Joshua Tree

A little outing to Joshua Tree on x-mas eve.

X-mas 2010

Patiently waiting for Emi to wake up so they can open their presents.

Abby made David some fudge. The first in our 13-yr history that homemade fudge was made at home.

Got Emi a shirt from Etsy. A cute zebra/piano shirt.

Abby got a Snuggie. She's been wanting one after seeing the commercial. The power of advertising...

*

Sage got a Wii Madden 11 game, no pic... he was already upstairs playing it. ^_^

Went out to the hub for a bike ride. Sage was the only one who wanted to join us.

Our first bike riding pic together. It was really hard trying to balance and hold the camera phone at the same time.

Later in the day we went hiking up Cedar Springs Trail in Garner Valley.

Always nice to see some water.

Family pic...sort of. Emi stayed home and slept and was still sleeping when we got back.

Happy Holidays! 2010

Bliss on Bliss Ave.

We were at the Tamale Festival in Indio when Emi gets all happy at this street sign (her middle name is Bliss). So I say we have to take a picture. Then she kicks herself for pointing it out to me. ^_^

Kayaking the Salton Sea

Memories of the Salton Sea aren't very good. I remember dead fish and stinky air. But one day I read a friend's Facebook post saying she's going to kayak the Salton Sea. For real? I thought, but at the same time, sounds neat! So I got some info from her and off we went.

Kayak the Sea is a free program run by the visitor center. I think they are trying to get more people aware of the sea and help preserve it.

Helping get the kayaks ready.

Test "sitting" on the kayak, making sure it feels right.

Practicing in the harbor before heading out.

We couldn't of asked for better conditions. No winds, somewhat sunny with a lot of clouds that made the water looked very glassy, real surreal looking and trippy.

It was so peaceful, being surrounded by nature.

"Tag, you're it!" Sage and I shared a tandem kayak and played tag with Emi. We heard some giggles from the other kayakers.

They had so much fun, they want kayaks now. I hear other lakes offer similar programs so we'll be checking that out. ^_^

Salvation Mountain

Since seeing the movie "Into the Wild," this place has been a place we wanted to visit one day. It was about a 2.5 hr drive from Idyllwild. Since we were already going to the Salton Sea, only 30 minutes away, we made a quick stop.

The "mountain" is in Niland, CA, seemed like in the middle of nowhere where I bet summers are really hot. The view from the top.
I don't remember but apparently these bluebirds were a well known part of the movie.

Mr. Knight was kind enough to give us a tour. He tells us the tree trunks are made out of tires.

He seemed happy to have visitors, and encouraged us to take lots of pictures. It was very nice meeting him and I'm glad we got the opportunity.

Inside his second "mountain", filled with tree branches.

Although this place was created with religious beliefs in mind, it is an amazing work of art.

The man is 79 yrs old and still going at it. He tells us he's trying to get Congress to recognize this place as a national treasure so it will be protected and be available for our future children to see, and how happy that would make him. After coming home, I read online that Salvation Mountain was placed under protection in 2002 when Barbara Boxer entered it into the Congressional Record as a national treasure. If anyone reading this blog post makes it out there someday, please let him know his wish has already been granted.