Pioneer, Arizona

We decided to take our time getting back to San Diego so on Wednesday morning we headed headed north out of Phoenix toward Lake Pleasant Regional Park. Our Rand McNally showed "Pioneer Living History Village" to be sort of on the way there.

It looked sort of ramshackle from the outside but after negotiating a AAA, AARP and senior discount, we figured that for $11.55 total, it was worth some investigation.

Most of the buildings in Pioneer are reconstructed or moved from somewhere else, but it was fun to walk around and check things out.

It was also a challenge to stay out of the path of rambunctious middle school kids. There were about six busloads of them who apparently had nothing better to do on St. Patrick's day. How come they weren't out somewhere drinking green beer?

It was a beautiful day and we had a nice time exploring, especially when all the kids were absorbed watching the "shootout" at the opposite end of town.

Lake Pleasant

Lake Pleasant is a man-made lake about a half-hour northwest of Phoenix. The campgrounds were almost entirely full but we were lucky enough to find a fairly private spot on the edge of a bluff overlooking the access road! All the spots overlooking the lake were taken.

We spent a quiet afternoon and evening recovering from our strenuous spring training outing. There are a lot of saguaro cacti in this neck of the woods. From a distance they look pretty harmless but, as you can see from the photo on the left, you wouldn't want to hug one.

Speaking of cacti, Padre, out new cactus antenna man, has taken to his new duties with unbridled enthusiasm. He wears his hat sideways and waves his arms in exhilaration and joy - the faster we go, the more fun he has.

Back to Joshua Tree

The next day we headed west on US 60 and then I-10 to Joshua Tree. This time we decided to go far enough north on the park road to actually see some Joshua Trees. We drove forever, like 30 miles or so from the Park entrance. We found a spot (actually the last available site at White Tank campground - Belle campground was full) to park Hank the Tank. We set up camp and then went for a short hike along the Arch Rock Geology Trail.

We saw lots of big rocks and desert plants, even some Joshua trees.

And there was plenty of wildlife too! Here are couple of the local desert lizards.

And here is some more wildlife!

The "arch" - what this walk was all about - begged to be climbed. Being the sure-footed mountaineering type, I decided that I could probably conquer all 15 or so feet of this impressive formation.

There I am summiting Arch Rock! Next up: Mt. Everest.

Oh yeah, we saw some dikes up there. You can read the plaque to learn about dikes and then you can see them in the two photos on the right.

Here Lorri is trying to roll a rock, then you see the van nestled among the rocks and then Lorri posing with some cholla cacti.

As promised, here is a Joshua tree. Here is me under the Joshua tree. Here is me contemplating my close encounter with the Joshua Tree.

The next day we stopped at what they call the "cholla cactus garden", an area teeming with cholla cactus. Chollas are fairly common but there are an awful lot of them gathered right here for some reason.

Also fairly common are ocotillo plants. They are not a cactus! When the timing and moisture are right, the ends bloom bright red. When not right, they lose all their leaves and start over.

And so ended our whirlwind tour of the California Desert, the Padres Spring Training games, Lake Pleasant, Pioneer Village and Joshua Tree National Park.

Special thanks to Tom & Patty for showing us the ropes in Peoria, getting great seats for the games and sharing all the fun with us!

 From here it was back over the hill to San Diego.