Desert Road Trippin’
A blog about desert road trips and tips.
By Lynn Bremner
After spending my first summer in the desert heat, I found myself wondering what people do for fun when it is 110 F or higher? After a couple of weekends spent inside the house I began to get a little stir crazy. The phrase “cabin fever” took on a whole new meaning for me. I couldn’t afford to travel to the coast each weekend, so I had to find some fun things to do in Coachella Valley.
After asking numerous desert residents what they do to keep busy on the weekends, it became evident that a blog with suggestions of summer activities for the locals would be helpful to others as well. I also discovered that many residents of the Coachella Valley had never visited Joshua Tree National Park or Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.
Summer has since ended and I am just now getting started on my blog. Since I like to hike and visit state and national parks I came up with the Desert Road Trippin’ idea: a blog that will feature activities for desert residents and visitors that highlights points of interests, parks, trails and other activities that you can accomplish in a half or full day. Travel tips, ideas for beating the heat and some indoor events will also be featured.
A Little About Me
It is hard to remember exactly when I experienced my first road trip into the desert. I must have been about 12 years old (in the 70’s) when my Dad first became interested in rock hounding and gold prospecting. He would take our family on prospecting trips in his 4WD CJ 5 Jeep.
One of the most memorable rockhounding excursions was our first trip to Wiley’s Well in search of the elusive Hauser Geode Beds. The excitement of searching for the location of the geode beds was quite an adventure.
During this trip it felt like we were on a modern day treasure hunt. It was late afternoon when we finally discovered the location of the geodes. We climbed out of the Jeep and started to dig. The excitement we felt as we extracted our first geode renewed our energy. An hour or so later we had filled a bucket with geodes and we couldn’t get the huge smiles to fade from our faces. We found the treasure! It was this feeling that hooked my family on a life-long, treasure-seeking journey.
Time has passed and our family has branched out to three different cities. I have recently moved from San Diego to Indio, CA, just east of Palm Springs. I am now a desert-dweller. My Dad teases me about this fact. The desert has always been his passion. Mine is still horses, but I’ve grown to love the desert too. I no longer scan the desert floor for rocks and minerals. Instead I keep my eyes focused on the trail ahead as I hike the through the desert hills and take in the beautiful landscape that surrounds me. For me, the desert represents solitude. A quiet place where the daily grind is left behind and I can really connect with the world around me.
