Wednesday Bobby (he goes by Robert now, but he will forever be Bobby to me) and Judy came down and we (Mary, Lew, my mother, Bobby & Judy) went to the beach. Actually, the Santa Monica pier. It was cold and blustery day. Walked on the pier, had lunch then walked over to Muscle Beach. After that mother and Lew headed back home and the rest of us went on down to Venice. Interesting place. Strange is a better word! then we headed back to Yucaipa, picked up our stuff and went up the hill to Victorville.
We played some pool. I handily won every game . . . well, ok I may have won a game and lost several by sinking the 8 ball a tad early!
Got up Thursday morning and got ready to go off on our hike. Bobby and I played a game of ping pong on his homemade ping pong table. He won, but talk about home cooking! Just before breakfast, he grabbed the orange juice and shook it. The cap flew off and he had orange juice all over him. I said it was his comeuppance for beating me in ping pong! The rest of us ate breakfast while he cleaned up, then loaded the car and headed off for the hike - to a place called Deep Creek.
I has asked Judy how long the ride was to this place. "Twenty minutes." If you are ever hanging out with Bobby and Judy (and I can recommend that!) and they ask you to go hiking with them, don't believe their travel estimate - it was more like 50 minutes! Anyway, we drove til the pavement ended and then on dirt roads for a while. I lived in Hawai'i so long that I still think the roads end shortly after you get off the main road. This one didn't - we went deeper and deeper into the desert. A question we asked, I sall land owned by somebody? Sort of sad to realize there is no more free land in the US.
We finally arrived at our destination, The Bowen Ranch. The sign said Stop but Bobby drove past and stopped. The man at the gate gave him what for for that. We paid our fee and embarked on our hike.
The hike was an 80 mile round trip. Our goal was the deep creek. It was downhill all the way (we were filled with fear and trepidation upon this realization). What a beautiful trip! The desert truly is beautiful, in it's own way, of course. It was also very green and not too hot. We made it to the creek in about an hour and a half. Ok, so it isn't actually 80 miles - but you do feel like it at the end.
It was amazing at the creek. A creek in the middle of the desert! There was a pond at one end and a group of people were hanging out there. They had on swim suits but we never saw them swimming. but they did have to go through the water to get to where they were. That water was awful cold... This national park is considered "clothing optional" and we did see a fellow in shirt and shoes. Only. Despite the appearance (at a distance) of the no clothing man, we ate lunch and hung around for a while. Then we headed back up.
And I do mean up. Just to get back to the trail involved a serious up what seemed like a 45 degree angle. Fortunately, there were some almost level stretches. We all kept wondering where the end of the trail was. Well, except Judy. She took a deep breath and took off! Must have been lonely waiting for the rest of us. But we all finally arrived at the car and headed back to their house. What a great trip. Thank you, Bobby and Judy!
And on the way back to their house we saw the most amazing site - a store with a sign that proclaimed, "Propane Liquor." Wow! We took a picture of that sign and the rest of the trip and posted them on my facebook page. We had a great time in Victorville with Bobby and Judy and then headed back down the hill to Yucaipa.
The next day I woke up and saw that there were 20ft waves at the Wedge. I was just at the beach the day before. "Shoulda been here tomorrow."
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