Jorda rundt oktober 2011 - mars 2012 / Weltreise Oktober 2011 - März 2012


Vi er en familie på fem, som reiser jorda rundt fra oktober 2011 til mars 2012 og med hjelp av denne bloggen vil vi dele opplevelser med venner og familie. Siden vi er flere som skriver innlegg, står navnet til "skribenten" angitt i overskrifta.



Our family of five travelled around the world from October 2011 to March 2012 and in order to be able to share our experiences with family and friends we established this blog. Since we are several "authors" the posts start with a name and are labeled.









Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Silja: Joshua Tree Natl. Park


On our way to Joshua Tree Ntl Park
Joshua Tree Natl. Park
This is the National Park we knew the least about (even thought it is featured on a U2-album), so we did not really know what to expect, when we drove in at the south end of this huge park. The road was leading up into the mountains and as we climbed, the vegetation got more and more varied and most of the plants were unknown to us. They were all dry bushes or cactus and yucca variants, some blooming in beautiful colors like pink and yellow. We had already driven for miles when we finally arrived at the visitor's center Cotton Wood. There we learned that the nearby campground was closed and that we had to drive even further into the park to find a place to stay. It was all worth it though. During that drive we crossed a point where the Mojave Desert meets the Colorado Desert, which was visible by one certain kind of Cactus ( Cholla) that was suddenly everywhere! A mile later it disappeared again and big granite boulders in all shapes rose from the ground. We found a beautiful campground (White Tank) among those rocks. The kids were thrilled! A huge playground full of climbing and hiding possibilities! It was only when Niklas fell and hurt his knee that the fun was over for him and  the three of them were playing «at the doctor's» for the rest of the evening.
The beach in Oceanside near L.A.
Great campsite right on the Pacific Ocean
The next morning after breakfast the kids asked to be prepped with English phrases like «Come and play» and then went over to our neighbor John and his two kids, who were the same age as Lea and Niklas. Five minutes later the boys had a game of chess going, which did not require much English skills. Lea and the girl spoke a lot with each other and held hands on our little hike that we took all together. Lisa seemed rather happy in the role of the «big sister» helping the little girls. The boys found their own «trail» climbing over the rocks, taking turns leading the way. We all found it hard to say «Good Bye» around noon, when we drove on to «Skull Rock Trail» and «The Hidden Valley».
Here the Joshua Trees were everywhere and so were the climbers. We loved the atmosphere, but we had to leave because we were running out of propane. It was so hard to find a place that could fill our tank that we ended up too far away to go back.
Therefor we drove on towards L.A. and gave the kids a few days of beach-holiday that they were wishing for. We had one day of glorious weather but now the dark clouds and chilly air do not quite give us that summer feeling and the beach is not really an attractive place to be...

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