Most of the month was spent "taking care of business." Eric auditioned, Laurie conducted & attended scrapbook events, and the end of the month brought a much-needed break!
We
spent part of Easter weekend camping in the Joshua
Tree National Park, and 
we
bought new camping gear just for the occasion! The park is part of the Mojave
and Colorado deserts close to Palm Springs, CA. We did most of the driving on
Thursday night and stayed at a motel just outside of the park. We spent Friday
morning driving around each of the campgrounds looking for an open site until
we found one at "Jumbo Rocks," named for the huge, gravity-defying
rock formations there. We pitched our tent among the rocks and hiked from the
campsite to Eagle Rock, where we climbed up, down, and all over the immense
rocks. The trail we 
followed
had signposts describing the desert flora & fauna, including Juniper bushes,
Joshua trees (picture of Laurie above), and cholla cactus (picture of Laurie
below).
After a brief respite back at camp, we drove to a mountain peak where we took
in a beautiful view of the surrounding area. On the drive
back, we stopped the car at a sign for the "Lost Horse Mine" and began
another hike. Unfortunately, the sun was beginning to sink in the sky and we
had to keep a quick pace on the 2.5 mile trail to the mine. The mine shaft has
remained mostly in tact, but with a high fence surrounding it. We stopped 
long
enough for a quick power/granola bar snack before hot-footing it back to the
car as the light faded in the sky.
For a few minutes as we started the campfire and prepared our dinner of sausages and beans, the night sky looked like a planetarium, with every star shining brightly. Soon, however, a very bright full moon lit things up (making it easier to finish and clean up from dinner). We slept very well in our new, spacious tent on our new air mattress!
On Saturday we drove to another hiking/rock climbing trail, where the signposts
described the history of the area, and how rustlers used to use the rock formations
to hide their stolen cattle. We watched the "serious" rock climbers
scale the vertical rock surfaces, and we climbed to a fairly high spot and stopped
under the shade of a dessert pine to have some lunch.
After packing up camp we consulted our trail guide and found that on our way
out of the park we could stop for "just one more" hike. This one ended
up at an oasis in the desert, only a mile and a half from the parking area.
No problem. We both agree that was 
the
longest 1.5 miles we've ever hiked, through the most barren desert we've ever
seen. It was a mountain of lifeless rubble we climbed under a very hot afternoon
sun. But, that made the oasis truly amazing to us. In the middle of this wasteland
sprung up a patch of Palm Trees, flowers, and water, with singing birds and
croaking frogs. The comforts of the oasis made it tough to muster up the energy
to hike back through the desert to our car. We did make it back, and we stopped
at the very first convenience store we could find to get some Ice Cold Water!
After a few days of "roughing it," we came back and hosted a dinner after church on Easter Sunday. Lisa, Gretchen, Sally, and John joined us for ham, potatoes, glazed carrots, etc. We even had an Easter Egg Hunt in the apartment.
As always, we are so grateful to have a our "family" in LA around us on the holidays and supporting us in our daily lives.