Feb 8-13 California - desert beauty and desert fun

Here is a link to our travel video on Louisiana, Texas, and New Mexico

Feb 8 - Time to cross over into California.  We find some warmth just over the border from Yuma camping out in the desert.  In fact, it is so warm that one of our neighbors is spending the day in the nude!

Feb 9 - It is the Carrot Festival in Holtville and we can't get to the gas station!  So, we enjoy the local parade, featuring carrots or course, which is the local crop growing all around. 

Onto the Imperial Sand Dunes - awesome sand dunes suddenly arising out of the desert lands.  Fancy dune buggies, ATVs, motorcycles, and 4x4s everywhere.  Someone is doing a film shoot with the dunes as background for an astronaut film.

Feb 10 - A visit to Anzo Borrego Park and Borrego Springs viewing about 130 metal sculptures throughout the desert park.  Lots of BLM camping land everywhere, and lots of off-round action.

Feb 11 - We spend a great day in Joshua Tree National Park.  Beauty is everywhere in the desert.  The Cholla Cactus Garden features 175,000 Cholla concentrated in a small area.  There are lots of weathered sandstone outcroppings through the park with good hiking among the Joshua trees.

Feb 12-13  Last night was -4 and cold, so we head back down out of the mountains to the Salton Sea - an inland sea that actually is below sea level.  The turquoise sea was once much bigger and more of a resort destination with sandy shores.  Today, the water is further away, and "beach" is crusty, salty, and not very nice.  We find a place to camp in an abandoned RV park overlooking the sea.  This area is now popular for paragliders and ultralights.  We spend hours watching the action with 12-15 of these soaring and gliding up and down the beach.