People: Thank you for coming back. It is about time I got back to writing, huh? I forgot how much I loved blogging, I just had to realize that it was worth the time and effort.
So newest Adventure: Me and McManus went down to So Cal to get seriously cali-fied. After traveling over 1300 miles, I have seen some awesome sights and wish you could have experienced them with me. Because everyone enjoys it when I make stupid mistakes and consequently embrace them, I thought 'why not share another?'
On day two of Joshua Tree National Park, Kelly and I drove 35 miles to the opposite side of the park to do this ridiculous 8 mile hike out to the middle of nowhere; As if we weren't in the middle of nowhere already. First, Kelly dumped coffee on her pants. Most would be upset- she eventually found this to be a blessing in disguise. This is because it ended up being hotter then the sun and if you have ever been in a desert you know, there isnt much shade. Thankfully, I wore all black- I was really smart (cue sarcasm). We hiked, I sweated and shed as many layers as I could along the way, leaving a trail of clothes behind to help guide us home (Modern day Hansel and Gretel, we are).
We finally arrived at the Oasis that we had been longing for and there they were, a bunch of huge palm trees in a canyon. Standing there what could be 50 feet high, crazy looking and ginormous, yet still provided no shade. We scaled some boulders and continued to hike around. We were just waiting for a brontosaurus to jump out all happy, munching on some leaves, "land before time" style. Yeah, I know, the imagination was at work- the heat was getting to us. Obviously, Me and kell continued to name as many dinosaurs as we could... we got to like 8. I was impressed.
Meanwhile, Kelly is crazy happy that she decided to spill coffee on her pants. She luckily has shorts on now. Lucky bish. I've lost 2 layers (maximum without being indecent) and want to throw myself off the canyon just to catch a quick breeze. In my delirium, I saw a turtle. Thank god he wasn't accompanied by any of the 6 types of rattlesnakes special to Joshua Tree. I wouldn't have had the energy to fight a snake that day.
Our burnt bodies finally arrived back at the car and this is when the real adventure started. If I had a dollar for every time me and kelly have made some strange detour on road trips I would have at least 6 dollars in my wallet. This was the biggest to date. So, we are at the Southeast edge of the park, needing to exit and head into town to get some supplies for camping (St. Patties Day, duh). We figured we had driven, what felt like, 50 miles to the hike so what better way then to exit the park at the south exit only 15ish miles away, swing around through Cochella on I10 and head northeast to Joshua Tree to re-enter camp. Easy right? Sure...
1 hour later and a sleeping kelly in my passenger seat, I am starting to think something is not quite kosher. I pull out my phone illegally and start calculating some distances via google maps just for the heck of it.
As Follows: From current location back to park exit, 58 miles... ok... From: current location to joshua tree entrance, 43 miles... hmmm. thats funny. (this doesn't include exiting 20 miles from the hike to the exit and driving in the park 25 miles to our camp). Now that I add this up, its actually more then what I had originally thought. Wow, we just took a major 150 mile detour and Kelly had a great nap.
Good thing I was amused for at least 1 hour thinking I was going to feel a slight shift in the San Andreas Fault while driving. I didn't but had planned accordingly if such an event would happen (I had a lot of time on my hands and Ill save that for another post). 3 hours, 2 bottles of wine and some firewood later, we arrived back at camp, just in time for sunset.
Adventures are great. Heres to more in the future.
