Another day we went with our friends, Darrell and Malia, to visit the hot springs and the China Ranch Date Farm in California. None of us knew exactly how to get there (GPS is VERY spotty in the desert!). However, another friend, Renee, had been there before and knew the way. Renee was our “tour guide” for the day. She imparted a lot of knowledge about the area all day.
Here are somephotos of the desert scenery we saw throughout the day.
First stop: the hot springs. Delight’s Hot Springs Resort and Tecopa Hot Springs and Resort are both located in Tecopa, CA. We looked at a hot spring out in the middle of the desert first. Then we looked at one of the resorts.
Here are some photos of Delight’s Hot Springs Resort.
On to the China Date Farm! The drive through the desert was beautiful. In order to get to the date farm we had to drive down a very narrow road with high hills on each side. It felt like we were driving through a gauntlet!
Needless to say, the date farm and hot springs were VERY interesting. We had a great day!
After all the Christmas chaos with family, we headed west from Aubrey, TX, to the great state of Nevada. We arrived at NevadaTreasures RV Resort, Pahrump, Nevada, on Jan. 10. Some RV friends from Wisconsin were also there for the winter. We looked forward to reconnecting with them.
As soon as we arrived, we both came down with COVID. It must have been the omicron variant because our symptoms were mild, but we were “out of commission” for a little over a week after arriving.
Pahrump has a population of about 44,000 people. It is located in Pahrump Valley in NYE County. It is about 62 miles west of Las Vegas. Of course, it has several casinos! Pahrump is surrounded by the Spring Mountain Range to the east and the Nopah Mountains to the west.
Here is something else interesting about the Pahrump Valley. Take a look at these signs. I have NEVER seen signs like this before!
After resting a bit and reconnecting with our friends from Wisconsin, Darrell and Malia, we were ready to explore the surrounding area. Our first day trip was to Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge.
The desert has its own unique beauty. Since it was winter when we visited, the desert was still pretty brown. I wish we could have visited in the spring when all the desert plants are blooming (but then it would MUCH HOTTER-no thank you!). Here are some of my pictures with a few captions.
While there, I tried to imagine what the refuge would look like with everything blooming and the animals coming back to life from winter hibernation. I bet it is really exciting and pretty.