On the third leg of our road trip went we drove five hours from temperate, cool San Luis to the pleasnt 100+ degree Mojave Desert to visit my brother. The drive was quick and early on Sunday evening we were greeted by two beautiful children running out the front door to greet us.
Ky (7) and Abbey (5) greeted us with hugs and colored drawings stating, "I love Uncle Luke" and "I love Aunt Katie." It was awesome.
The next day Zack and I drove to LAX to pick up my parents from the airport. This was a big deal for two important reasons: 1) The Birge family is rarely able visit at the same time (the last time this happened was at our wedding). 2) LAX was 2 hours away and it was a good time for the Birge boys to bond (including Ky).
We made the necessary stop at the world-famous Happy Cooker in Morongo Valley (equally world-famous as the city of my birth). The Happy Cooker is the only real business to find success in Morongo Valley, most likely due to its strong ad campaign: Beer Tacos.
If you have never been to LAX, don't go and don't use map quest to get directions. We managed to meet my parents in time and the reunion was wonderful. We broke the trip back up by stopping at Denny's in West Covina in order to avoid horrid traffic. Stopping at Denny's is always a gamble and this one was no exception. The air conditioning didn't work and the food was laced in the grease that Denny's has become famous for.
The next day Katie and I went camping in the desert with Zack and his wife, Charla. Now there are several ways to camp in Joshua Tree. The first is to go into the National Monument and pay for a plot near some enormous rocks and other campers. The second is to pay for another plot elsewhere in the desert off the road somewhere. The third is to drive as far as you can into the desert in a 4-wheel drive truck and then, upon finding a suitable spot, setting up your campsite. The third option is the only way my brother camps and we were anxious to try it out.
I have only tried to camp in the middle of nowhere once before (and it ended badly with a man yelling at us as we inadvertently wound up on his front lawn--long story), and I was excited to try it with some pros. We found a spot near a natural spring north of Joshua Tree. The desert has its own unique beauty and it is amazing to see what just a minimal amount of water can accomplish.
These trees are unique to this area and really quite amazing in real life.
Here is the spring of water, enjoyed by my brother in true Birge fashion.
Camping in the middle of the desert was quite an experience and a little unnerving at night. All in all, it was really fun and I hope to make it a tradition every time we head out to see my brother.
The day we got back was swimming and homemade pizza day. A swimming pool is one of the only ways to spend a large amount of time outdoors in the desert. Ky and Abbey made us proud by their fearless attitude toward the water and we had a great time swimming with them. Now a note on the pizza: The Birges make things from scratch. As far back as I can remember I was told that making things was always better than buying them. So with my mom making her famous bread as the crust, the rest of us piled on the toppings of our choice and enjoyed some always-good-for-you gorging on pizza. There are fewer finer things, and we Birges enjoy only the finest things.
The next day Katie and I had to leave. It was emotional to say the least. The kids were sad to see us go, and we were sad to leave knowing that we would not see my family for at least another year. We did manage to get a family picture.
So mom, dad, Zack, Charla, Ky and Abbey, when you read this just know that we love you very much!
1 comment:
Luke, you and your Dad look like mirror images in that picture! I swear you have the exact same smiles.
Alison
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