The Wiltbank Family: April 2010

We had planned to go camping in Joshua Tree National Park with our friends Mike, Christian, Matt, and Hollie the weekend after Easter. It was a distaster before it even started, but us die-hards ignored all the "signs" and insisted on going anyway. First, on Thursday (the day before we were leaving) I woke up with a soar throat. I went to work, but came home shortly after with the body aches and shivers. Yup, the flu bug got me. So I put my on my sweats and went to bed hoping that I would feel better in the morning, and I did. But then we learned Friday morning that Mike got food poisoning and was sick all night. He too insisted he would be better by the afternoon when it was time to go. Finally, it's 6:00 pm and Mike, Christian, Devin and I are taking the 4X4 entrance through Berdoo Canyon. Little did we know that as we're on our way, Matt and Hollie had already arrived at the Joshua Tree main entrance and were told that the park was completely full! (Unfortunately, they don't take reservations and apparently it was still Spring break.) So by the time we got cell phone reception back and heard their message, they were already headed home. Now it's pitch dark out, there are no campsites left, and we are on side of the road wondering what to do next. Then a park ranger pulled over and told us that the only place available for us to camp was on some dirt road just south of the Cottonwood station (which is right off the I-10 freeway back near where we live). We decided it was worth a try at this point. Finally, we find a vacant spot and start pitching our tents.

Of course we just bought a brand new tent and didn't practice putting it together ahead of time so we stumbled around in the dark for a long time, put it together wrong, toar it all down and started over again. Luckily Kayla stayed asleep in the car until we were ready. It was probably close to midnight by the time we were all set up and got the campfire going. Ahhhh! After a long day, we're finally able to relax and enjoy the great outdoors!

I LOVE our new tent (now that we know how it works)! It's tall enough to stand up in and the sleeping area is big enough for our queen size air mattress, Kayla's pack-n-play, and more! It was warm enough that we didn't put on the rain cover so we could stare at the stars while we laid in bed. That was pretty awesome.

Here's our first look of our campsite in the morning.

And our lovely view of the I-10 traffic ahead.

Kayla picking desert flowers.

As we were cooking breakfast, a security guard stopped to tell us that we couldn't camp there and that we had to move to the next site over. Apparently we had set up camp within 65 feet of an underground water canal which isn't allowed. (Too bad they couldn't post a sign to warn us!)The thought of taking down our tents only to set up a few feet away seemed ridiculous, but we weren't ready for our desert adventure to be over yet! So we decided to pack up and take another 4x4 drive for fun. While we were busy loading up the cars, Kayla was inspecting the ants crawling around in the dirt.

We found the trail off of Box Canyon Rd that leads to Hotel California (a cabin some hippie built in the late '70s out in the middle of nowhere). Kayla napped in the car while we got out to check it out.

It was pretty cool to see, but totally gross inside (full of rat poop)!

Here's Mike and Devin thinking about climbing up to that fox hole (which of course they eventually did).

It's a pretty busy tourist attraction, so we continued up to the end of the road that sits on a ledge looking down at the back of Hotel California. We put a tarp across the tops of our cars to make a nice shady spot to hang out. All day long we watched other people drive up to check out Hotel California. It was a beautiful day to be outside. Here's Kayla chillin' on her Disney Princess camping chair waiting for lunch to be served.

Playing kick with the little beach ball she got on Easter.

And picking more desert flowers.

So it wasn't the greatest trip ever, but it turned out to not be so bad either. We made the best of it and at least we got to do what we set out to do: camp (even it was just for one night).

My friend Nicole's husband works at the Desert Springs Marriot so we got passes to attend their big Easter Event! It was a beautiful day and the front entrance lawn was covered with Easter eggs. The whole place was decorated with cool stuff. Here we are waiting for the Easter Bunny to arrive.

It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's the Easter Bunny! As an airplane flew above us, the Easter Bunny jumped out and parachuted down right in front of us! It was the most spectacular thing we'd ever seen!

As soon as the Easter Bunny landed, all the kids made a mad dash for the eggs! It was chaos and Kayla didn't know what to do. So I grabbed some eggs and put them in her basket for her.

She was perfectly happy with just this one pink egg and she held onto it all day.

They had pony rides, but the line was way too long so we skipped them and went straight for Kayla's favorite, the petting zoo! She loved petting the sheep. They also had a goat, piglets, ducks, chicks, and bunnies.

We couldn't leave without taking our picture with the Easter Bunny! Too bad Kayla was terrified and screamed the whole time. I can't blame her though, he was kind of creepy-looking.

They had a bunch of cool displays perfect for taking photos. As I was trying to get Kayla to pose for a picture, she decided to karate kick the prop over. I couldn't help but laugh. It was so funny!

Ahhhhh, this is much better.

This was the best picture I got of Kayla and Connor together. He didn't like the basket and started freaking out. Then Kayla started crying too. That's when we knew it was time to go. But we had so much fun!