After leaving Las Vegas, on our spring break getaway, we drove on the I-15 to Baker, California. The I-15 goes right down into Los Angeles, and we didn't want to go there, so we cut across the desert on a lonely, two-lane road.
You can see the road stretching for over a hundred miles across the desert in this picture. The good thing about taking this road was that there was very little traffic, and we made great time.
There was one place to stop and get gas on the lonely desert highway. We stopped to use the restroom facilities and buy some peanut M&Ms which is my snack of choice on road trips.
There is also a motel, which is a lot of little bunglows that are empty. The cafe was closed too, but we were very grateful for a place to get out stretch out legs and take a potty break on a very desolate road.
We had enough gas to get to our destination, so we didn't get any at Roy's in the desert because it was almost $8 a gallon! That was the highest we saw gas in California. Most places, it was between $5 and $6 a gallon.
Our next stop was Redlands, in California's Inland Empire. We used to live in Corona, California (near Riverside) over 20 years ago and Charly worked in Redlands. We always loved Redlands so decided to put it on our list of potential retirement spots. When we got to Redlands, our first stop was the Redlands Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the church we belong to). The temple was closed, so we just sat in the parking lot and regrouped a bit after our long drive. We then drove around Redlands looking at some homes that were for sale on my Zillow app. Our conclusion was that while there are some very nice homes in Redlands that we could afford, we don't want to pay as much as we would have to get the size of house we want. Because of the housing affordability factor, Redlands has fallen to the bottom of our retirement list for now, but things could certainly change in the next 4-5 years.
Here is a little friend who was sunning himself on the sidewalk outside of the Redlands temple.
We finally got to Indio, California, which is farther out in the desert, past Palm Springs. We stayed in the Worldmark Indio timeshare condos.
The condo was so convenient and comfortable.
It was also roomy and had a washer and dryer (as most of the condos do) so we could wash our dirty clothes.
It was a very nice place to come to at the end of our busy days in the California desert.
We were so excited to be able to go to Joshua Tree National Park when we were in the California desert.
We used to camp and hike at Joshua Tree with our children when we lived in Southern California over twenty years ago, so we have great family memories of this national park. Here are some pictures from the morning we spent hiking at Joshua Tree last week. Our kids loved to hike climb on the huge rocks as you can see children doing in the picture of Arch Rock below.
This is the Joshua Tree that gives this beautiful and unique national park it's name. If you look closely, you can see a Raven sitting at the top of the tree. We had such a good morning in the park and made even more great memories of this amazing place.
When we camped at Joshua Tree with our children all those years ago, we liked to stop at this place, Ciro's Ristorante and Pizzeria, for pizza on the way home. We had no idea that this restaurant would still be in the very same location, but it was. We were very pleased to see that it was still open. (For anyone who might be in Indio and wants to stop by for the best pizza you have ever eaten, Ciro's address is: 81963 Highway 111, Indio, California. 760-347-6503).
We were even more pleased to know that the pizza is still as delicious as we remembered. Charly and I enjoyed this scrumptious pizza and yes, the two of us ate the entire thing ourselves. We ate half the pizza the first night, then had leftovers the next day.
We left Indio on Thursday morning and had a long drive back through Nevada, including a two-hour traffic jam for road construction. We got to St. George, Utah Thursday night. We were going to spend all of Friday in St. George, but decided to drive home on Friday since we will be returning to St. George for a couple of days in May.
We are so grateful that we were able to make this trip and spend some delightful days as a couple making new memories in a part of the country that we love and that feels like home to us.
Thanks for stopping by to share in our adventures. Have a good week.
🙏Please keep praying for the brave people of Ukraine.🙏
💙Deb💛
"Life brings simple pleasures to us every day.
It is up to us to make them wonderful memories."
~Cathy Allen
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