California

3 Months in Baja: Border Crossing to San Felipe

Since we first moved into the Turtle, an extended tour of Baja had been at the top of our travel list, though it continuously got delayed due to too much fun in the border states! We’d prepared for the trip as much as we could manage amidst other adventures—which is to say we bought the book everyone recommends for travelers driving through Mexico. It’s called the Traveler’s Guide to Mexican Camping by Mike and Terri Church, and we found it a useful resource for planning the trip. We’d recommend it for anyone planning a van or RV trip to Baja and/or mainland Mexico.

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It gave us enough information to choose a border crossing that worked best for us, informed us of the crossing process and procedure, what cards we’d need to obtain after arriving, and helped us make our lists of things to do before crossing, such as buy Mexican insurance, ensure we were up to date on the required pet vaccinations, and get some pesos to have on hand, as credit cards are scarcely accepted. It has a fairly up to date list of all the campgrounds in Mexico, which is quite useful since cell service is unreliable on the peninsula, making it difficult to look up places to stay while you’re on the move.

It also recommended we stay overnight somewhere near the border so we could cross earlier in the day when there is less traffic, which was something we’d planned on doing anyway as we still had some research to do now that our Baja trip was actually on the horizon. We found a great spot in El Centro—not far from our chosen border at Calexico—that was so fabulous that we decided to stay an extra day!

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The Rio Bend RV Resort was the perfect place to relax, swim, and get all the necessary pre-Baja jobs done, such as laundry, flushing tanks, using WiFi to buy insurance and get it printed at the office, dying hair, etc. (Dying hair is on the to-do list for all travelers, right?)

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They have a great dog park, a golf course, a pool and hot tub, an outdoor bar by the pool with great happy hour food and drink specials, special events like the Murder Mystery dinner we attended, and a staff that was so nice we felt like regulars the first hour we were there!

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We were fully refreshed and super excited the morning we drove to the border. It was about 10 a.m. when we got there, and we only had a handful of cars in line in front of us! Of course since we’re in a van—and a bizarre one at that— we expected that every time a search was possible, for us it was inevitable. Over the next few months that assumption proved true, though every search was an easy and pleasant experience, including our first one going into Mexicali. They just asked us to get out of the van so they could look around in the back, and as I held onto Scout outside, Andy gave the tour and did his best with a language barrier to tell the young guy what our plans were in Baja. It took all of five minutes and we were on the way!

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It was overwhelming driving our big van into Mexicali, where we didn’t yet know what all the signs meant and traffic laws seem optional. I recommend getting the signage basics under your belt before going to Mexico, since knowing that a sign with a big “E” means “Parking” is helpful when trying to navigate through a wildly busy city trying to find an invisible Banjercito. We somehow found a place to park, found the Banjercito, got our tourist cards, and got out of town!

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We drove across miles and miles of desert on our way south, laughing about the funny thing that had happened the day before.

While we were staying at the RV park, we had casually been reviewing our plan to drive straight to San Felipe as we got ready to go for a swim. Andy sat on the couch and looked at his email, and after a few minutes smiling at his phone he let me know that he’d gotten an email from our friends Gary and Kiki, who we’d met at Mesa Verde National park last year and who have also been traveling full time in their charming van named Birdie. He related that they just wanted to say hello and let us know that they had decided to spend the winter in Baja, and presently they were enjoying a lovely spot on the beach just outside of San Felipe! Holy moly! Andy wrote back to let them know that we would see them tomorrow.

And now we were on our way, knowing we’d have a place to stay next door to friends!

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We got to Gary and Kiki’s spot later in the evening, and sat outside for a few hours talking about where we’d all been and where we planned to go in Baja. It was totally surreal accidentally seeing friends in Mexico, and just so much fun.

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We thought we’d spend at least a few days at that spot as we acclimated to the new environment and enjoyed some time with our friends. Birdie and the Turtle looked so cute on the beach together. Animal vans unite!

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On our first day there we could hardly wait to go grab a few tacos, so we drove into San Felipe and picked a spot on the malecon for some carne asada and tacos adobadas. We sat outside with a view of the ocean and devoured those tasty cheap tacos. As we’re both big-time taco lovers, we made it our personal mission to find the best tacos in Baja, a job we exuberantly embraced.

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We checked out a few nearby shops and then stopped at a cute spot for a beer while we tried to memorize the pesos to dollars conversion. I got all the coins out of my wallet to look at the pesos, and we laughed at the combination of change I had on me. It was a fun reminder of all the places we’ve been.

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On our way back to the campsite, we stopped at the Calimax grocery store, and as we started the Turtle to leave we had our first Mexico breakdown! I took a photo for our records as Andy successfully fixed it. (It’s funny that these events are just a quick line item any more, as opposed to a tragic tale of how our day was ruined. Andy knows his stuff!)

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On our second morning in Baja I woke up wondering where I was, as is part of my normal morning routine these days. I climbed down from bed and looked out the back window to this happy view:

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What a spot for a morning frisbee session!

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Until we learned more about the area and the potential wildlife that could be nearby, Gracie stayed inside or came out only on a leash. Luckily there were lots of birds around for her to chatter at through the window.

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She also really enjoyed the warm weather and powerful sunbeams.

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We also were very pleased with the warm weather, despite the first few days of wind. I spent a lot of time on the beach with Scout, who may have been the most pleased of all of us to have the endless beach at his disposal.

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We also really enjoyed catching up with Gary and Kiki, who were the most fun neighbors during our first week in Baja!

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We went for beach walks, talked vans and travel (of course), enjoyed morning coffee together, and sat out overlooking the water watching the sun set.

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One evening as Andy and I walked along the beach with Scout, we came across this interesting fellow:

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We also ran into another interesting fellow, our friend Jordan who we’d recently met at RTR, the van meetup in Quartzite earlier that month!

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He was traveling south to the mainland, and swung by San Felipe to say hello and get Andy’s assistance with some new solar panels. The more we travel, the smaller the world seems to be, and having a friend just “stop by” our campsite in Baja is now a thing.

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The boys got to work wiring and affixing the panel, which was not always easy, but entertaining to watch.

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We went for dinner and drinks after the job was done. Jordan introduced us to quesatacos, which are a perfect blend of carne asada and melted Mexican cheese, and became a favorite of ours throughout the trip.

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We had a campfire that night while we watched Jordan’s first few YouTube videos documenting his travels. They’re hilarious and really well made, and if you want to follow his journey you can do that here:

We thought it was funny that, while we watched a part about a wood piece he’d had in the back of his truck but just removed, we were at that moment using it as fuel for the fire! So I took a picture of them side by side.

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A day or two after Jordan took off for the mainland, we were still at our awesome beach overlook site when my birthday showed up! It was a most incredible day. For breakfast we had coffee and fresh Mexican pastries.

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Then as I got ready for the day, there was a knock at the door and standing outside were Andy, Gary, Kiki and our other sweet neighbors Stashik and Dorota. They sang Happy Birthday to me and Stashik played a second verse on his harmonica. What a wonderful start to a special day!

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I played on the beach with Scout for a while and collected sea shells.

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Then Andy and I went into town for lunch. . .

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Walked along the malecon. . .

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And then on the way home we picked up some fireworks! We had a campfire with all four neighbors, and lit sparklers.

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Then we went down to the beach and lit off some mortars, the first time my birthday was celebrated with fireworks! After the show, we went back up to the campfire and had birthday cake. Gary played some songs on his guitar, and we all told stories of our lives up north.

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Then if all the festivities weren’t enough, that night was a full lunar eclipse! We all went to bed after the fire and set our alarms for 4 a.m. so we could wake up and watch the show. We had coffee and thin slices of birthday cake as we watched the moon disappear. What a day! It was all very special.

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After a week at our lovely spot, we thought it was time to hit the road. There was still so much more to see! Stashik and Dorota were headed home to Canada, and Gary and Kiki had planned to stay a bit longer and then drive to their destination outside of Mulege. We all said goodbye-for-now, and Andy and I continued down the road.

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We stopped for the night at a dispersed camping spot on the beach just south of Puertecitos. We got there right in time for a beautiful pastel sunset and a quick frisbee session before dark.

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After the sun went down, we put our head lamps on and explored the rocky beach. We saw more sea life than some aquariums have to offer! It was super neat.

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We’d also been tipped off by some locals that the beach had rock oysters, and after extensive searching in the dark we found about five of them, which Andy ate raw right on the spot. I tried one and did not enjoy it, but I do like the searching part.

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The next day was another sunny morning in Baja. After coffee on the beach and some pelican watching, we hopped in the Turtle and drove further down the crazy Mex 5, bumping and lurching our way along the dirt road they call a highway that rivaled any we’ve braved before!

But that’s a whole other story.

Desert Magic

The desert is magical, and the desert is bizarre.

Between the rich January sun, the vivid colors blooming in every direction, and the fruit trees weighted down by citrus, we were feeling energized and enjoying the magical aspects of the region as we walked around Palm Desert. And though we were in no hurry to leave, we did have a lot of jobs to get done while we were in a bigger city to complete our pre-Baja checklist.

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The more mundane jobs included getting my contacts prescription filled, shopping for supplies, doing laundry, cleaning sand out of all the corners of the Turtle, picking up our General Delivery mail at the post office, and trying out the Amazon Locker service. Ok, actually that part was pretty exciting. When you order your item, you get a code mailed to you to have scanned at the locker, and when you scan it, a drawer pops open with your package inside! We liked it.

The funny thing is that even those tasks seemed exciting while in the desert, since we were running around in the sunshine wearing flip flops and picking oranges off the trees as we walked around town. It was truly a memorable few days of errands, woven in with the fun things we got to experience in Palm Springs and Palm Desert.

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We went to a polo match and sat in our chairs on the grass and cheered arbitrarily for various teams. Not only was it exciting to see the athleticism of both horses and riders as well as all the ladies’ fancy hats, but we also now know the word chukker. So it was a big day.

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We had the best pupusas ever at Fernanda’s Restaurant, and even went back before leaving town to get more to go, and now that I write this I’m feeling very wistful just thinking of them. Deliciously light and savory, the cabbage slaw on top perfectly zesty, at first bite I knew they were the best I’ve ever had. (Uncles Kevin and Bob, if you are in Palm Desert, you must go try them and weigh in.)

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On Jen and Ken’s recommendation, we also went to see Robolights. It’s an indescribable art installation in a local man’s back yard that is open during the holidays and that we just happened to catch while it was still going on. The artist has taken reclaimed materials and created sculptures and vignettes with toilets, telephones, mannequins, gas masks, microwaves and more along paths traversing his property. It’s simultaneously eerie, whimsical, disquieting, and beautiful. (If that makes no sense, then please refer to the part above where I said it’s indescribable and give me a few points for at least trying.)

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After a few days combining errands and fun, we returned to our convenient and comfortable dispersed camping spot south of Joshua Tree National Park. That spot served us well during our entire southern California stay, especially where the animals were concerned. They had enough room there to play safely, so they could experience some freedom before we took them to unfamiliar territory where they’d be leashed much more often.

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At one point I went up to the attic to take down some summer clothes and saw these darling little paw prints covering the entire roof.

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Often when we’re sitting inside we can hear her stomping around on the roof and we pretend to complain about our loud upstairs neighbor. And usually if the vent is open, she shoves her face against the screen and meows at us, and we say we can’t take it anymore; we’re moving.

During our three-day BLM stay, two very awesome things happened.

The first was that we had a chillier day, so we stayed in reading books and when I made chili for dinner I decided to try out stovetop cornbread as well, which turned out great! Our oven is still currently being used for storage until we decide to sacrifice the extra space and get it fixed. So it’s always fun to figure out ways to prepare oven-y food on the stovetop.

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The second awesome thing (and actually awesome, not like the last cornbread thing) happened as we prepared to leave on the third day. As we packed up, a guy in a white Toyota 4WD van pulled up to introduce himself. His name was Alex and we’ve been following each other on Instagram ever since he spotted the Turtle up in Yukon last summer, found our Blue Turtle Crossing account and messaged us! He’d just happened to be driving around checking out vans in the BLM spot while he waited for some friends to finish up their tour of Joshua Tree and he saw the Turtle. Small world, right?

He invited us to join them all at their campsite in Painted Canyon that evening, which we happily did. The wonderful spot took second seat next to how much we just loved meeting Alex, Andres and Desiree and getting to know them as we sat around the campfire that evening. It’s so exciting when overlanders come together to share vandwelling stories and travel experiences, since it’s such a unique lifestyle that being able to relate to new friends with a common mindset is refreshing. And they were all just a treat to meet.

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You can follow them on Instagram here:

@roaming_northamerica

@papapitufo_follow_our_trip

They were all headed to Slab City, which is where we were headed as well, so we made plans to join them there the next day. You might recall that we travel slowly so we needed an extra day.

On our way, the bizarre parts of the desert began to reveal themselves. First we stopped at Bombay Beach on the edge of the Salton Sea, an enormous inland surface water body that is only about 100 years old and lies 228’ below sea level. Bombay Beach used to be a thriving resort town, but is now almost completely abandoned and looks like a post-apocalyptic movie set.

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Equally as strange and fascinating was our final destination for the day, Slab City. This “town” sits on an abandoned military base and is comprised of vans and RV’s scattered in semi-organized clusters of visitors and full time residents, some of whom live there even through the 125-degree summers. Others stay there for just days or months at a time, and all travelers are welcome. Many of the residents have built fences, patios and artwork around their rigs made from reclaimed materials, and the town even has a music venue and café. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before.

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We found our friends parked up above the town, and made our way through and around the streets to meet them up on the bluff just a short walk to Salvation Mountain.

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Oh, did you think the bizarre part was over? It is not. Salvation Mountain is a total trip. It’s a 50-foot-high mountain made of adobe and covered in layers of paint that a man named Leonard Knight created to share his deeply felt message of God’s love to the world. It’s bright and beautiful and feels like walking on a cake in a children’s book. We’d seen pictures before we got there, and honestly the experience of walking the “yellow brick road” path of the mountain was much more impactful than I’d imagined it would be.

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We got back to our little neighborhood and hung out for a bit before collecting wood for our evening fire. It was another great evening with the caravaners!

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They planned to take off for Baja quite early the next morning, so we said our goodbyes that night. The next morning I saw a photo Alex had posted about them getting stuck in the sugar sand as they tried to depart, and I felt sorry that we hadn’t heard them so we could have come out to help. But they’d made it out, so it all worked out.

When we tried to leave later that morning, we weren’t so lucky.

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The flour-soft sand swallowed our tires and no amount of digging and laying rocks under the tires would get that Turtle out. We worked for hours and hours, but every attempt ended in us being settled deeper in an ever-growing depression in the sand. A few people came and attempted to help free us, but to no avail. One guy tried to tow us out and got himself stuck in the sugar sand too, so once we’d dug him out he left us to our own devices. Unfortunately we didn’t have many. We weigh nearly 11,000 pounds and that sand really was like powdered sugar and gave us no traction whatsoever.

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I called the nearest tow company to price the job, just so we’d know we have an option if nothing else worked. He quoted me $600 so we crossed that option off the list and decided that even if it meant digging the bluff down one shovelful at a time until we hit the firm dirt down below, we’d do that. Andy walked down into Slab City to find someone with a truck, and with a promise from one resident that he’d return the following morning we spent one more night in Slab City, wondering if we were destined to become residents as well.

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The next day we began with about 100 fewer bruises than we’d have on our arms and legs by the end of the day. The man who’d promised to come help us did indeed bring his 4WD truck up to tow us out, but there was so much sugar sand between us and the hard dirt path that our tow strap wouldn’t reach. Another resident who had come up to see the action loaned us two lengths of chain and a thick rope. A couple riding bikes stopped to help, and between the husband’s hard work ethic and his wife’s cheerful attitude and no-nonsense management style, we were soon ready to give it a try.

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The number of times that it didn’t work should have defeated the group to the point of giving up on us, but they stuck by it, digging and digging alongside us and trying again, until another local brought his truck up to contribute to the effort. One truck pulled the other truck who pulled the long rope which pulled the two lengths of chain which pulled the tow strap pulling the enormous blue Turtle which was being pushed by four of us, and suddenly we were inching our way out of the sand to firm ground.

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HOORAY! The Turtle was mobile once again. We are so often humbled by the kindness of strangers; we could not have done it without a single one of them. We profusely thanked the group, and after talking for a bit we all departed the sandy bluff. I took some sugar sand with us as a souvenir, and in high spirits we drove to the other side of Slab City to see East Jesus, the art and sculpture garden created by the residents.

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And once again we were back on the road, as if we hadn’t just been in a real pickle and then immediately afterward saw a wall of old TV’s carefully painted in the middle of an art field in the middle of next-to-nowhere.

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The desert is magical, and the desert is bizarre.

Mojave National Preserve: Kelso Dunes

Everyone has heard me say it over and over—whether in defense of my inability to supply Turtle arrival dates and destinations or even just to tell stories involving unexpected delights and trials—and just in case you haven’t heard me say it lately, I’m here today to say it again! When you travel full time and are regularly on the move, there’s not a lot of time to make future plans. We’re always in the middle of an experience, so not only do we not have time to sit and research, we also could change course at a moment’s notice and then all the time we spent planning would be for nothing. So we just wing it, and more often than not we’re pleasantly surprised!

There was a whole lot more to Mojave National Preserve than we’d imagined, and the next stop was the Kelso Dunes on the south side of the preserve.

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Just a little ways past the Kelso Dunes Trail parking is a free dispersed camping area, where we found a nice spot against the dunes, had some lunch, and let the animals out to play in the sand.

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While Andy sat outside the Turtle, basking in the sun and sanding a car part to artistic perfection, Scout and I embarked on a hike up the dunes.

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The dunes give the landscape no sense of perspective, but if you can see the line where the light sand meets the darker shade, just to the right of the green swath in the middle is the lighter dirt of the parking area, where a teeny tiny turtle sits almost imperceptible to the naked eye.

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After a few hot hours of slow and steady climbing, we got nearly to the top when we were faced with a nearly vertical wall of sand. I tried scrambling up at top speed, but the moment my hand dug into the sand, this happened:

My hands and feet would get buried in the sand avalanche and I’d slide right back down! After some serious top speed climbing and a ton of grunting and a few requests to Scout to stop making it look so easy, we made it to the top.

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Totally worth it!

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A wonderfully long hike is not its own reward in Scout’s opinion, so I had to make the journey worth his while by playing a little frisbee with him on top of the world.

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When the day began, I couldn’t have anticipated that this would be my backyard vista. Another pleasant surprise for the books.

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Scout Climbs a Volcano and Gracie Turns Brown: Christmas at Mojave National Preserve

I think the member of our pack who is most pleased that we’re taking our time through the wilds of the desert is Gracie. This girl does not love being stuck inside.

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In order to spend more time playing outside, we took I15 one small stretch at a time, enjoying the weather and the dispersed camping along the way. When we arrived in Mojave National Preserve, we hadn’t planned ahead to see what there was to do in the area, as is our usual way. So far it’s worked out brilliantly for us, and we didn’t share the concern we received from others when we told them we had no idea where we’d spend Christmas. We had decided months ago that in order to cover a little more ground this year, we’d skip the usual family gathering and just celebrate outside somewhere.

It was still about a week before Christmas when we found a great dispersed spot on the north side of Mojave National Preserve. The moment I opened the door, Gracie hedgehogged herself into a ball and just started rolling happily in the dirt.

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The next loosely-planned stop on our journey was going to be Joshua Tree National Park, so I kind of thought that would be the first time I’d see a “forest” of Joshua trees. Nope. We were surrounded!

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I think that’s one of the things I love best about not planning ahead—we get to be surprised on a regular basis. And a back yard forest of desert trees was a really fun surprise!

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I continuously had to remind myself that it was almost Christmas. We had our wreath hung on the spare tire on the back of the Turtle and our string of lights hung inside, but in this environment it felt deliciously more like summer vacation.

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We’re reminded that it’s winter only by the early hour of the sunsets, which come too soon, but make up for it by being magnificent.

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We watched the colors until they fell into darkness, then went inside to make dinner. At one point Andy looked out the windows up front and pointed out a strange light in the sky. At first we had no idea what we were looking at, but I was totally convinced it was a UFO while Andy was sure it was literally anything but that.

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Even I had to admit it looked maybe like a (human-made) rocket, but why would one be launching out here? I took a video so we could watch it later, then we went inside to look it up. Sure enough, a rocket had just launched in San Diego. If we had known, we probably would have driven out to go see it up close! But as it was, we were excited about yet another awesome surprise.

The next day we decided to drive right outside the preserve to pick up a few groceries since we loved this spot so much we thought we’d stick around longer than originally planned. We drove up to Baker and stopped first at this unexpected shop.

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Then after picking up a few supplies, we headed back into the park, not realizing that the Turtle had relatives out here.

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I found a good-looking dispersed camp site on one of our apps farther south than our last overnight stay, near a lava tube that is apparently a big attraction for visitors of the preserve. We decided to stay the night there and visit the lava tube the next day. After slowly driving the washboarded dirt road to the site, we parked next to an inactive volcano, apparently one of many around the area.

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Gracie wasted no time leaping outside to try on some of the new local dirt.

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I know cats like to take dust baths, but she takes it to another level. She loves it so much that she is turning semi-permanently brown! We just decided to say she’s a calico now.

The next day, we got our bikes out and rode with Scout by our sides down the bumpy road a few miles to the lava tube.

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Scout waited outside for us under the shade of a Joshua tree with his water dish surrounded by rocks so he wouldn’t tip it over, and we went down into the lava tube.

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There are a few holes in the lava ceiling where the sun shines through, and we’d been given a tip by some friendly passers by the evening prior that light is at its best angle for around noon or 1 p.m. It was around noon when we arrived, so we hung out in the cave watching the light move and change.

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Soon a strong narrow beam emerged.

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And it grew wider and brighter.

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Another beam shot in from a hole in the main dome of the cave as well. It was magical.

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After the bumpy ride back to our spot, we were all feeling pretty spectacular about what a nice place this was to live for a bit. Even though cars drove by periodically, it felt like we had the entire desert to ourselves. Which was so exciting for our little adventure cat, who doesn’t get to go for walks when we’re in the city like Scout does. And all she wants in life is fresh outdoor air and a little space to explore.

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She’s been loving the desert terrain so much that even when she comes inside she brings some with her.

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Every time she comes back in, it looks like this:

We’re not bothered by it, though, as we spend our fair share of time outside getting dirty too. It’s just part of the life. And so are breathtaking sunsets. It’s a give and take, really.

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We realized as we watched the sun go down that it was Christmas Eve! I guess we know where we’ll be spending Christmas.

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On Christmas morning as we drank our coffee, we discussed how we wanted to spend the day. Scout chose to spend his morning trying to convince Gracie to throw the frisbee for him. He followed her around for some time, waiting for her to sit down and then gently tossing the frisbee to her just as he does with us.

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She wouldn’t go for it.

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So I did for a little while, as a consolation, even though we knew he’d be coming with us on the outing we decided on for the day: a hike up the volcano!

It was much, much more difficult than we’d anticipated. The entire face of the volcano was loose pebbles of lava rock, and it was so steep it required crawling on hands and feet. It was like being on a stair stepper. Every other step we’d hit a patch of gravel so loose it was a wonder it had stayed where it was in the first place, and we’d slide down a few feet. And because it was lava rock, when we’d grab out to catch ourselves, our hands would get sliced and shredded. It was exhausting, and since we had no intention of giving up, we took breaks every ten minutes or so to keep our energy and morale high enough to continue. I told Andy at one point, “I didn’t come here to climb to the almost-top of a volcano today.”

Here is the view from one of those breaks. See that little speck right off the road? That’s the Turtle! And at this point we were barely a third of the way up.

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Even though it was a challenge just perching ourselves on the hill (one that does not look even remotely as steep in the photos as it truly was), Scout tried the entire time to get us to throw sticks for him. The OCD is strong with this one.

 

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Here’s another view from a break. Can you spot the Turtle? We’re a little over two thirds of the way up at this point.

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We scrambled and panted our way up this bizarre surface for much longer than we’d guessed we’d take making it up the 500′ climb. And then suddenly, we were at the top!

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We earned our ecstatic victory photo!

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We got great reception up there, so we called our families to wish them all a Merry Christmas, took some photos and admired the view of the desert far below.

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Then we began the descent, which took like three minutes. We basically just walked down, each foot sinking down into the gravel and carrying us a few feet every step. It was like being a giant, which I now believe would be really fun, if it truly was anything like our speedy jaunt down the volcano.

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That evening’s sunset was another beautiful one. We’re getting spoiled out here.

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We were quickly growing fond of this site, and decided to stick around for a few more days to relax and enjoy ourselves.

Gracie got right on the job.

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I spent the time finishing Andy’s belated Christmas gift, a tool holder for the driver’s side door, which took a little longer than expected since I had to hand stitch the whole thing. It turned out pretty nice, I think, and he loves the convenience it.

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Andy had his own project going as well, constructing a temporary custom storage box from cardboard, and when Gracie heard the word “project”, she quickly responded by inserting herself in it—literally.

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Between the fun day trips and the relaxing time all to ourselves, we weren’t sure how many days longer we’d stick around and where we might be for New Years Eve, but we were in no hurry to ruin the surprise.

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