We had a really fun trip for spring break with our Jones cousins. We met up at Joshua Tree National Park, which was way more interesting than I was anticipating.
We went to an astronomy talk with the rangers on our first night. There were half a dozen telescopes set up, which maybe the grown ups were more excited about than the kids. We got an up close look at the moon, Jupiter, and some a few kids basically sleeping through it.
There are the eponymous trees of course, but the boulder piles were the really fun part. For my hiking averse children, we were never "hiking", only climbing around the rocks.
We visited several different areas and I have almost no way to differentiate them from each other in photos. But somewhere in this mix is Hidden Valley, Skull Rock, and the Hall of Horrors. All super fun to explore, full of Truffula trees, lizards, wild flowers, and lumpy boulders.
Violette and Arthur were kind of best frienemies on this trip. One minute they were playing together like perfect little pals, the next they were upset that one was trying to boss the other around.
Our favorite animal friend was this lovely California King Snake we found:
Paul and George and Kaden were like the little adventure squad who would climb anywhere and everywhere. the adults just kind of took turns keeping an eye on them just in case they got themselves onto a ledge they couldn't climb down from.
We got quite lucky with the weather, it was sunny but not too hot. I wouldn't fancy climbing around here in the summer time, but early April was fantastic! If you prefer a bit of cold weather, I would bet on late fall being an excellent choice.
There were a lot of lizards sunning themselves and the large ones were not terribly skittish about all the people around either.
The chuckwallas were the best and biggest of the lizard buddies.
I continued my collection of wild flowers, and the cactus were in bloom so there were a lot to choose from!
Lee and Megan did a sunrise hike one morning, and the colors were fantastic:
Tell me this rock doesn't look like a dinosaur skull:
Our vacation rental was really comfy and spacious. I know that's the part my kids liked the best! Just hanging out in a new house and watching TV is their idea of a perfect vacation. but we threw in a hot tub and smores to amp up the awesome just a bit.
Lee and I did a hike on our last morning up to the top of a mountain (it wasn't that tall, don't get too excited) and then we packed up our gear and headed out! But first we stopped off at the Hall of Horrors so we could go through the little slot canyons.
It wasn't well marked, so I kind of asked other people around and eventually someone knew where it was and pointed us in the right direction.
Aubrie, Kaden, and Violette had never been in a slot before, so it was kind of a cool new experience for them!
Before officially leaving, we all got Junior Ranger badges and patches, ate some lunch, and then the long drive home began. It was definitely worth the drive and I hope we do it again soon!
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