dentsandfiliform

Getting Away From Covid-19

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We just got home from a short camping trip to Barton Flats campground in the San Bernardino National Forest. Barton Flats is one of our favorite “local” campgrounds being just 80 miles from our house.

The campground sits at 6,400 feet so it was much cooler than where we live, which was roasting hot. Campsites are large, so social distancing is easy. Some fellow Airstream friends were right across the road, so we did some safe socializing around their campfire at night, which was a lot of fun. We hiked, relaxed and I got in a little astronomy outreach. Our only concern was the large Apple Fire that was burning not far away. We did keep our eyes open to that just in case it staring moving towards our campground. Continue reading “Getting Away From Covid-19”

Wish For A Sort Of Normal Life Temporarily Granted

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We, like so many others, had been following stay-at-home orders, walking the dogs, going to the store as little as possible and hadn’t been camping since Joshua Tree in early March. So when our friends, Phil and Carol, invited us to go camping at Camp Pendleton, we were very grateful to have the opportunity to be able to see them, socialize and get away … a different way of life, so to speak, to be kind of “normal”.

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Joshua Tree National Park – March 2020

We finally made it back to Joshua Tree National Park after nearly 3 years! Thanks to our Airstream Club, we stayed in Jumbo Rocks campground where it’s almost impossible to snag a campsite. In reality, these days it’s almost impossible to get a campsite at any Joshua Tree campground. A park ranger told us it was not all that busy when it was a National Monument, but became very popular after it became a National Park.

Joshua Tree is a beautiful park with lots to offer. Some things to see and do include great hiking trails, historic sites, rock climbing, geological sites, birding, horseback riding, biking and star gazing programs. The downside is that the park is crowed 7 days a week, except maybe during the summer when it is real hot. As a side note I’d have to say that rock climbing has to weed out the gene pool a little bit. It was crazy watching folks climb up the face of 100 plus foot sheer rock walls.

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Valley of Fire!

We just returned from a camping trip to Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. This 40,000 acre park is located about 50 miles northeast of Las Vegas and it is spectacular! It’s open year round, but I wouldn’t suggest you go there in the summer months unless you really, really like heat.

Some of what the park has to offer includes bright red outcrops of Aztec sandstone infused with gray and tan limestone, petrified trees and petroglyphs dating back more than 2,000 years. There are many great hiking trails for all skill levels and, when we were there, an almost unbelievable number of bighorn sheep that didn’t seem to be afraid of people.

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Up, Up and Away!

Attending the International Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, New Mexico has been on Jim’s and my bucket list for a while. We’ve heard nothing but good things about this event. So when the opportunity to attend arose (no pun intended!) via our local Airstream club, we were on board! Registration was back in January so we’d been looking forward to this October event all year.

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