Thursday, May 25, 2017

Rock Climbing and Hiking Joshua Tree, Red Rocks, Death Valley Plus a Rattlesnake

Lolo and Lola were gracious to take care of the kiddos while Alex and I took a weeklong hiking and rock climbing trip through Joshua Tree, Red Rocks, and Death Valley. Unfortunately, I kicked off the trip with what felt like the flu and could barely manage a 6 mile hike on day 1, but thankfully I had Rob's comfy SUV to sleep all day while Alex spent the second day climbing by himself in Joshua Tree.





The dessert was in full bloom with beautiful flowers a great contrast with the cacti.



Completely exhausted, I was barely hanging on during that last mile. But boom! Rattlesnake - what a way to wake up!



Alex does some solo climbing Day 2.






Thankfully, Alex allows us the luxury of getting a tiny cabin so that I can sleep in a real bed before our 3 day backpacker. Thank goodness because we are headed on an almost 30 day mile hike through Cottonwood-Marble Canyons in Death Valley. Get ready for some hot temperatures!



Enjoying my last minutes in my "home" of Rob's SUV.


Alex always likes to take a start photo. (All these photos are courtesy of Alex.)








Lots of reptiles on the hike.




Wild horses - there were at least half a dozen of them.



We have a nifty tent that allows you to see the stars through your tent.







Ran out of water and now needing to drink this. Yum! (And not a joke.) Check out the next photo with Alex's fancy filter.






Jack rabbit!








A steep gravely decline that lasted for almost an hour. It reminded me of Stairway to Heaven in Banff when I attempted a triple black diamond and ended up somersaulting down the hill.


Finally making it down and finding this mini-waterfall/drop to get down (about 15 feet).









This canyon is filled with fossils and petroglyphs.







Nearing the end of the hike. And thank goodness. Check out my shoe. It is literally falling apart.


Whew - made it (shoe sort of intact). Here is the post-hike shot (Alex is big into post-photos too).


Staying at the creepy Bonnie Motel near Red Rocks. This is our room décor.


Eating at Siam Lotus, our favorite Thai restaurant ever. We eat here and don't really check out much else in Las Vegas.


More Bonnie Motel excellent décor.


Pink clouds, why? Dunno.


Rock climbing with Alex (I rally and am surprisingly able to keep up).












Back at the Thai restaurant (yes, we like it that much).


More Bonnie Motel awesomeness .This is the carpet - which is made to look like wood. Weird!


This is the façade of the Bonnie Motel. Again, weird!






Not at the Thai restaurant but at an awesome vegan place. These are cauliflower buffalo wings. Yum!



A cool caterpillar.


We are back in Joshua Tree doing some climbing before the wedding.






This is one of the rocks we climbed.




And finally, the post-post trip photo. We survived  - no rattlesnake bites, not shoeless, and without (much) fighting :)



Wedding at Casa Cody in Joshua Tree. Congrats to Tom and Dede!






 

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