Just Joshing!

Joshua Tree!  Another of America's treasures, and I got to enjoy it again last weekend.  I hadn't been for a couple years, so when I had a free weekend, I jumped at the chance!

The beginning of the trip was a little rough, literally.  At about 4:00pm, the car shuddered a little. What the....?  I looked at my dash and noticed the "Check Engine" light had gone on.  Oh, no!  I immediately pulled off the freeway to Middle of Nowhere, California. I asked around for a mechanic, and was pointed to a garage with really friendly folks.

By the time I got there, it was 30 minutes before closing, and they were full o' cars to tend to. But when they heard my predicament, Phillip came out to help right away.  A sensor that relies on oil pressure had been triggered. Phillip checked the oil: nothing showing. He asked about when I had my oil changed. Just a couple months ago. Any leaks? Not that I know of.

He put oil in, and it took 3 and a half quarts. Its capacity is 4 and a half quarts. He put it on the rack. No leaks. Conclusion: at my last oil "change," no oil had been replaced!

Thank goodness the consequences weren't worse!  And amazing that it lasted this long! I've been driving all over the Southwest with no oil!

Relieved, I hit the road again, and had spent only an hour getting the car repaired. The sun was setting as I zoomed into Twentynine Palms, so I headed on into the park. 

I pulled into a campground to wait till dark so I could star-gaze for a few minutes. A group of four young men retured to their campground, made a fire, and turned on--what else?--U2's Joshua Tree. Perfect! I listened to my favey album from my favey band and gazed up for a while, thoroughly enjoying my first evening.

The following morning, I headed back. Two roadrunners and a jack-rabbit later, I was hiking.

I walked around Skull Rock, through the Hidden Valley, up Ryan Mountain, over to Arch Rock, passed by Cap Rock and trekked to Forty-Nine Palms Oasis. I figured I hiked about 9-10 miles all told.  I was TIRED by the end!

I used my very cool Urbanspoon app to find a wonderful Thai restaurant in the nearby town of Joshua Tree.  Wonderful, yummy dinner! My day was complete!

Here are pictures!

Look carefull in the middle: Mr. Roadrunner!

I love the tenacity of life!

Live Oak picnic area. Here grows a big oak tree in the middle of the desert! It bore lots of huge acorns, which the birds loved.

The bigger they come, the harder they fall.

Forty-Nine Palms Oasis

A pool at the Oasis

The Fiftieth Palm trying hard!

A fire burned the trunks of these palms but they are healthy.

Climbers enjoy these rocks!

Made it! The elevation gain was 1100 feet. Nice hike!

I love the dikes through the monzogranite.

What are you waiting for? Get on Interstate 10 and get to Joshua Tree!

Foster the Weekend

Wow! Annette and I had a super weekend last weekend in Orange County!

It all started with Annette's desire to see one of her current favorite bands, Foster the People. They were selling out everywhere, but this venue was under the radar, a fundraiser for their "Do Good" tour, so we were able to get tickets easy!

Since the concert was on a Monday night, I thought we should try to see a baseball game on Sunday, and wouldn't you know that the the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim were scheduled to play the New York Yankees on Sunday afternoon!  Yippee!

And gee, since we're going to be there Sunday, and neither Annette nor I had to work on Saturday, why not go to Knott's Berry Farm?  Cool!


Knott's Berry Farm is a fun amusement park. It wasn't at all crowded until about 2pm. Hardly any lines till then!

And we got a good deal on admission.

"Tickets are $56 each," said the gate clerk.

"I saw a price of $47 on-line," said I.

"That's the internet price. But we have a special going: Park admission and an all-you-can eat lunch for $44."

"We'll take it."

We had just eaten lunch before arriving at the park, darn it, but we did end up going to the lunch buffet for a snack. You saw my boysenberry pie on Facebook!

Knott's has good rides, but my 40-something-year-old tummy didn't like some of them. Still, we both had fun!  I liked Montezooma's Revenge the best!

My camera was DOA--darn that I am terrible at watching the battery indicator--so all these photos are courtesy of Annette.  She didn't bring her camera into Knott's, though.

That night and the next we got to enjoy Disneyland's fireworks from our hotel window!

It was a heart!

Our hotel was within walking distance of Angel Stadium! I didn't even plan it! I had used Priceline.com so I didn't choose the hotel, only the general area. We enjoyed the short walk, and it was a beautiful day for baseball!  I chose seats that were AWESOME!  Great view of the first-base line, and we were in the shade!  Yay!

The game was a good one. Annette hadn't seen a baseball game in forever, and she wasn't sure she'd like it. But the game had a lot of action, including 3 homers (two of them Angel homers, complete with fireworks). The Yankees won 6-5.

Annette is now a baseball fan!  Whooo-hoooo!

It was the 10th anniversary of 9/11. They gave us flags. It was a great day to celebrate being American!

42,500+ fans enjoyed the game. There were suprisingly a lot of Yankees fans there!

And on Monday, the main attraction.  We didn't do much during the day that day, just a little mall shopping and lunch. We got to the Galaxy Theater at about 6:00.  We had a lot of waiting....in line till about 7:30 (doors opened late), then standing room only, through two stinker opening bands.

The first opener, Polaris at Noon, was awful. Unintelligible mud. The second band had lost their drum kit, so the drummer banged away on luggage. They never said their name. Too embarrassed, maybe?

We had to wait a loooong time in the pit. We were standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the hot room with dozens of other sweaty people, who were amazingly patient, until nearly 10:30, when Foster the People finally took the stage. And then, our sore feet were just a memory....

What a fun performance!  They had a great stage show, and I enjoy their music.  I think they'll make it big.

Mark Foster

Cubby Fink

Mark Pontius

Here are a couple videos. The first one is Annette's favorite song of theirs.  The venue in the video is similar to the Galaxy. Imagine us 3-4 people back from the stage, and you are there with us!  (sorry for the lame commercials; I used the official video and they always try to make a buck)



This one is the song that has zoomed up the charts, hitting #1 on the alternative chart.  It was the #2 most-downloaded song the week before we saw them. Catchy, huh?  Enjoy!



I was happy to go. Now, after spanning nearly 35 years of music in concerts a couple weeks apart, I wonder why I don't go to concerts more often.  I think I will!