Day 3

We left Anaheim, CA with a slight Disney hangover but started on our way to Arizona – with our first stop at Joshua Tree National Park, CA.

33.7884° N, 115.8982° W

Let’s just say CA traffic was a little chaotic – that alone would be enough for me to avoid living there!!  Regardless, we bobbed and weaved our way out through Corona, Yorba Linda, Riverside, Moreno Valley, Beaumont, and hit Hwy 62 near Palm Springs.   It was at this change in our juncture that we ran smack dab into a ginormous windmill farm – big ones, little ones, older ones, newer ones, giant ones and lots of them!!!

After winding through desert landscape and an occasional home or two we arrived at Joshua Tree and headed to the national park.  I really had no idea what a Joshua tree even  was.  Apparently, it’s not even a tree!!  It’s part of the Yucca plant family.  It earned it’s name from Mormon explorers who first saw it and were reminded of their prophet Joshua because the pseudo tree stood with limbs upraised and they saw them as arms.

Joshua trees dotting the landscape

It's quite obvious why the park has its name!

Anyway, the pseudo trees, while they were plentiful and in various size, weren’t really the highlight of the park (in my humble opinion, of course).  The highlights were the jumbo rocks!  They were huge!  And in amazing piles that looked as if giants had been sitting around the park playing with the rocks and stacking them on top of each other.  In reality, the rock formations were originally formed underground and as plates shifted they started cracking and rising.  Erosion has exposed them over many, many years and has rounded their edges.  Beautifully amazing to see!

Can you see why this area is called Skull Rock?

I picked the perfect day to wear my boots!! Lots of dust and was a little leery of the desert critters I might come in contact with while we galavanted through the park!

So strong!

Getting a little crazy in Joshua Tree National Park!

Skull Rock - pretty cool!

We rode to the peak of the park.  From there, we could see all the way to the Mexico border, various towns, and even the San Andreas fault!!!  Glad it was sleeping while we were there!

It took three pics to capture the horizon!

See the peak in the haze of the pic on the left?  That's around 85 miles away and is the US/Mexico border!

After leaving Joshua Tree National Park, we headed for Arizona.  We entered at Parker, AZ and made our way up to Lake Havasu City, AZ.  The lake was beautiful with the gorgeous red rock hills rising up from the water!  The other point of interest we stopped to gander was the London Bridge!  Yes, I said London.  Story goes – McCulloch, the man who founded Lake Havasu City, decided to bring the bridge all the way from London!  It was originally constructed there in 1831, spanning the river Thames, and then when it was going to be torn down in 1962, McCulloch purchased it from the city of London decided to have it moved to Lake Havasu.  He had each block numbered, shipped over, and then began reconstructing the bridge in 1967.  It was completed in 1971 and still remains in use today connecting Lake Havasu City to an island in the lake.

Traveling to Arizona!

Every town out here labels itself by putting its initial into the rocky hillside!  Had to capture this one - seemed like it was welcoming the Pattersons!

London Bridge - BTW, it's not falling down... we drove across it!

We experienced another first in Lake Havasu City!  Our first visit to In and Out Burger!  Being East Coasters, we just don’t see them – we are used to Five Guys Burgers and Fries.  We do love a good burger though so we were eager to try it.  The verdict: My Guy still likes Five Guys better, Audrey rated it above Five Guys as did Jac, CJ says it’s a “bit” better than Five Guys, and I, most definitely, still rate Five Guys as the highest chain burger.  We all agreed though that In and Out fries have come no where to even being close to the yumminess of Five Guys fries!

We traveled on through Arizona stopping for some gorgeous sunset pics and then stopped for the night on historic Route 66 – staying at the Historic Route 66 Motel.  Thankfully, they had vacancy – especially since I had made our reservations at the Historic Route 66 Motel in NEW MEXICO!!!  Ooooops!

This skyline is the opposite of the sunset - unbelievable!

Arizona sunset

Next stop – Grand Canyon!!