Joshua Tree & Easter

Even though we were all sick last weekend, we decided to still go to Joshua Tree to see the, um... Joshua Trees. Really, it was because it was too late to cancel. We stayed at this really cute bed & breakfast called Roughley Manor, which was the reason why our trip was probably so pleasant. Twentynine Palms is not a particularly nice place, but was interesting in a high desert sort of way.

Our first stop was at the Rib Co for some lunch. We decided on this place because I had been following the Rib Co catering van for about 20 miles, just in time for them to unload the mashed potatoes from last week! Terence's BBQ sauce is much better.


A traveling doggie = a happy doggie!

Twentynine Palms touts itself as the "oasis of murals," which are basically painted on the sides of all these run down and abandoned businesses. It was kind of fun spotting all of the different murals. Here's one I thought was tastefully done at the Joshua Tree Visitor's Center... or maybe just one I actually took a pic of.


Here we are "hiking" at the "oasis" of Mara, which had NO water at all. Booo. We did see 29 palms, some quail, and some roadrunners though, which was sorta neat! Boo loved the "bud'ns" (birds).


Here we are at the cool Cholla Gardens (rhymes with 'holla'?). They are super interesting and prickly cacti. Terence was trying to get one off his shoe, but the thorns were super hard and barbed. Needless to say, Boo likes to live dangerously... or maybe we're just bad parents!


Since Terence and I were tired, Boo drove us to our next destination, which was our B&B. Wuggie called shotgun.


Here are pics of part of our shabby chic cottage. It was nice, but definitely the crappiest cottage/room in the place. We had to do some minor rearranging to make the place more baby friendly. The other cottages were full of nice, expensive antique furnishings and flat screen TVs. This was the designated dog friendly cottage, and for being such, it was pretty nice!




Our swing outside of our cottage.


The view from the back of our cottage-- just a vast expanse of nothing.


The resident horned owls (there's mama and baby) that live at the manor.


The cottage at night- Terence thinks it looks like the cabin in "Lost."


A mutual smelling of the rose (the Innkeepers do cute things like give people freshly cut roses from their gardens and baked desserts and stuff).


Bang Banging Sammy, the Innkeeper's very soft and cuddly "done" (dog).


There are some things in life I consider fun, and others that I don't. Hiking 3 miles with a screaming bag of cat food wrapped around my chest in the hot and sandy desert is NOT one of the things that I consider fun. It was really quite horrid, actually. Especially if that screaming bag of cat food only saran wraps to you, or else cries and says "momma, momma" incessantly.

Anyway, here are some pics from our various hikes. One was around Hidden Valley, which is a valley enclosed by boulders, and another was the hike to a mill. They were both really pretty and interesting, and would have been thoroughly enjoyable sans cat food.






Here's a pic of our geriatric doggy "Zo-zo" just running around the B & B grounds.




Finally, here are some Easter pics with the Easter bunnies. Boo was too engrossed in the "egg'ns" (eggs) to smile.