We left Ponce Inlet at 1:30, stopped to fill the rental car with gas, returned the car to Enterprise, checked in to the Hyatt, and were in our room by 3:20 – we made really good time. We got settled in and since we were pretty hungry, we decided to order “room service” – a burger and a house salad. We had to pick up our order at the restaurant, so it was technically take out as opposed to in-room dining. We finished eating around 5:00 and pulled up the MLB app to watch spring training baseball. At 10:00, we called it a night and were asleep shortly thereafter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tuesday, February 24<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The 4:00 am alarm seemed to come seconds after we went to bed! We were out of our room and at American Airlines to check our bags by 4:35. We took the plane train to the concourse and waited about 15 minutes for the lounge to open (5:00 am). I had some fruit and a piece of toast and Markus ate some eggs. Our aircraft was scheduled to board at 5:50 – we were at the gate about 10 minutes early. We started to board a few minutes late, but we were in our seats a few minutes after 6:00. The flight departed on time, which was no small feat given all of the weather-related cancellations in the northeast! I watched a movie – “Now You See Me, Now You Don’t” (highly recommended) and Markus played solitaire, etc. Flight time was just over 5 hours and we landed at LAX early. The walk to baggage claim was a trek – I wish we had thought to put our run meter on because it took at least 20 minutes and we were going along at a pretty good clip. After retrieving our luggage, we caught the shuttle to the rental car center where we picked up a bright red Audi A4!<\/p>\n\n\n\n We got on the San Diego Freeway (I-405) north, connected with 101 toward Ventura, and finally CA Route 23 to Simi Valley. It took close to 90 minutes; we arrived around 11:20 and spent the next 2 hours in the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum. After we toured the museum, we stopped in to the bistro for a quick bite to eat (we shared a large slice of caprese pizza) and got back on the road to Pasadena, where we are spending the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Check-in time was 3:00 and we pulled in to the driveway at 3:20. It took us about 20 minutes to get in to the guest house as there was some confusion about the access code (we were sent two different codes and didn’t realize it at first). We dropped our bags and went to Albertson’s for dinner and wine. We were pretty wiped out so we kept it simple – prepared meatloaf and white cheddar mac n cheese (not the healthiest of meals, but certainly no fuss, no muss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wednesday, February 25<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We slept until 8:30 this morning, which felt wonderful! After breakfast and coffee, we packed the car and were on the road a few minutes before 10:00. We arrived at the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum about 11:15; we spent a little more than 2 hours touring the library and Nixon’s birthplace. His father built the house from a “kit” (think Sears catalog – yes, they actually sold house kits!) in 1912 and Richard was born a year later. The house was only one bedroom, so his father, Frank (short for Francis) built an attic room that Richard shared with his 3 brothers. When he was 9, the family sold their citrus farm – including the house – and moved about 30 miles north to Whittier. Nixon went to college in Whittier before earning a law degree from Duke University. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Unbelievably, the original house still existed when that parcel of property was bought by the Foundation in 1969. A further ~9 acres were acquired in 1987-1988 for the site of the library and museum, which opened in 1990.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n It took a little more than 2 hours to get from the library to our rental in Joshua Tree. We made the mistake of assuming that there would be a grocery store in Joshua Tree – there is not! In the nearby town of Yucca Valley, there are several options including Von’s and Walmart. Wish we had known that on the way in! Anyway, we stopped at the Health Food Market, which wasn’t bad. We bough an Amy’s frozen pizza as well as baked cheddar and mac. We also bought chicken sausages and egg bites for breakfast. We ended up spending $58 on what should have cost half that amount. Oh well, that’s traveling! <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n We were still feeling the effects of jet lag, so we went to bed around 10:00.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thursday, February 26<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Today was our day to visit Joshua Tree National Park. We got a bit of a late start since we lingered over coffee and breakfast, but we got to the park before noon. The landscape of the Mojave Desert is stunning! We stopped several times to take pictures then went on our first walk (1.2 miles) at Ryan Ranch. Ryan Ranch was built as a homestead in 1896 by J.D. Ryan, who operated the Lost Horse Mine. There are also remnants of a fallen windmill and old building materials. In addition to the old adobe house, we saw several climbers on a nearby rock – their views must have been incredible!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our next stop was Keys View with views over the Coachella Valley, the San Andreas Fault, and the San Jacinto Mountains (0.3 miles). It was incredibly windy – one lady feared that she would be swept over the cliff! We made our way back down Keys View Road to Cap Rock, where we went walked the nature trail (0.6 miles). Our last stop was Barker Dam, which was a 1.4 mile nature trail – and the most difficult terrain of the day with numerous rock stairs over the course. The dam was built in the early 1900’s during the short-lived cattle ranching days in the desert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n After 3.5 hours, we left the park and headed to Yucca Valley to Von’s for provisions for dinner. We wanted salmon, but since we don’t have spices, etc., we were hoping to buy pre-seasoned fish. Unfortunately, they didn’t have anything like that on offer, so we settled for a rotisserie chicken. It will be a great dinner, especially when combined with the cheddar broccoli bake (Amy’s) that we bought at the health food store yesterday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Friday, February 27<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Today was a long travel day. We left the house at Joshua Tree just before 10:00 and stopped for breakfast at Starbucks in Twentynine Palms. We took the slow route – avoiding I-10. The drive took just under 6 hours, including the Starbucks stop and 2 bathroom breaks. And, we crossed a time zone at the California \/ Arizona border (AZ does not observe daylight saving time). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Traffic was really light until we got to the outskirts of Phoenix. Fortunately, we were going against rush hour traffic, and arrived at the Embassy Suites at 5:00 – only 1\/2 hour before happy hour!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since we were in the car for most of the day, we took only a couple of pictures of the sunset this evening, so we will share one here. We did see a very small bunny this morning, but it hopped away quickly, before we could take a picture. It was really cute!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Saturday, February 28<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Our morning started with made-to-order omelets at the Embassy Suites breakfast; Markus opted for a Denver omelet and I had an egg white, tomato, mushroom, and spinach creation. Both were excellent! Our sincerest compliments to the chef!<\/p>\n\n\n\n We checked out of the hotel just before noon and pulled into the parking lot at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick 25 minutes later. We found our seats – excellent view along the first base side – and in the shade! We were sitting only about 5 minutes before the Star Spangled Banner was played, followed shortly by first pitch! It didn’t take long for the Royals to get on the scoreboard; they plated 5 in the top of the first, including a grand slam! That pretty much set the tone for the day as the Royals went on to beat the Rockies 16-3. Even though Colorado was the home team, we didn’t really care who won – we were just there for the baseball!<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Most fans left early, so there was no problem getting out of the parking lot and on the road south to Chandler, where we have rented a house for the next five nights. Apple maps was spot on and we arrived in 25 minutes. After quickly checking the kitchen supplies and equipment, we went to Safeway, which is very conveniently located only 3 minutes away (0.5 miles) and got Rana pasta – short rib ravioli, to be exact – with mushroom sauce for dinner as well as eggs, bread and orange juice for breakfast. We got back to the house and unloaded the car. The house is really nice and spacious with 3 bedrooms, 2 1\/2 baths, a full kitchen and laundry facilities. And, we can’t forget to mention the putting green in the back yard! There is also a fire pit on the back patio, but it’s way too hot to make use of that. It’s going to be so nice to stay in the same place for the next several days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sunday, March 1<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Today was a day to recuperate, which we needed after 5 full days of activities \/ travel. We ate a fantastic breakfast, lounged around the house, putted numerous balls on our “personal” green then returned to Safeway for dinner provisions. We are planning on chicken stir fry with broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots – all served over rice. We didn’t take any pictures today, so we thought we would share a few photos of our rental home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the afternoon, we watched the NASCAR Cup Series and saw Tyler Reddick make history by winning the first 3 races of the season! It was pretty exciting. Then, we watched a replay of the Giants \/ Padres game. The days are just packed!! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Continue to Part 2<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Monday, February 23 We left Ponce Inlet at 1:30, stopped to fill the rental car with gas, returned the car to Enterprise, checked in to the Hyatt, and were in our room by 3:20 – we made really good time. …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"http:\/\/usontheedge.com\/wordpress\/author\/admin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Monday, February 23 We left Ponce Inlet at 1:30, stopped to fill the rental car with gas, returned the car to Enterprise, checked in to the Hyatt, and were in our room by 3:20 – we made really good time. … Continue reading →","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/usontheedge.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7656"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/usontheedge.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/usontheedge.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/usontheedge.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/usontheedge.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7656"}],"version-history":[{"count":66,"href":"http:\/\/usontheedge.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8063,"href":"http:\/\/usontheedge.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7656\/revisions\/8063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/usontheedge.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/usontheedge.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_1584-Resize-rotated.jpg\")
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