Joshua Tree National Park with our new 4Runner

We made a trip to California in January to redeem a prizes I had won at a casino and a hotel in Highland, California.

Since we were going to be very close to Joshua Tree National Parks and her off road opportunities we decided to spend a couple of nights in Thousand Palms and do a bit of offroading.

Since we are new to this activity we did not take the roads that are considered 'expert' and state that you should not be alone in case you need to be pulled out of a hazard but rather the roads that you can't take a car on because of sand, rocks, water and clearance issues.

Just a little rock in the road but it would have definitely damaged the Acura!

Came across a lot of rock climbers in the park

We had a great time and are still pleased with the 4Runner!

Cushions and more cushions!

My sister, Beverly, and her husband, Cliff, came down last week for the Tucson Gem Show and brought our last cushion down with them! Bev had a bit more work to do on the cushion but when it was finished we sat down and toasted them!

Bev showing off the bbq cover?

Hooray!





Beverly also brought the new bbq cover down and finished it here as there are some strange measurements on the bbq and it required several fittings to finish it.

Whitewater Reserve with Good Friends

Steve and Linda have been going to the Whitewater Reserve to watch the birds.


We mentioned that we would love to join them so we met them at 4:30 in the morning and Steve drove there.

Even though we started so early we really should have left around 3:30 am to see the birds take off but even so we had a great day!




It was fascinating! We spent some time at the Reserve in the morning dressed VERY warmly as it was around 15 degrees out and frost and ice everywhere. Then Michael drove slowly to Willcox stopping whenever we saw a hawk on a telephone pole - which was quite often!

Frost! Brrrr!

Frozen Grass Spiders

We had a very unexciting lunch in Willcox before heading to their wastewater pools to watch more birds. One of the ponds was frozen and it made for humorous landings and walks by the ducks.

Would a hawk be considered a black sheep/crane in the flock?

View from one of the wastewater treatment ponds

Hawk along the highway - one of our myriad of stops

Any landing you can walk or waddle away from is a good landing!

Sunset at Whitewater Reserve

Then back to Whitewater to watch the birds return. Some had already returned by the time we got there but they were still arriving so it was exciting!