Woke up after a much needed 8 hour sleep in our technicolor cabin at Nine Palms Inn. Each wall / door / window frame was painted a different colour and these included lime green, apricot, yellow and damson-fool purple. It was striking to say the least and at $46 a night we were not complaining! The owner moved here from Warwickshire and previously ran a hotel in Baryow-in-Furness. He had a series of ten coloured fountains in buckets outside his cottage designed to produce 'good karma'. It worked!
The coffee machine was well supplied and Bill produced two cups of very delicious coffee with hazel nut milk to start the day.
Breakfast rather unexpectedly was at the gas station and deli in Twenty Nine Palms, next door where we were served a well prepared omelette and a breakfast sandwich. They also provided us with two salad boxes for lunch.
Then it was round the corner to the Joshua Park Visitor Centre where another helpful ranger suggested an itinerary for our day. We calculated a 3 hour drive time back to LAX airport. Check in was at 6.30 so, allowing for traffic / breakdowns we planned to leave the park at 2.30.
Joshua Park is an area of desert and wilderness populated with cacti and Joshua trees. Every species that lives there has specialised ways to survive the temperatures of over 100F, relentless sun and very little water. The Joshua Tree is a species of Yucca and has waxy, spiny leaves. There are also junipers, pines, scrub oak and prickly pear cacti. There are also birds and rattle snakes and the Pinacate beetle who responds to being threatened by doing a handstand whilst emitting a foul smell. Hmmm....
Today was indeed hot and dry and windy, just right for a driving trip!
With the roof down and our Tilley hats firmly tied on we set off to explore. It is spectacular. We drove for a while and then stopped and walked or scrambled over the rocks to see 'Skull rock', 'Split rock', Barker Dam and the Hidden valley. There was no shortage of photo opportunities.
We found a picnic bench amongst the trees for lunch (kale salad and argulia salad - both delicious and not what we would normally expect to buy from a gas station!)
As our curfew approached at 2.15 we headed off to the park gates and commence the drive to the airport. We followed the same route home via a series of freeways, roof down in the 'car pool' lane for HOVs with two or more passengers. The LA traffic was truly awful as before but the outside lane did at least keep us moving and we were back on Manhattan beach by 5.30.
The timing could not have been better. Perfect timing for a walk in the beach and coffees at s beach cafe watching the sunset.
Finding EZ car rentals was a bit of a nightmare without a sat nav. Being an independent company meant that they were not based at 'car rental returns' but at a place marked on our paper map with a biro cross by the man at the hire desk. The cross was in the wrong place.... But after circling LA airport in the rush hour traffic for a while we found it, parked, checked in and had time for supper before taking off on NZ1 for Auckland.