Joshua Tree National Park

This is crazy to admit, but I've lived in Southern California for thirty-eight years and this past summer was my first visit to Joshua Tree National Park. It took Dan, my British husband, who had visited Joshua Tree National Park previously, to get me there. It's a truth that locals often miss the best things in their own backyard.

We drove from our hotel, the Hyatt Regency Indian Wells, to the entrance on the Twenty-Nine Palms side. It took us over an hour to drive to the entrance and we stopped for a donut break at The Jelly Donut in Yucca Valley. The Jelly Donut is a great spot for a treat, but it also gets bonus points for being located across the street from the most amazing and enormous cactus. Our picture of the world's biggest cactus didn't turn out, so consider this a command to go check it out!

It was a hot day and Joshua Tree National Park was practically empty. We visited in late August, when the local schools were already back in session, so we missed the tourist season. I'm guessing the heat also keeps people away.

We spent a few hours driving through the park to the exit on the other side, closer to the Salton Sea and our hotel. The sky was a brilliant blue and filled with wispy, white clouds. Perfect for dramatic pictures. The Joshua Trees are amazing. I had no idea that they could bend into so many different shapes. No two looked the same.

We stopped at a look-out point with views of the Coachella Valley.

At the look-out we saw a bee warning sign. The California drought is so bad that the bees are dehydrated and desperate for water. They will try to drink human sweat. Yikes! We did see a lot of bees every time we got out of the car, but we didn't get stung. Be aware of this if you visit the park. The rangers recommend leaving bottled water (or any drinks) in cars and keeping car windows up.

Also, we found out the hard way that GPS does not work in a majority of the park. No cell coverage. We did get a little lost and it would have been a good idea to have a park map.

Joshua Tree National Park is stunning and a perfect half-day excursion from Palm Springs.

Jeep Lessons and Mount Baldy

Living in Southern California, there are several cities and points of interest that I've heard by name, but would be hard pressed to locate on a map. Until last summer, Mount Baldy was a mystery location. We always hear about it on the local news, with the "Mount Baldy" weather cam, but where the heck is it?

A series of bad ideas led us to discover Mount Baldy.

It all starts with our Jeep Wrangler and a decision to go topless. Removing the roof isn't easy. Dan installed a winch to the roof of our garage, which helped, but it still took both of us to very carefully take it off. There were some close-calls with the heavy top swaying in mid-air and some swearing, but we managed it. Once it was off, it was going to stay off.

Roof off for the summer, sounds fun, right? When the weather is warm and you're driving around town, it's great. But take that Jeep on the freeway or off-roading and you're in for a miserable ride.

During a scorching weekend in August, we took our Jeep up to Big Bear for a trail event with the, Fun in the Sun 4x4, Jeep club from Orange County. How we ended up with this group is a totally mystery. It's a small club and somehow we got on their mailing list, although we didn't know anyone and they didn't know us. Luckily, they were a welcoming group ( as Jeepers usually are) and we came prepared for their "Hawaiian" ride.

Me, before hitting the trails. Still smiling.

No roof = tons of sunblock. I knew that we would get dirty from the trails. I had no idea that the dirt would stick to the sunblock and provide another layer of protection. I've never been so filthy in my life. Thick, crusty layers of dirt. We had to get the Jeep detailed and it still didn't come completely clean. I know that this is part of the fun in having a Jeep and that most Jeep owners love the mud. I'm not typical.

Me, trying to enjoy my plastic pineapple filled with more dirt than water.

The sun and heat were intense, worse on the freeway, than on the trails. When we headed down the hill, we had to stop because I felt like I was getting sunstroke. I've never sweated so much in my life. I felt beaten-up by the wind and my ears hurt from the noise. Not the fun that I had envisioned prior to removing the roof.

We stopped at a Starbucks in Claremont for drinks and air conditioning. After feeling semi-normal, we got lost trying to find the freeway and saw a sign for Mount Baldy. This turned a wrong move into a serendipitous one.

Miles out of our way, up a narrow, winding road, we found the ski lifts. As it was summer, the lifts were running for campers, hikers and us, tourists. Sixteen dollars each, got us a round trip ticket on the ski lift.

Mount Baldy is also called Mount San Antonio and it's part of the San Gabriel Mountain chain.

The lifts are old with splintery wood, and run up a narrow, rock filled ravine. It's scary. Disaster scenarios flashed through my mind. I don't think I moved, or breathed on the 10-15 minute ride. We kept hearing a rattlesnake like sound, that we final figured out was coming from large, flying insects. This is unnerving as there is no escape from the aforementioned flying insects...except down.

If you can relax enough to enjoy the views, they are very pretty!

As we neared the top, we heard live music coming from The Notch restaurant. They had a band on the patio and multiple outdoor bars. It looked great and we would have stopped for dinner, but it was absolutely jammed, not a empty table in sight. Next time we will plan ahead and arrive early. We walked around and took a quick look, before taking our return trip down the mountain.

One last picture, a panorama that Dan took from the top.

2nd Anniversary Trip- Serendipity, Donkey and Jubilee

Two celebrity chef restaurants in a row? Why not? On Monday, we slept-in and ate brunch at Caesar's Palace in Gordon Ramsay's Pub and Grill. It was burgers and fries ( I mean chips) for both of us. This is definitely the place for a fancy, high quality burger. The decor is fun too, a low-rent Timothy Oulton.

I had been dropping hints all weekend that I wanted a frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity 3. I've made the home version from a packet mix many times, but I had never actually drank one at the restaurant. We go to Vegas all of the time, but this experience had been eluding me, until now! Stars aligned, we shared one of their signature drinks at the outdoor bar.

We demolished it in five minutes. Heaven.

A cute picture outside of Caesar's Palace.

We went to Red Rock Canyon in search of wild burro. It was very, very windy.

We found one burro. He was our friend, until he realized that we didn't have food for him.

In the evening, we cleaned up for our big anniversary night out.

It started with Jubilee, Bally's long-running, old-style Vegas topless revue show. That was a mouthful! Here are a few pictures that we took the day before.

I have no idea what I expected the show to be, as any expectations were immediately erased by the experience of Jubilee. We got prime seats, right in center, in the second row of tables. This was far too close. Jubilee is a grand spectacle and needs to be viewed from a bit of a distance. There was just no way to take it all in up-close. The theater is small, so even the back row would feel close to the action.

Jubilee has an identity crisis. One moment, there are singers doing jazz standards, the next dancers doing a Samson and Delilah sketch, then all of a sudden, they are on the Titanic as they crash into the iceberg, there's a bit of tap-dancing, some guys doing the robot, boobs, feathers, sequins, et...Nothing is cohesive. Sometimes it's serious, like a segment with beautiful ballet dancing, but most of the time it's just corny.

The show is awesomely-bad. I was shaking from trying to contain my giggles. It's completely ridiculous. Christopher Guest is in on this, I'm certain. However, that doesn't mean that there isn't talent or enthusiasm on the stage. All of the performers were very talented, I just had to think that Jubilee is where their dreams went to die. It's so bad.

The other amazing aspect of the show was the clear tension between the two lead female singers. When each was individually in the spotlight, they shone, but the minute it was the other's turn, the one that was in partial shadows shot daggers at the one performing. They seemed to try to "out-sing" each other. This competitive/hate had nothing to do with their characters or a theme of the show. It was utterly compelling. When we walked out of the theatre, Dan had noticed it too, and said that they need to make a behind the scenes reality show of the Jubilee cast. Brilliant.

We splurged for dinner at the Eiffel Tower Restaurant. This restaurant has the best views of the strip. Giada pales in comparison. We were given a table for two by the window. Here was our view. Spectacular.

We went with the tasting menu, which included bison, lobster, and foie gras. Delicious, but so filling that we barely made it to the dessert. Dan even did the wine pairing and cheese course.

Our server, who was the absolute best, even brought us a bonus dessert.

Our second anniversary vacation was a success!