Twentynine Palms/Joshua Tree National Park

Jan 9 -13....We arrived at Twentynine Palms RV Park on Sunday afternoon. We have gone on 2 hikes in the Joshua Tree National Park. The first one to "49 Palms Oasis" which was 3 miles roundtrip. It was up and down most of the way - all desert until you reach an area that has several large palm trees and even some running water! It was an truely an oasis as it was surrounded by desert & rock. The next hike was to "Lost Horse Mine". This was a 4 mile roundtrip, again uphill. It was an active gold mine from 1893-1936. There are several remains/structures still standing. We enjoyed the view while we ate our peanut butter sandwhich (we didn't want to carry up much more than that)! We have practiced our golf swing a couple of time as there is a golf course connected to this RV resort...not sure how much we have improved! This park also has a full exercise room (which is very rare) so we have taken advantage of that serveral times. Our muscles are feeling the pain of hiking, lifting weights, and swinging the golf club. We may try and get one more hike in before we leave on Sunday. There is a very large Marine base just north of the RV park - we can see why as the terrain around here is very similar to photos we have received from our son in Afghanistan. The weather is a bit cooler here than in Palm Springs so we look forward to going back there on Sunday. Next week is the Bob Hope Classic Golf Tournament which we plan to attend!