Joshua Tree - Nick

11/26/17

Yesterday we slept in and did homework in the morning. Then I drove my remote control car around for a while. Then we had lunch and went to Joshua Tree National Park Visitor Center. We asked what there was to do in the park and they gave us a few suggestions. Then we came home and had chow mein for dinner.

The Joshua Trees are very unique

11/27/17

Yesterday we moved our camper to a site that was only 20 minutes away. We moved there because it was a way nice spot. When we got there a man came over and talked to my parents for 3 ½ hours. It got really boring. He was nice but he just kept talking. When he left we went to a airport that had some gliders that we got to look at and sit in. Then we came home, had dinner and watched the Packer game. We lost.

11/28/17

Yesterday we did a 6 mile hike through Joshua Tree. The Joshua Trees were really cool. They looked like a pineapple on a really long stem. The rock formations were also cool. We had lunch on the hike. After the hike we went to the Visitor Center. After that we came home and had dinner.

This is a Beaver Tail cactus

11/29/17

Yesterday we worked on our generator for a while. We finally decided it was broken beyond repair. We went into town to get a new one. It took a really long time to find one. When we finally found one we came home, ate dinner and read Harry Potter.

Andi is sometimes mean on our hikes...

11/30/2017

Yesterday we had a lazy morning. Then we drove for 1 hour to get to a hike. It was a 7 mile hike to a desert oasis. A desert oasis is a place in a desert where water gathers. There were lots of pretty, colorful plants in the oasis. The hike there was also really pretty. When we got back home we had dinner and went to bed.

12/1/2017

Yesterday we did the 49 Palms Oasis hike. It was 3 miles and it went to a desert oasis. There were tons of palm trees where the water gathered. They all had charred trunks from a campfire that got out of control. Then we did a Ranger Talk that was about another oasis. It was just like the other one. The ranger talked about the different kinds of animals that used the water from the oasis. Then we went to a store to get a few things. Then we came home and watched the first Harry Potter movie.

Hiking in Joshua Tree National Park

12/2/2017

Yesterday we went over to some people we met a few days earlier. They were flying model airplanes (remote control planes). They even let us fly them. One went 60 mph. By the time we were done I was getting pretty good. One guy crashed his plane at full throttle straight into the rock hard ground. The propeller almost hit his head. Then we had lunch. After lunch we went to a hangar where the RC pilots work on their real planes. We got to sit in some of them. They were really cool. Then we did laundry and dumped our tanks. After that we came home and had dinner.

12/3/2017

Yesterday I rode my motor bike in the morning. It was really fun until I ran over a nail and popped my front tire. We couldn’t fix it at the time because we didn’t have a tire patching kit. Then we went on a hike up to Ryan Mountain. It was a three mile hike up to the top of Ryan Mountain. We went up 1033 feet. The view from the top was amazing. We could see mountains and rock formations all around us. After that we did a few more hikes including Skull Rock. That was a short hike to a rock that looked like a skull. Then we went to Walmart to get a few things. Finally we ate dinner and watched Harry Potter 2.

12/4/2017

Yesterday we watched the Packer game in the morning. We won! After the game we went to a private airport. The RC pilots had a few planes there including a glider that we were going to get to fly in. We drove over to the runway. Andi went first. She got into the glider, which was tiny. It was made to seat 2 people with no room to spare. She was flying in the glider with one of the pilots and the other was in the tow plane. The tow plane is a plane with an engine that towed the glider up to a certain height because gliders don’t have engines. Once you get to a certain height you disconnect from the tow plane and glide down. Andi’s flight lasted about 15 minutes. Once she got back down, I got into the cockpit. Take-off was really fun. Since the glider was lighter than the tow plane, you bot up in the air before the tow plane, but then got pulled back down. Once we took off we went up to 5,000 feet before disconnecting from the tow plane. Going up we hit some really rough, windy spots. It was like being on a roller coaster in those parts. We were going all over the place. After we disconnected, the pilot let me fly!! It was actually kind of easy. I got to control pitch and roll. Pitch is where the nose goes up and down. Roll is where one wing or the other goes down when you turn. The pilot did yaw because I could not reach those controls. Yaw is where the nose of the plane goes left and right. The pilot also showed me what stalling is. It is where you go up too steep and lose too much speed and you just fall for a while. It was really cool. I actually flew for most of the flight. The pilot just did landing and take-off. When it was time to land the pilot landed us. Then I got out of the plane. I had a great time! It was one of my favorite things we’ve done on the trip. My flight took 19 minutes. After me, Mom went. It was fun to watch the glider. Dad did not go. He does not like heights. Once Mom got down, we thanked them, paid them and said bye. They were really nice. When we got back to the camper I rode my motor bike and popped another tire. We decided not to ride on the road anymore. (We didn’t think there were quite enough nails to pop two tires in two days, but we were wrong.) Then we had dinner. After dinner we played laser tag and played dominoes.

Getting ready to fly the glider!!

12/5/17

Yesterday after breakfast we packed up our camper and started driving to our next site. At lunch time we got burgers at Carl’s Junior. Then we kept driving. When we got to our site we set up our camper. Then Andi and I rode bikes and played at the playground. Finally we had dinner and went to bed.