to a vineyard will definitely bolster your wine collection.

 There were so many baby shoes strewn about.  Adowable.

We left Paso Robles on Tuesday.  The rest of the drive to LA went mostly through the mountains rather than the skimming coastline, like Big Sur.

At least we found an avocado stand on the drive.  Too bad they cost just as much as they do back in Maryland.  No thanks.

Cathedral in Santa Barbara

Ventura Beach

Blocking out the sun with an M&M 

Drive from SLC to Sacramento: Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe was breathtaking.  We got some amazing sunset pictures.  These are just half of the pictures we took (overkill, maybe; worthwhile, yes).  Too beautiful for words.

 Senior portrait time.