Joshua Tree + Knott's Berry Farm

  Tuesday

• It was like pulling teeth getting my family to do a vacay during Cliff's three days off this week (Juneteenth plus the quarterly 2 days). I'm all hyped up about National Parks and with Ada having her 4th grade pass.... Anyway, Last-minute settled on Joshua Tree. Even last-minute, there were quite a few cool looking airbnbs! I wanna come back.
• Left around 3pm. Stopped for dinner at Taco Bell near Cabazon then stopped at the dinosaurs. The kids loved them.
• Our place: Overall, nice place--loved having the hot tub and mini pool. Haaated the road noise (we were woken both nights from loud vehicles) as it was on a very busy high-speed road. Hated the pillows (down) and the bed/mattress--lumpy and sink-y. LOVED the pool table!! And the hammocks! (why were they in a separate area in the yard??)
• I hot tubbed, and it was the perfect temp at 103.

Wednesday

• Got breakfast at JT Country Kitchen. Even coffee shops here aren't open til 7. Def should bring beans next time to make at the house. The breakfast was just okay; coffee was terrible. DO want to come back for Cambodian food here as the owner is Cambodian.
• Stopped at the visitor's center and picked up junior ranger booklets. The kids were actually more excited about doing the activities/searching for things than I thought.
• Headed into Joshua Tree National Park. It was free to get in, for Juneteenth. Which is good, because after all of my stressing about using our pass before it expires, I freaking forgot to bring it on the trip.
• We hiked Barker Dam. The kids were very complainy but it was so prettyyyy. It was only 83 degrees. It def felt hot but not unbearable. Ryan touched a beavertail cactus in the first five minutes of our hike and was crying, saying he hates national parks. I was able to get the pokies out with tweezers when we got back to the car. We saw lizards, the tiniest squirrels, and petroglyphs.
• We drove around the park more; saw and took pics at the skull rock.
• Thought about doing Ryan Ranch hike quickly by myself but maybe we'll do it next time. The kids were adamant about not doing any more walking.... So...
• We bribed the kids with more screen time to do the Hidden Valley hike. This one was sliiightly shorter than the previous hike but also slightly less flat. Both are beautiful and I'd 100% do again. Joshua Tree is prettier than I even expected!
• Back to the visitor center and the kids got their Junior Ranger badges! I may have teared up slightly.
• Stopped to see the Invisible House we saw on a dumb travel show. The road is a bumpy dirt private road, but we went anyway.
• We stopped for grab & go lunch plus coffee at The Dez. Coffee good; quiche was meh, but soo many other things looked delicious there and I would return.
• Back at the house, the kids spent time in the pool. I got in for a bit when they were done.
• Played pool. Hammocked.
• Dinner at 2 Guys Pies pizza. It was just okay. I wish we'd tried the fancier Sky High Pie.

Thursday

• Cliff and Ryan brought coffee back from mas o menos which I guess was weird because it's a 21+ bar (might be fun for next time).
• Pioneertown. What a weird meta experience. It's a faux ghost town...but it felt like a true ghost town because almost no one was there... I'm glad we happened upon the petting zoo, which was a rather sad mishmash of chickens, turkeys, ducks, and two sheep.
• Drove to Knott's Berry Farm.
• Kiiiind of a disaster. It was just so hot/humid, and soo crowded. We grabbed pretzels and drinks for the kids when we first got there. Lines were so long at all the other real food places!
• Ryan was terrified on the first ride we went on (the Calico mine) because it was dark and some stupid teenagers kept screaming 'augh there's a drop!' This made him too scared to do ANYTHING, so from there on out he only wanted to do all the rigged carnival style games which cost EXTRA money. He also waited like 20-30 min to do bumper cars, and right when it was about to be his turn, they shut the ride down. I felt so bad for him!!
• Ada and I waited an hour for the water ride. Not worth it!
• We grabbed lunch er early dinner at Panda Express. All food lines were insane. Ada made me go on the spinny thing after eating, which was sketchy. Did some more carnival things then the slow spinning sky tower thing which actually was a nice break--no line when we went AND it was airconditioned. Ada and I also waited to do the airplane swings.
• We left around 6:30; stopped for dessert at one of the shops on the way out. Not very good.

For next time:

Knot's Berry Farm:

• Nvidia ticketsatwork and AAA are basically the same discount. We SHOULD have added the fastpass thing.
• The app SUCKS and we had terrible service anyway. Don't believe wait times. I like the IDEA of Knott's (lovvvve the western vibes) and love that it's so much smaller/more manageable than Disneyland. I just wish the prices reflected that it's not fucking Disney! The food was insanely priced. Cliff said Disney would be even pricier but I dunno... I think you can find a decent-er meal than an $18 hot dog (for example) at Disney! Like Disney, the food is, not surprisingly, just mediocre.
• I'm so sad I didn't get to go on the wooden roller coaster. Or ANY roller coaster for that matter!
• Cliff noted that a lot of the shows and rides were closed.

Joshua Tree:

• I feel like we didn't explore the town enough. But my overall impression is that it's a budget Palm Springs. Lots of worn-out thin/sickly looking tattooed men seem to occupy this town. There are so many cool, funky-looking dwellings here, so I think we could find a really neat airbnb to make it worth our while to return.
• Crochet museum!
• Vintage/thrift shops (lots in Joshua Tree)
• Sky High Pie