Joshua Tree, Salvation Mountain, And Disneyland, Oh My!

Last weekend Connor and I went on a trip to see bits of California I've never seen on our way to the final destination: Disneyland. Originally we were going to go by the coast and stay in Morro Bay. But wouldn't you know it, all the colleges in the area were doing their graduation and there wasn't a hotel available along the entire central coast. All of it. So despite the heat, we decided to go to Joshua Tree instead. We arrived in the evening and saw the sunset, which was much more impressive because a storm had rolled in and we saw the occasional flash of lightning.

The next day we headed further south to Salvation Mountain. On the way we stopped by Bombay beach, which contains ruins of a once vibrant holiday community. The Salton Sea smells just as bad as everyone describes, but it was still quite interesting to walk around. I hadn't realized that the Salton Sea was formed from a leak in irrigation from the Colorado River in the early 1900s. It has no inlet or outlet and over the years has gotten polluted from agricultural runoff in the area.

By the middle of the day we made it to Salvation Mountain. It is a monument built by Leonard Knight out of adobe and is his tribute to God. The scale is amazing. And to think one man built it. There is a "yellow brick road" that you can climb to stand at the top of the monument.

Salvation Mountain is just in front of Slab City, a place that looks like it has come straight out of a Mad Max movie. There is an outdoor art display in "East Jesus", not far from "West Satan". We drove by, but it was quite hot (106F or 41C), so we stayed in the car. We spent the rest of the day driving around the rest of the Salton Sea, including stopping at a border patrol checkpoint (we were pretty darn close to Mexico at this point). We eventually made it to our hotel in Anaheim that was walking distance from Disneyland. At this point I was suffering from a pretty bad cold, but we walked to downtown Disney, had a lovely dinner, and walked back.

The next day was epic. We spent 15 hours at Disneyland, including lunch at my all time favorite restaurant: The Blue Bayou. It was quite crowded for a Monday, but no matter. We got onto each ride we wanted to once. (We also saw someone getting proposed to.) By the end of the day we staggered back and passed out immediately. Not too many pictures were taken because we were having a lot of fun. But near the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, I found this hat and decided that Disney missed out on having a really good extra in their movies.

On our last day, before leaving LA, we stopped by the La Brea tar pits. I'd been there before, but Connor hadn't. I highly recommend going to the Page Museum that is located on the grounds. Connor got to meet a large mammoth.

We then drove up Highland street so Connor could get a glimpse of the Hollywood sign before we drove on to Solvang for an early dinner. It was 10pm by the time we got back home. We filled our four days to the brim and drove over 1000 miles (1600km). By the end, we were quite happy to be back in our own bed again.

Poppies, Floating Rocks, and Smilodons

I just got back from a wonderful vacation. My parents and I went down to see my brother's guitar recital. On the way down we went to check out the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve. This is the time of year when the hills are supposed to be covered in poppies. I was a bit skeptical as we drove up because the hills looked a little too brown. Turns out the rains didn't come, so they all died. Dad bought a postcard and we walked up to see where the poppies would have been. 

 There are more poppies in our backyard than in Antelope Valley this year.

The next day, after the recital, we visited the La Brea tar pits. We all thought that the constant bubbles coming up from the pits was some sort of Disney magic. Boy are we used to a manufactured world. The bubbling occurs because of built up methane gas under the pits.

Before we checked out the Page Museum, I noticed that we were next to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. There is a piece out front called Levitating Mass, which consists of large granite rock displayed over a lowered walkway. The opinions on this piece are extremely polarized: you either think it is the best bit of art since Michelangelo's David or that it is a waste of money. I just think it is a very difficult piece to get a picture of it if you've left your wide angle lens in the car.

The Page Museum is pretty neat. There are a large number of skeletons, including these two Mastodons. It is a mum and her baby that got stuck at the same time.

I learned that Smilodons, or Saber-Toothed Cats are often incorrectly called Saber-Toothed Tigers. They aren't tigers, they are cats. 

My last day in LA, my brother and I went to Disneyland. There are no pictures because the only thing I brought with me was chapstick. We were there nearly the entire time the park was open. Highlights include getting seats closest to the edge of the water in my favorite restaurant, the Blue Bayou, beating Christopher at Astroblasters after he bragged about what a great shot he was (95,000 points to his 69,000), and the sad whimper Christopher made when his sunglasses disappeared on the last turn of the Matterhorn. I think the highlight of Christopher's day was when we went on Splash Mountain and the wave missed him, but entirely drenched me. 

I didn't knit or touch the computer the entire time I was in LA. It was a true vacation and I savored every moment. Now back to work.