Well we were up early this morning. I felt really tired after only two hours sleep but after being in the back of a Hummer for 10 minutes in the freezing cold I was definitely awake. It wasn't so much cold, despite being 8.15 in the morning, it was the wind chill factor. We were sitting in the back row of an open air hummer and with the car doing 40 mph and it being a windier day than usual it was pretty cool.
The guy who gave us the tour was a nice enough bloke. Bit of a ladies man - probably because most of his clientel are women over 40. He did say something funny when referring to the geological plates - he said 'Magma" in the Dr Evil voice.
But yeah it was the tour guide, 4 tennis wives, the tour guides female friend, and Shez and myself. Our first stop was at a group odf palm trees where the american and pacific plates met - aka The San Andreas fault line. There was a fair bti of water around here, which i guess makes sense considering there is minimal crust to prevent water from rising to the surface. In the little water pools there were tiny fish. A guy actually lived in a hut out here for 60 years (from 1932-1992).
We then headed up into Joshua Tree National Park. We drove along what was once the Colorado river which fed Los Angeles. It turns out that ages ago 4 rivers from teh hills went west towards L.A while south the Grand Canyon was formed. Now most of the water is underground. Driving through here it was like driving thruogh a wasteland. It was Mordor revisited with loose stones, rocks and really grey dirt.
We had seen this kind of landscape last time we were out in the desert, but this was the first time we had seen it up close. Along this river bed you could see where an aqueduct was built, and we also saw a mountain lion den.
The river bed eventually split in two - as we were steadily climbing - starting at about 1000 feet above sea level we would climb up to about 3500 feet. We needed to get up this high to get into Joshua Tree's natioonal habitat -they don't grow below 3000 feet.
If you were running this tour you would have to love 4wdrivnig - theonkly thing was - it wasn't really anything too tough. The hummer only came into its own in one section. The hummer has a unique advantage over other 4wd's because it has 4 axles as opposed to just 2. This means more traction even when going over really uneven terrain. But any 4wd could have navigated our trail - i think the Hummer was more used because it can move around 10 people..
Ninja!
We got out at one point and then climnbed a hill on foot to get a nice view of the surrounds. Sherry and I were a little disappointed by the tour - it was pretty lame - needed more decent 4wdriving and some cooler things to see.
When in the desert watch out for pricks and cougars
On the way back a Volvo wagon was caning down the track - we only hoped that they stopped before they got to the one tricky part of the track where having a fourbie is a must. Sure enough they had stopped in time and were turning around just before that point.
The stupid canopy on the car that was there, i guess for sun protection, was really giving us the irrates. It was really loose and in the wnid kept on flicking us in the face really hard. When we got out on the open road a combination of the wind and an extra hard flicking sent my sunglasses flying. I alsmost saved them. I had them, I didn't have, I have them, and then smash, To rub salt into the wounds I then got flicked by the canopy right on the eyelid. Yeah - keen to get out of the humvie.
The last shot of me with the aviator's. Farewell Sunglasses. Thou hast served well.
We were covered in dust when we got back to the hotel, but we had time for a quick shower before late checkout. We then thought we'd get somer lunch. Sherry had to setup the IMS exhibit by 4pm so it would be a tight squeeze.
We went to Little Carl's which make nearly even better burgers than In&Out. They have too many options here though. You can either get Mexican (which did look good) or just simple burgeres (like the Big Carl which is cheaper and better than a Big Mac) or Gourmet burgers which is what we had. I had a Shitaki mushroom burger and it was 'to die for' haha. Nah it was really nice. The $5 burgers are just massive. The chips were even better here. At In and Out they were all natural but jsut tasted of nothing. Here at Carl Jnr's they tasted like potato skins - kind of liek the ones Sherry makes.
Befoer this we'd driven through some industrial area looking for a diner so time was slipping away, then carl's our burgers took ages to come, then we went looking for a basketball magazine. Drug store no go, Borders - missing, okay lets go to the hotel - ah there's Borders. So I ran in after not finding a park and bought Sporting News bball which previewed the season and a copy of an NFL Newspaper. We then drove up to the hotel. Whew! okay lets get through the boom gate - unloaded the marketing material - park the car - setup. Gawd! Enough stress for me for the day.
We checked into the hotel. Our room was sweet with a nice pattio area with a good view of the mini golf course, the fir\e pit and a couple of holes of the main golf course. All i can remember doing that night was editing basketball teams. I was prety knackered. Sherry ahd to go for a meet and greet down at the convention area.
Oh yeah - thats right - we all went out for tea. It was pretty swish, we were dining with Darryl, Leslie and some of their felllow exhibitors. It was all a bit unexpected to all of a sudden be dining with mature professionals. Let me put that cap on. Yes! It still does just fit. Sherry and I shared an appetizer where we basically had to lick the plate to eat it - I then had Lobster ravioli as a main. Not much of it but really nice.
They were all really nice people, 3 of them from one company similar to Research reporter, but based in Boston. The other lady who was there was from a town halfway between Boston and New York - I think New Hampshire? But yeah - what a dilemna to be from there. 1/2 way between two really fierce rivals. People would be barracking for either team. I can imagine a lot of street fights going on there if it wasn't for the cold weather. Riverside!....
We then had 'a night cap'. So yeah drinks and merryment continued on until around 11.30. Then back to the hotel room and bed.
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