Joshua Tree

The first stop on our road trip was Joshua Tree National Park, which is one of those national parks that I had never heard of before we planned this trip. It was going to be hot, so we left home after lunch and got to our campsite (Hidden Valley) with just enough time to set up tents before sunset.

Elliot's reaction to being let out of the car

View from the campsite

A mighty Joshua tree.
Seriously, I think that most of Dr. Seuss's illustrations were inspired by the Sonoran Desert. 

There were several coyotes around. We could hear them calling out to each other not too far away, and even saw one walk through our campsite! We watched the kids closely, and the coyotes weren't interested in us at all.

The critters that we failed to find were bats, which strongly defied Colby and Alice's expectations of what caves were like. There were tons of caves all around that were fun to explore with flashlights. We climbed all over the rocks, made shadow animals and attempted to stomp on them, and had an all around good time while Lakin tried to wrestle Claire to sleep.

Alice in a cave

Alice in a cave with a flashlight

Lakin takin' Alice for a climb. 

Robb took some nice star pictures

Apparently Robb and Lakin were up early enough to take pictures of the sunrise

Playing in dirt: the default activity for Elliot and Alice 

The beginning of the thick dirt layer on this cutie