As I was sick, it didn’t take as long to leave. We weren’t camping, we were staying at an inn. We drove through Los Angeles and headed out for Joshua Tree National Park. When we got there, we bought a guide to the wildflowers of the California desert. We stopped in the Ocotillo (pronounced “Okoteeyo”) Patch and the cactus and ocotillos were blooming! I just adore succulents. 
Then, we moved on to a place called the cholla (pronounced “Choiya”) garden, where we found more blooming cacti.
We drove out of the Sonoran Desert and entered the Mojave (pronounced “Mohavae”) desert. There were blooming Joshua Trees and Mojave Yuccas.
We walked through a campground and onto a trail that led to an arch. At one point, it was quite scrambley and my father had Vertigo, so it was particularly hard for him. We drove out of the National Park and we saw a desolate wilderness owned by the BLM and the US Military. Eventually we crossed a barren plain that was a salt pan. There were mines out there for clorine used in pools. They were all abandoned, and so was the ghost town that operated it. 
We drove up through the Mojave National Preserve once more, and we could see the faint outline of the Kelso Dunes off in the distance. We went to our inn in Baker, home of the world’s largest thermometer. my parents pretended that they had come all the way from Orlando, Florida just to see the thermometer. The next day we sped through the Mojave Desert to Death Valley National Park. As we were driving down to the floor of the valley, we stopped at Zabriskie Point. It is a touristy place, but it was still worth it. 
Then, we drove down to the valley floor. We went below sea level and we got junior ranger booklets. Then, we learned that high winds had swept most of the wildflowers away, but there were still many wildflowers at markers 25 and 26. We drove to Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America. There was a lot of salt and some trash. We picked up the trash and made salt angels. 
We looked in a puddle where I found the rare Badwater Snail and a plastic fork. An adult helped me get the fork.
There was a woman who was tracing the coast of south west Africa and saying “Namibia. I’ve been there. Namibia.” I told her that I’d been there too, and then I ran back to the car. We drove over many alluvial fans and bajadas (pronounced “bahada”) and came to one fan that was covered in wildflowers. No picture can describe the gorgeous meadows. 
Daddy was upset because his camera wasn’t working when he tried to take a picture of a Desert Five-Spot. I took the pictures for him.
We drove to a road called the Artist’s Palette. At one point, there were so many colors that it dazzled our eyes. Sam wandered of into the colors and Daddy followed him.
There were also flowers there too.
We drove back to the visitor’s center and then followed the bloom up north. We frolicked in the fields and found big, juicy caterpillars. 
Then we went to Stovepipe Wells and saw some sand dunes. They were nothing compared to the ones I’d seen. Then, we drove back above sea level and drove home. I learned that I needed voice therapy. We ate at an Indian restaurant and went home.
Just another WordPress site
