A new program designed to get kids out into nature provides free passes for 4th graders (and their families) to get into the National Parks. As soon as we learned about it, Caden signed up, and we're already planning a 3-week road trip through the western parks this summer. In the mean time, Caden had Monday off school for Columbus Day, so we took advantage of the long weekend to head a few hours east to Joshua Tree National Park.
We camped the first night, and it was great to see real stars. Finn loved it, though he also thought that the tent was a giant playpen, with the other three people being obstacles to be rolled over or climbed on. It was an interesting night...
The next day, en route to a hiking spot, we passed a bunch of emergency vehicles parked in a Home Depot parking lot. Of course, we had to see what was going on, and it turned out that the town was having some sort of emergency / public works fair. Translation: the boys got to climb on fire trucks.
It also turned out that Caden's friend Moses and his family were also in Joshua Tree for the weekend, so we met them for a hike into Hidden Valley, an amazing jumble of rocks that everyone had fun climbing around in.
The next day, we hiked to the 49 Palms oasis, a 3-mile hike in brutally hot weather. It really made us appreciate the shade of the fan palms at the oasis. And the slushies and milkshakes at Foster's Freeze afterwards. And the swimming pool at the hotel.
Later that day, as the sun was setting and the temperatures moderated a bit, we drove back into the park to hike to an old dam. The dam still retains water, and we hoped to see some wildlife. We didn't see any big animals, but we saw an amazingly cute red-spotted toad and some really neat bats. Finn especially liked the bats, and called out excitedly whenever he spotted one.
Today, we drove across the park from north to south, stopping at Cottonwood Springs to check out another oasis. This one had some Cahuilla grinding stones used to turn mesquite seeds into flour.
We continued south, and instead of getting right onto I-10, we crossed the freeway and headed toward the Coachella Valley through an amazing landscape of canyons and painted hills. We eventually ended up at the Oasis Date Gardens for a picnic and date milkshakes (yum!) before heading home.
