I can't believe that we have been here for 2 1/2 weeks. We leave for LasVegas on Thursday. We did 3 hikes the past couple of weeks each one completely different. The first was at the south eastern end of Joshua Tree National Park which lies in the Colorado Desert. There we hiked 8 miles including some boulder scrambling until we reached a canyon oasis with the largest stands of fan palms in the park. Later that week we went to the western half of the park which is in the Mojave Desert and 3,000 feet above sea level. This is where we saw the famous wild-armed Joshua trees. We hiked to 5461 feet which was about a 1,000 foot climb on Ryan's Mountain and at the top we had a panoramic view of the valley covered with Joshua trees. Our pictures just don't do justice to the beautiful landscape. Yesterday we had a completely dfferent hike on the Santa Rosa Mountains. There the desert is very rocky and covered with sagebrush. The washes were full of a rocky sand that made the walking a real workout and we came out covered in dirt. We earned our beer that night. Now we are headed to Las Vegas to try our luck!