- A night in Vegas — a great start for a 40th anniversary celebration
- Two days in the Valley — Death Valley that is!
- A sad stop at Manzanar National Historic Site
- Joshua Tree National Park — A teeming desert only few hours away from LA!
- The final stop on our 40th Anniversary Road Trip — Disneyland!
The side trip to Manzanar ended up costing us a day at Joshua Tree, but we felt it was worth it. The drive from Manzanar to Twenty Nine Palms was long and grueling, especially in the dark (and I’m talking seriously dark!) with lots of Barstow truck traffic. Because it was dark, we really didn’t know what to expect in the morning. This is a big park (794,000 acres) and we had one day to see it. While it obviously takes more than a day to really experience Joshua Tree, we put a pretty good dent into it.
Many people see the desert as a somewhat lifeless and uninteresting place to visit. That is far from the truth and I think Joshua Tree brings that sharply into perspective. Even though the summers exceed 100 degrees, with relentless sun, and limited water, life (in a wide variety of forms) thrives here. And the rock formations (forms of monzogranite that were rose from the Earth’s crust) have created very interesting and complex rock formations around the park. As in the case of Death Valley, the area where Joshua Tree went through its phase of mining, cattle ranching, etc. There are many ruins in the park to see. But one thing that Joshua Tree had was potable water, much of it associated with five oases in its borders. And like with so many other national parks, it took a zealot (Minerva Hamilton Hoyt) to pressure the creation of Joshua Tree as a national monument 1936. It didn’t get national park status until 1994. By the way, you might be asking yourself “why Joshua Tree?” Good question! Apparently, the pioneers thought that the outstretched “arms” of the tree resembled the biblical figure Joshua in supplication. Nah, I don’t see it either. I suspect a little loco weed was being smoked… Anyway, we thoroughly enjoyed our time there and left only to pursue the last part of our trip before we leave for Mexico — Disneyland!