Hiking the desert at Arizona State Parks

For the past few days, we've been in the Tucson area.  First we camped and hiked at Catalina SP, just north of the city.  Walked well maintained trails with great vistas and lots of cactus.  Amazing to see the Saguaro cactus which can be hundreds of years old.

Leaving Catalina, we stopped to see some "old" friends, Mike & Vickie.  We had a great evening at their home, with Mike making his trademark margaritas and Vickie cooking a true Mexican dinner with tamales, served with 4 different "carne", and "mexican pizza" which was soft burritos topped with mexican cheese.  YUM !

Next, on to Kartchner Caverns where we again found a great Arizona State Park to set up camp.  The cave wasn't discovered until 1974, and the explorers kept it a secret for 7 years while working out a plan for preservation.  The Kartchner family who owned the land, sold it to the state at a donation price.  After much research and work, the caverns were finally opened to the public in 1999.  Absolutely incredible formations

Looks like we didn't totally escape Winter!  The big winter storm sweeping across the country has hit us with sleet and temps going down to 30 tonight.  Morey is set with a temperature sensor in our holding tank area, and will get up in the middle of the night and place our electric warmer in the compartment if necessary.  Tomorrow and Wednesday are expected to be even colder with night time temps down to 23.  BRRRRRRR!

(We know our blog readers aren't giving us much sympathy!)

On THE "10" to Joshua Tree NP and then Quartzite

First, for all of you non-southern Californians; the proper colloquialism for the Interstates are "on the 8" or "10", or whatever the number is.  And we've been on the 10.  Now let's get down to details.....{PS thanks Ron & Judi for keeping us up on local speech}

Joshua Tree National Park, on the surface looks like just some desert scrub and low mountains.  We set up camp at Cottonwoods, and then took the hike to Lost Palms Oasis.  What unfolded is a surreal trail through wierd rock formations, desert washes, an incredible number of plants (with only 6 inches of rain per year), and the jaw dropping Oasis at the end of the hike.  What a good stop for lunch before heading back to complete the 10 miles.



The day before this hike we took a drive up to Cholla Gardens with a walk through the cactus, and then stopped at Granite Arch and lots of really cool rock formations.

Tonight we're camped in a gravel parking lot in Quartzite after walking the annual RV and Stuff show.  Draws over 150,000 people.  This is the part of the country where all of the old RVs go and camp in a BLM desert free site.  Interesting.

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

We're in the desert after leaving the Pacific; and how incredible it is!  As I'm blogging, the stars are WOW !!!  Have spent the last two days in Anza Borrego SP; can't believe all of the people we know who have been within 50 miles and have never been here.  The geology (it rocks) and the skies make this part of the world, a very special place. 

We're a little spoiled with our RV hookups, electric, water, and yes...waste.  Got back from our ALL day jeep tour in the Southeast corner of this vast State Park (bigger than Rhode Island). The sun had set and we were almost freezing driving back in the open jeep; walked into our BIW RV, and it was toasty warm and soon Ruthie had chicken frajitas ready for dinner; and with a fine bottle of Trader Joes Coastal Zinfadel to complement the meal ($3.99).

All blog readers MUST come and visit this part of California!  Yesterday we took an easy hike to a Palm Oasis on the Palm Canyon Trail, and then today we jeeped to Wind Caves, Sandstone Canyon, and Mudslides Palisades.  We spent almost 8 hours on bone shaking off-roads through this beautiful country --  Come Visit -- and use California Overland; Joe is a great guy and can use the business.

Oh, and Joe is from Redbank NJ.

The beach scene to the mountains

From our RV site on Mission Bay, we biked to Ocean Beach; meeting Ron & Judi on their bikes. Checked out the beach scene and then had delicious fish tacos, green muscles and fried mushrooms (Morey's choice) at South Beach Bar & Grill.  A great local eatery.

The next day in the San Diego area, we loaded up our pantry and refrigerator, getting set for our drive through the desert.  Then we headed to La Jolla and walked along the beach.  A great time!

Today we left the ocean and drove thru the winding rodes to Julian, California.  World famous for apple and berry pies.  Bought a whole pie for many upcoming desserts, but could not wait, so we each had our favorite with a cup of coffee.

Ended the day at Anza Borrego where we're camped.  Took a few hours to walk the Palm Canyon trail.

San Diego.....wonderful!

We have been spending the past few days in San Diego with our friends, Ron and Judi.  What a great town to explore and experience.  With the Pacific in our backyard, we hiked at Torrey Pines, then toured the Midway aircraft carrier in San Diego harbor, and then went sailing in Mission Bay.  Today we plan to go biking around the bay and then lunch on fish tacos.

The eating has been outstanding, great Mexican food in Old Town, experiencing restaurant week at Jakes in Del Mar, and fresh bagels from Ron and Judi's kitchen!  Good thing we will be getting out into the desert for some hikes and exercise.

Sun, Surf, and Islands...

We took a day trip to the Channel Islands yesterday on another sunny blue sky day.  Took the Island Packers cruise to Santa Cruz and spent 4 hours hiking the hills and learning the history of these islands.  On the way, Ruthie spotted her first grey whale, shouted "spout ahoy" and got the attention of the all of the passengers (the boat almost tipped with all of the viewers on the front deck!).  We also saw more whales (all waving their tail fin as they dived) and schools of dolphins.

Once again tonight, we're camped only yards from the Pacific at Doheny State Beach; soon to be lulled to sleep with the sounds of the surf.  We will miss this once we head inland to the desert.  Something quite special to pull into a campsite along the highway, watch the sunset over the ocean, and then hear the waves in action.

Back at Jalama Beach, California

With our friends, Ray & Ann, we went back to Jalama Beach (yes, its pronounced "Halama"). We hoped for, and got a great campsite overlooking the campground and the Pacific.  We watched the surfers, the kite surfers, and the whole beach scene.  Couldn't miss out on the incredible lunches from the campground beach restaurant -- Jalama burgers and grilled 3-cheese and onion sandwiches.

Since we had left our surf boards at home, we chose the grueling horseshoes, where Ray handily beat Morey.  To get further cardio vascular workouts, we took long walks on the beach.  What a great place to hang-10!

Today we said our goodbyes and are camping at Hobson Beach. We are camped 20 feet from the ocean, with views of the Channel Islands.  Tonight we will sleep with the sounds of the surf.

We're back in California !!

We left NJ a day early -- SNOW was coming and our RV was waiting.  Took the bus to Phili, heading west......but then we detoured to Newark and flew out to LA.



So today its in the 60s and bright blue skies.

Glad to have been home for the holidays, see our kids and grandkids. 

After two months and over 12 inches of rain, our RV was aok and started on the first try.  Today we're filling the tanks, loading the refrigerator, and most important filling our wine cellar with fine California wine.