(Those rhyme by the way)
Ok, so after departing Joshua Tree midday, we headed to Anza Borrego Desert State Park and planned on stopping at the Salton Sea along the way, having heard it was interesting. The Salton Sea is a giant inland salty lake. It was lunch time and we imagined finding some food and eating on the sunny shores. What we found was a very different story.
(these are all Val's pictures because I was driving and um...we were scared to get out of the car. )
Needless to say, we didn't stay very long.
Right before the entrance to Anza Borrego was the biggest dirt bike park I've ever scene. I forsee myself being dragged there by my husband on some future 'vacation'.
Ranger: So you should expect 2.5 -3 hours of hiking
Valerie: Isn't it only about 1.5 miles each way?
Ranger: Oh yes, but this is a wilderness trail. It will definitely take you quite a while
32 minutes later, up a trail that was at least 8x as much a trail as where we were the day before - oh hi oasis!
After that it was dark, and we made our way back to San Diego. We'd found a steal of a deal on the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines on TravelZoo a few months ago, and around Christmas I found us a both a way to get free Hilton Elite status - which meant free breakfast, internet, and space available upgrades. I wasn't really expecting to actually get a free upgrade, but we got a:
Oh, I'm so sorry, the only upgrade we have is a king room, not two queens.
Valerie and I exchanged glances for about half a second before letting the nice agent know that one king was just fine with us. Check out the pictures below and see if you agree it was worth it.
I may add, we had walked in wearing hiking clothes, covered in two days worth of desert dirt and grime, not to mention having slept in our car. Cheers to Hilton for taking us seriously anyway. We continued our streak of classiness by pouring the remaining wine from the previous night into a water bottle and heading for the hot tub. It was the perfect medicine for our sore muscles (if not for our cactus-scratched skin).
The next day dawned, well, exactly the opposite of what we hoped: cloudy and rainy. We had come to SD for sun and were rather sorely disappointed. But hey, they continental breakfast had made-to-order omelets, lox, and much more, so we lingered. Eventually, we checked out and made our way next door to Torrey Pines State Reserve, which was a cool park that would have much cooler if the sun had peeked out.
After that we drove south, stopping in La Jolla to observe the seals and other sea life, and grab some coffee. We continued making our way south towards the city, stopping at beaches and for an early happy hour, and eventually found ourselves at the airport around 5pm.
Now it's Friday and we're on our way to being no-longer-snowed-in. One last weekend of freedom before school starts up again.
Ok, so after departing Joshua Tree midday, we headed to Anza Borrego Desert State Park and planned on stopping at the Salton Sea along the way, having heard it was interesting. The Salton Sea is a giant inland salty lake. It was lunch time and we imagined finding some food and eating on the sunny shores. What we found was a very different story.
(these are all Val's pictures because I was driving and um...we were scared to get out of the car. )
That sign was a lie, a big, big, lie!
There was no marina.
Nor was there a yacht club on the street called Yacht Club Boulevard
That's how I felt about the Salton Sea.
It smelled like dead fish to boot.
Needless to say, we didn't stay very long.
Right before the entrance to Anza Borrego was the biggest dirt bike park I've ever scene. I forsee myself being dragged there by my husband on some future 'vacation'.
my future
At the park we headed out on the Borrego Palm Canyon Trail. There was a ranger guy at the trailhead a our conversation went something like thisRanger: So you should expect 2.5 -3 hours of hiking
Valerie: Isn't it only about 1.5 miles each way?
Ranger: Oh yes, but this is a wilderness trail. It will definitely take you quite a while
32 minutes later, up a trail that was at least 8x as much a trail as where we were the day before - oh hi oasis!
Anyways, we thoroughly enjoyed the fact that there was a trail, and the oasis was sweet because it actually included a river, a waterfall, and some pools. Hooray.
After that it was dark, and we made our way back to San Diego. We'd found a steal of a deal on the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines on TravelZoo a few months ago, and around Christmas I found us a both a way to get free Hilton Elite status - which meant free breakfast, internet, and space available upgrades. I wasn't really expecting to actually get a free upgrade, but we got a:
Oh, I'm so sorry, the only upgrade we have is a king room, not two queens.
Valerie and I exchanged glances for about half a second before letting the nice agent know that one king was just fine with us. Check out the pictures below and see if you agree it was worth it.
The next day dawned, well, exactly the opposite of what we hoped: cloudy and rainy. We had come to SD for sun and were rather sorely disappointed. But hey, they continental breakfast had made-to-order omelets, lox, and much more, so we lingered. Eventually, we checked out and made our way next door to Torrey Pines State Reserve, which was a cool park that would have much cooler if the sun had peeked out.
After that we drove south, stopping in La Jolla to observe the seals and other sea life, and grab some coffee. We continued making our way south towards the city, stopping at beaches and for an early happy hour, and eventually found ourselves at the airport around 5pm.
Now it's Friday and we're on our way to being no-longer-snowed-in. One last weekend of freedom before school starts up again.
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