View of the San Andreas Fault (dark line in valley) from Joshua Tree National Park


An oasis in the desert

Crazy Rock Formations


Joshua Tree National Park

From Tucson, Arizona:
We arrived early this evening after two relaxing nights at the Agua Caliente Hotel Casino and Spa in Rancho Mirage, California which is near Palm Springs (funny that lots of streets in the area are named after dead people: Bob Hope, Sonny Bono, Dinah Shore). This hotel ranks near the top of the places we have stayed on our trip. Truly a four star, Vegas type hotel, without the crowds or the price. Only open for one year, the place looks like we were the first guests to stay there. Amazingly, we never set foot in the casino other to go to our room! On Tuesday we visited the Joshua Tree National Park. We thought that the park's claim to fame was the Joshua trees but the real star of the show are the fantastic rock formations throughout the park. We were excited to learn that the place where we chose to picnic was a location featured in an original Star Trek episode.
Today's drive to Tucson took us past the Salton Sea, Imperial Valley, Yuma, and Gila Bend. Besides seeing the most fertile agricultural area in the country, there was lots of nothing.

Stats:
Location Today: Tucson, Arizona
Traveled 6123 Miles since we left Maryland
Approx. 2300 miles from Md
Visited the following states: Md, Va, Wv., Tn, Ky, Ar., Ok., Tx., Nm, Az, Nv, Ca.
Next Destination: El Paso?
Nights on the Road: 31
Number of Hotels/Inns/B&B's: 18

Highlights:
Agua Caliente Hotel
Joshua Tree National Park

Not so great stuff:
Long drives through nothingness
Finding out that Rachael has the swine flu....fortunately she's on the road to recovery!