A Glorious Day...

... but windy! I was up at six, outside, taking pictures of the sunrise with my cell phone, and was literally near blown down by gusts of gale force wind coming round the hilltops. Ellie woke early, too, and we made the drive down the sandy, largely unpaved roads that lead from this spot down to the village of Joshua Tree, where we sat quietly for a while over a cup of good coffee. Breakfast at home was the kind of chaos you might imagine with seven people, including three children, to cater to--from a strange kitchen with an electric stove top. We are used to the more easily controllable gas burners. With Ellie making pancakes for all, Matthew fried eggs for three, and myself wheat toast and scrambled eggs for me and two others, it got pretty crowded around the small range, tucked into an odd corner of the kitchen. We did manage the feat, however, eventually, and everyone had a good breakfast--with the twins especially tucking into Ellie's pancakes.

The wind was still howling when we finally made it out and headed for the park entrance. First stop was a parking area from which we spotted rock climbers inching up the sheer face of a cliff, using the long vertical cracks as their stairway. Here we all are, huddled against the wind...

You can see how cold it is, looking at Ellie, bundled up...

Next stop, we took the hike from Barker's Dam parking lot, walking up between huge cliffs and boulders...

... on either side of the trail to the lake at the top, its normally dead calm surface ruffled this way and that by the unrelenting winds. Here's my son and me, posed against the background of the little lake...

... and my wind-blown self...

The kids, despite the cold wind, had a great time scrambling on the rocks all day. Here's Joe, up behind Ellie, with his mom making sure the had the picture...

.... and the three of them...

... and the fearless Georgia...

... and the twins together...

... and Alice, huddled with her grandpa...

These pictures are from our last stop, the beautiful, secluded Hidden Canyon, where we enjoyed a picnic at a moderately sheltered table before undertaking our last hike.

... and the rest of us enjoyed the remarkable flora of this extraordinary desert landscape...

We would have stayed much longer, I think, but for that cold wind, which drove us back to our temporary abode late afternoon for a good nap (for me!) and a jacuzzi for the kids. Then Ellie got them all making big crayon drawings on the long scrolls of paper she had brought along for the occasion--an occupation that absorbed their rapt attention until dinner time. We had planned on the drive to a fancier place in Twentynine Palms, but settled instead for local fare at the Crossroads Inn down in Joshua Tree. Less driving for tired elders, and an earlier bed for all.