Parental visit and backpacking

Late as always, but here we go with a string of posts to bring us up to date.

At the end of June, Laura's parents came out to Riverside to visit. We went to Venice beach again, and showed Mom & Dad Streelman the wonderful absurdity therein. Mom got her picture taken with one of the medical marijuana salesman, who insisted on having his face covered for undisclosed legal reasons. We found the largest hat store in the LA area, and I finally found the hat I've been looking for for the past year. Mom also bought a lovely sun hat for gardening.

After a day of recovery and packing, we headed towards Palm Springs, where we took a cable tram a mile up a cliff to a trailhead. From there, we hiked seven miles up the face of Mt. San Jacinto, the second tallest mountain in southern California. Just over the ridge, we made camp amongst a massive pile of boulders at an elevation of over 9000 feet.

Our second day out was the 4th of July. From atop our boulder pile, we could see out over the valley below, and watched the fireworks displays of a half-dozen cities at the same time. It was definitely the most unique fireworks-watching experience any of us ever had.

On the 5th, we hiked back up a brutal series of switchbacks and took the trail to the peak. The end was another scramble over massed boulders, but we reached the top at last and took in the view over lunch. The hike back down the other side was much easier than up, and we relaxed on the tram ride back down.

Laura had to work the next few days, so Paul & Jane borrowed the car for day trips to Big Bear lake and downtown Riverside while I packed up for the immanent trip home. Thanks to Amtrak's very generous baggage policies, we were able to send most of our clothing home via train with Mom & Dad, rather than shoehorning it into our titular blue taurus. Had Old Blue been burdened any more than she was on the drive back to GR, we might still be in Nevada somewhere. Paul & Jane saw the mandatory tourist sights in Hollywood before catching the train out of LA, as Laura and I made final preparations to leave LA.

To Be Continued...