Joshua Tree

It had been a while, so K. and I decided it was time for another short vacation. After some deliberation we decided on Joshua Tree National Park: we hadn't been there before, it was a three-hour flight away and we would get to use our national park annual pass one more time before it expired. Sounded like a plan.

Choosing the destination airport was a little more complicated that we envisioned. There were two airports conveniently located at the entrance to the park, but they lacked two things we wanted: avgas and airplane rentals. We expanded our search radius and ended up picking Bermuda Dunes. It had gas, rented cars and, most importantly, was an airport neither of us had visited before.

Friday came and by 8 am we were at the airport, meeting our mechanic who had just finished Bianca's oil change. The plane checked out fine and half an hour later we were on our way, following an IFR flight plan whose clearances changed every few minutes (ok, only three times, but I like to exaggerate). The first hour of the flight was spent at nine thousand feet, over a cloud layer and with a wonderful, 25 knot plus, tailwind. Smooth air made it even more pleasant. Once we got into the desert things started getting bumpy, but we climbed to eleven thousand and things smoothed out again. That didn't last long, though: that same tailwind, over the mountains, caused some turbulence which made the last leg of our flight somewhat uncomfortable. But not matter; two and half hours after departure we were wheels down at Bermuda Dunes and ready for our adventure.

Once on the ground we took care of the usual logistics: arranging for parking, getting fuel, renting a car and figuring out where we'd stay. We ended up getting a Jeep, the perfect car for a desert adventure and, after spending some time trying to figure out where the window controls were, were on our way to our hotel at Twenty Nine Palms. Two hours later, after a stop at the park's visitor center for some maps and a quick lunch, we were checked into the hotel, unpacked, and ready to go exploring.

We only had the afternoon left that first day, so decided to stick to the north end of the park. Our first stop was to admire some Joshua trees and to get our first glimpse of the local wildlife: a coyote. Its behavior allowed me to answer one of life's many unanswered questions, "Why does the coyote cross the road?" The, answer, apparently, is to take a dump.

Ok, all joking aside, the park is beautiful. From the different types of plants to the rock formations it's one amazing sight after the other. I'm not a poet, and as such cannot describe them here, so I will let the photos speak for themselves.

After two days of fun it was time to go back, so we packed, checked out and drove back to the airport where Bianca was fueled and ready for us. After the usual pre-flight inspection we were on our way, but this time going against that same wind that made the trip down a quick-ish hop. This time we would need over four hours to get back, most of it spent in very turbulent air. And four hours is longer than I feel comfortable with for a direct flight, so we added a stop for lunch at Harris Ranch. And a smart move that was, as by the time we finished eating and were back in the air things had calmed down somewhat and the air was much less bumpy.

By late afternoon we were back home, very happy to have had this experience but, as usual, feeling like we needed one more day of vacation to rest from all of the fun.