Weekend trip to Joshua Tree: When pandemic reality sets in

Friday, December 10th I picked up my kids in my Tesla and set out on a 3-hour 113-mile journey to Yucca Valley in shitty traffic. This is the first time I've traveled long distance with my Tesla, and naturally, I felt anxious about when and how I'd charge my car battery. The beautiful thing is the Tesla monitor maps out all charging stations in the vicinity with kWh output. kWh data is important because the higher the charging station kWh, the quicker you can charge your car and go about your business. 

More than halfway to our destination (an AirBnb), we stopped at a 13 kWh Tesla charging station. I plugged in and we walked to Chick-Fil-A - no dine-in allowed - so we turned to neighboring MacDonald's and that's when pandemic reality set in:

• Elin and I ordered crispy chicken sandwiches, and to our surprise, the young register attendant had to get her supervisor to help punch it in. Are you kidding me?!  This was a major menu item. If you can't enter that on your register screen, what can you do on the register?

• Not 5 minutes after we sat down, an irate customer ranted about how many times and how often this MacDonald's gets his order wrong, and how he'll be late back to work after his lunch hour (who eats lunch at 5:30 p.m.??). He asked (paraphrasing), 'how can you possibly f*ck up every day when I order the same thing?'

• What seemed like eons later, the attendant brought our food in a paper bag. Wha?? We'd told her it was for dine-in. Then we discovered they'd given us two sweet and sour sauce packets when we'd asked for five. I got up to get sauce reinforcements and napkins before I realized the napkin dispensers were empty - ALL OF THEM!

• And on and on it went, capped by no soap in the men's restroom and the lock in one of the stalls in the women's restroom didn't lock.

I couldn't believe how awfully this store was run, until I realized pandemic! Since the pandemic, there has been a worker shortage, and workers quitting in the droves. So likely the staff there was shorthanded and trained hastily.

It was dark and we drove the rest of the way not being able to enjoy the scenery.  We arrived at the Airbnb in Yucca Valley Yuna had reserved, a 10 minute drive to Joshua Tree National Park.  34 years in the U.S. and I hadn't visited any National Parks until this year; Sequoia and now Joshua Tree!  The Airbnb was a sizeable 2-bedroom with lotsa artsy fartsy stuff in it.  The owner, an artist, had sprinkled her creativity throughout the property.  The temperature was painfully cold outside, and we were elated to be inside and quickly settled.  The next morning (Saturday), we had breakfast and drove to a local healthy eatery to pick up the food we had ordered online.  We took the food with us to the Park before we stopped at the National Park information center to obtain a parking pass and guidance on exploring the park.

From Google:

Joshua Tree National Park is a vast protected area in southern California. It's characterized by rugged rock formations and stark desert landscapes. Named for the region’s twisted, bristled Joshua trees, the park straddles the cactus-dotted Colorado Desert and the Mojave Desert, which is higher and cooler. Keys View looks out over the Coachella Valley. Hiking trails weave through the boulders of Hidden Valley.

We entered the park and stopped at various places for bouldering.  We ate lunch on a giant rock.  Yuna's sandwich had excessive alpha sprouts which made her feel like she was grazing.  Elin and Johanna climbed rocks every chance they got.  We decided against stargazing - one cool activity in the Park - because of low nighttime temperatures, plus we'd have to stay in the park for a few hours more, and we'd already rock climbed enough yo.

We stopped at a supermarket on the way back to buy ingredients for dinner, then headed home to relax, shower etc.  After the nice dinner Yuna prepared, we played Scrabble and discussed plans for the following day.

We checked out around 10-11 a.m., went to Sagebrush Press Bookstore, only to find out they're closed
on Sundays, so we headed to Space Cowboys Books instead where Elin bought a bunch of used books for cheap, and I bought a native-American looking runner in the adjacent store.

For lunch, we drove up a highway to a remote area restaurant called Pappy and Harriet's where they serve food for dine-in only, no takeout, no deliveries, and also short-staffed because of pandemic.

From Wikepdia:

Billboard Magazine named Pappy & Harriet's one of the Top Ten Hidden Gems in the Country in its 2012 Best Clubs issue. The club attracts artists and
musicians from all over the world.

NY Times Magazine featured Pappy and Harriet's in its 2013 article "Listen Up | In The California Desert, A One Of A Kind Music Venue Blossoms."

The wait was sorta long, and we had to bunch up on the bench near the entrance like a buncha iguanas to keep ourselves warm.  The food was good, and the atmosphere Westernish.  Service was slow, like everywhere else nowadays.  We left after an hour and a half or so there, dropped off Yuna at her car by Sagebrush Press Bookstore and headed back home.

On the way back, there was expected traffic slowdown, but not exactly what we saw on the side of the freeway.  What are the odds a car ends up in a resting position such as this?  I hope the people in it weren't injured badly.  There was infinitely less traffic on the way back on a Sunday afternoon, than on our way to Yucca Valley on a Friday evening.

We stopped at the same charging station and saw this feline relaxing on top of his/her owner's car.  Elin rated the trip as a 9.5 out of 10, and Johanna was too pooped to properly assess the trip.  Her ratings are generally unforgiving, but later she rated the trip a 7.  The most favorite part of the trip was climbing boulders.

A View To A Kill

A view to a kill from
my balcony

The morning of Sunday, November 7th, marked the end of daylight savings time, and the day of reckoning for my ultra-stinky Adidas tennis shoes.  The complaints about these shoes had reached a critical juncture and I could no longer ignore the people closest to me.  I opened my 2nd floor balcony screen door and tossed the pair of shoes on to the concrete below.  I didn't even accord them the dignity of walking downstairs and placing them into the community trash can on their transition to their final resting place.

A little about how we got here.... these shoes were purchased on what seems like an eternity ago.  Typically, I use my tennis shoes for 6 months before holes develop on one or both sides around my big toe area.  Like the Energizer bunny, these pluckers kept going, and if it weren't for the abhorrent smell, I'd have worn them for a few more months.  I don't have smelly feet, yet, for a long time I couldn't figure out why these shoes smelled so transcendently foul.  It was likely because of lack of breathable fabric.

"In 1998, Pamela Dalton, a cognitive psychologist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, was tasked with developing a stink bomb for the Department of Defense. Her experiments found that people from different backgrounds and different parts of the world, who grew up smelling and eating different things, often completely disagreed about which smells were good or bad," NY Times "What's the World's Worst Smell?  Some odors are more heinous than others.  Then there's my Adidas shoes, Feb. 17, 2020"

Well, Ms. Dalton need not search for a universally accepted "World's Worst Smell" any longer.  After every tennis match, I would drive home, take my shoes off and put them outside in my balcony.  Then I would get the 3rd degree from whoever was in my car for the next few days - usually my two daughters - especially when I turned the A/C on.  When the deed was done, my elder daughter thanked my girlfriend for convincing me to discard the shoes as a "service to mankind".

June 5, 2022 update:

The next batch, also stinky but nowhere near the legendary one above.  Bye bye COVID companion:

Pandemic creates new opportunities

Above, birthday gift from my elder daughter.  Much prefer that than something like this when I get even older:

Sequoia trip – June 27th through July 1st, 2021

I took this picture yo

Our 4-day trip to YMCA Camp Sequoia Lake, a 10-minute drive to Sequoia park via King’s Canyon entrance: This has been a one-week annual trip for my step-mom and her family/friends for over 30 years. This year, one of her daughters dropped out so me and my daughters got slotted in. We were bench players to a starting lineup of friends and family who knew each intimately at the camp.

We set out on Sunday morning, June 27th for a 5-hour drive to our destination, and world war 3 quickly ensued. As a part of camp check-in paperwork, we needed to document our body temperature readings for the 14 days leading up to arrival day. Hanna was designated this task since she can read and write in the car without nausea. The weekdays on the worksheet were not aligned to Sunday as the last day, so we need to get creative. After a healthy 3-way shouting match, we resolved the conundrum and drove 2.5 hours to an In N Out before Bakersfield, and what a super spreader event it was. This is during a period when COVID-19 restrictions were relaxed because of vaccinations, but at the onset of the Delta variant which was evading the vaccine some, and wreaking havoc on some of the countries that were previously successful in containing the virus, e.g. Israel.

After we arrived at camp, we unloaded a buncha stuff, including sleeping bags to be used as blankets, and pillows - these were not provided at the camp. A short time later, at 5:30, dinner was served. At this camp, breakfast, lunch and dinner were included. Our cabin (or apartment as they were referred to), had a bathroom and shower, considered VIP of the lodging space there. Many other cabins had no toilet or shower; residents had to use communal facilities.

Day 2: Monday morning after breakfast, the girls and I joined the climbing wall event which was a 10-minute walk from camp. In our group, there were four kids and me, so naturally, I felt the pressure to perform. Elin and I were the only ones to climb the 3-story high wall, and twice. On the way back, we encountered prisoners in orange jumpsuits doing forest maintenance work. One had a chainsaw and turned it on as we passed by.

Day 3: Tuesday. High rope obstacle course, no prisoners on the return trail – I was hoping I’d take a selfie with one. We kayaked in the lake and returned to the lake later for a memorable directionless rowing stint with my dad, stepmom and kids in a boat. It took all our energy as we tag teamed to the middle of the lake and back in an embarrassing display of rowing skills. My dad complained that I splashed him a couple of times when he did the same to me earlier.

The Fallen Monarch

Day 4: Wednesday. Sequoia national park, archery and no swim across the lake because it was scheduled at 10:30 a.m. during our Sequoia visit, plus I lost interest. Sequoia trees are the largest trees in the world, straight out of Lord of the Rings. We followed a tour guide, a 59 year old female (male? Couldn’t tell for sure), and he/she had lots of interesting stories about these trees and Sequoia national park. The wood from huge old-growth giant sequoia trees does not make good lumber, despite its resistance to decay, because it is brittle and has little strength. That, and legal protection has preserved these trees over centuries. They can live as long as 3,000 years, slightly older than our current president (Joe Biden). The fallen tree in the picture to the right  called the Fallen Monarch is 26 feet in diameter and 80 feet long, and was hollowed out by fire before it fell who knows how long ago. It was turned into a hotel and saloon in the 1800s by the Gamlin brothers. It was used for other purposes over time, e.g. as a shelter by native Americans prior to the Gamlins, then the Gamlins lived in it for a couple of years from 1870 to 1872 until one bro got married and his wife said something to the effect of, “no way Jose, we’re not living in this dump. Let’s get a cabin built nearby, which Thomas or Israel (her husband) obliged.

Day 5: Thursday. Ate breakfast, packed and left. On the way back, I asked the kids what they rate the trip on a scale of 1 to 10. Elin said 8.5, Hanna 7.25. Hanna’s rating was reduced because I was harsh to her that morning for packing too slowly – she often stares into the abyss motionless when she’s tasked with something she abhors.

Floyd's rental and the tree he introduced it to

During our stay, we met an affable gentleman by the name of Floyd who would tell us interesting stories about himself during lunches and dinners.  One of the more interesting stories was about his wrecking of his rental car during our week of stay.  He hit the gas pedal instead of brake and hit the tree in front of him - see picture.  In his youth, Floyd was drafted by an MLB team, but before he played in the majors he nearly paralyzed himself during a run/drop kick to home base.  His baseball career ended right then and there with a year of physical therapy to follow.

I should mention the kids and I played cards at nights in the cabin, and backgammon with my dad almost on a daily basis (I never lost a match). In fact, my dad refused to play for money after he lost the first two sets for $5 each. I lost almost every game of Spot-It with Elin, but dominated Stress (card game), and Brooklyn Poker was a toss-up. Davie, my step-mom’s grandson showed up in our cabin the first night and informed us by tradition, we’d be playing a week-long game of Monopoly, put the board on the table and left, never to be seen again in our cabin. Whatevs….

Elin stuck on zipline at the end of high rope obstacle course, Day 3