Red Rock Canyon

The next day's adventure got off to a slow start but we eventually made our way to Red Rock Canyon. Boy was it hot there! You could just feel the heat beating down on you--okay it wasn't exactly that hot but it sure felt warmer than we are used to!

We started at the visitors center:

Mara found a giant chuckwalla-just like the one we saw the day before!
Nate talked to the ranger and found a slot canyon for us to hike that would be a great place with a little shade....but first we wanted to eat a picnic lunch.

We asked for a cool shady place and Nate reminded us we were in the desert--there wasn't such a thing! But we found a great spot in the cool of the shade and had a marvelous meal. Caleb even found a few dirt and rocks to eat under the picnic table! (Sorry no pictures of the meal--it was too crazy trying to feed everyone and eat!)

As we drove to the hiking spot it was right around the time for nap time. The kids were a little tired especially Caleb who looked like he was ready to pass out. So we pulled up and looked at the trail head. I nearly passed out myself, thinking of the hot temperatures and hiking right during the middle of the day--we would have had to hike a fair distance before we even got to the slot canyon, and Caleb would be fast asleep in the backpack instead of the carseat. We also still had a good 5 hour drive ahead of us so my vote was to skip the hike keep driving. My mom who was with us (my dad drove on to LA to be with his brothers) also vetoed the hike. Nate was rather disappointed and a bit upset that we drove all the way out to Red Rocks to only have a picnic. (I'm sorry Nate it turned out that way, hope we've been forgiven!)

So our one and only family shot at Red Rock National Conservation- hot and hikeless!

It did work out better however that we skipped out on the hike, for one good reason: we went on an hour detour in the WRONG direction!
Let me explain: As we were driving towards LA, mapquest as well as a few certain brothers told us to take the Pear Blossom Highway to avoid the LA traffic. And so we followed the signs as well as the directions from mapquest and turned on what we thought was the right highway. An HOUR later we are in booneyville. Somewhere we have no idea where, until we see a sign that says welcome (back) to Barstow!! We had driven a complete circle. Nate and I thought we were driving north but couldn't be sure, after we saw the sign we knew we had taken a wrong turn somewhere.
So we filled up with gas, grabbed a bite to eat at In and Out Burger and started over in Barstow.
By the time we made it to Uncle Blake's the kids (and adults) were so excited and ready to be out of the car they could hardly stand it! Blake took us to the racquetball court where we let the kids RUN! They had so much fun chasing the racquetball and yelling and laughing. It was good to see Uncle Blake, Scott, and Aunt Lorisa and we were now ready for the real fun of the vacation to begin!