The road home

Our previous post we had just got to Quartzsite.  On our full day there, we started out a bit late (HEY!  We are on vacation!) and had some lunch in town.  We then went around to some of the rock vendors and others.  It seems in the winter there are many different vendors that hang out there and sell their wares.  There is an upcoming RV show that seems to be really big.  Glad in that sense that we left.

We got some firewood to have a campfire that night:

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It was a bit odd to be out with no one else close to us.  I think the closest RV was over 1/2 mile away.  Very quiet.  We have a sound machine that will play a waterfall noise (like white noise) and thought we would not need it out here.  We were wrong.  Not because of external noise but internal noise.  It was so quiet that we could hear the blood pulsing through our ears.  Very odd.

The stars were simply amazing!  Could even see the Milky Way at night.  We will be back sometime definitely!

Here is where we were, I think:

 

We decided to meander back home in a slower manner than usual.  One place that I love to go is Sam’s Family Spa in Desert Hot Springs.  We have been there numerous times.  It is a decent RV park but it has naturally fed hot pools that range in temperature from very warm to pretty hot.  A great way to relax at the end of the day.  It was only a 144 mile drive and very easy.  It was nice to veg out in the hot waters.

I mentioned to Roxie about Salvation Mountain and she did some research and we thought we might do that on our day in the Palm Springs area.  However it was over 80 miles each way.  So what to do?

That evening I asked Roxie if she was interested in going up the Palm Springs Aerial Tram.  I expected a flat out refusal and being accused of having some mental disorder.  Surprisingly she thought about it.  So the next day we were off to the tram!

Here is Roxie IN THE TRAM!  Do you see fear on her face?

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She felt incumbent to take one of me too.  I guess I shouldn’t be talking when a photo is being taken:

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We ate lunch wen we got to the top.  The Peaks Restaurant had very good food.  We had probably the best Caesar Salad I have ever tasted.  The food was a bit pricey but this was our view:

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After lunch we went outside.  Man it was COLD!  It was 45 degrees and windy.  We took another shot of the view and our first ‘selfie’ (have to work on these a bit…):

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After we got down to the warmer climes we headed to the Imax theatre and watched The Desolation of Smaug.  We didn’t make it back to the hot pools that evening but did so before we left the next day.

Where to next?

Checkin from the Q in the style of Aluminarium

This post will be done in the style of Aluminarium:

We are at the Q (Quartzsite, AZ) for a couple of nights.  I have always wanted to camp here and see what was going on but we were always just driving through.  We headed to the RoadRunner BLM sight about 5 miles south of town.  It took us about 15 minutes to drive around and find an acceptable location.  Here is what we found:

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Yes, trees in the desert!  We are going to check out some of the rock show/flea market stuff in town today.  We would have gone there to eat last night but I was not sure I could find my way back!!

Dinner Last Night:

I grilled some burgers with Muenster cheese, Roxie made some Kraft Bacon Mac & Cheese and canned corn.

2014 Cost of Camping:

1 night paid camping
1 night free camping
2 days this year
Total spent on camping this year: $40
Daily average cost of camping: $20