Not exactly a tree

Yesterday, I swapped travel companions: Amy stayed with her parents in Scottsdale, and my friend Brian joined me for the remainder of the homecoming trip. We first drove to Joshua Tree National Park. It’s a bit cold but sunnier than Seattle, so it’s still worth it. We hiked to Skull Rock, then made a campfire and cooked burgers over the campfire.

Today, we spent the day on a series of shorter hikes to Arch Rock, Barker Dam and Keys Point. We did the ranger walk at Cap Rock; Ranger Mark was much more interesting than the ranger Amy and I had last year. We learned how Joshua Trees start by growing under the protection of other plants.

Tomorrow, we start our drive north, with a 2 night detour at Yosemite.