Prem, Rahul, and I were planning to go for golf early morning on Sunday, but Rahul dropped out in the last minute. Prem and I left around 6.30am, but had to wait till almost 8.30am to start playing because of frost on the ground. It was quite a nice course and being just the two of us with nobody in front, we played quickly and were done before noon. The wind kicked up for the second 9 and made playing quite challenging. In between we had received calls from the home front and we decided to sync up at the entrance to the park. We met everybody else at the visitor center and after some discussion decided to head into town (29 Palms) to get lunch. That turned out to be mini saga into itself. All the places we tried were either closed or unsuitable for some other reason. Denny's became the fallback choice, but Malini and I decided to just do a carryout from Little Caeasar's since pizza is one of the easier things to feed our boys. After lunch, there was some loss of interest in visiting the park. A parking lot discussion ensued, and eventually the Anands & RD headed back home, while the rest of us went into the park.
Much of the park is at a higher elevation and the temperatures were quite low. We stopped at the Cholla Cactus garden and then made our way to the Barker Dam 1-mile loop hike. It was in low 40's here, but we warmed up with the walk. I didn't have my camera and while somewhat disappointing (the overcast day provided excellent light for people photography), there was also a freedom to just look around and not worry about missing the shot. The vistas and landscape were familiar from our visit almost 8 years ago when we had spent a lot more time in the park. I was still fascinated by the almost moonscape and the abrupt rock and boulder formations that would rise up from the valley floor. These formations of course make Joshua Tree a huge draw for rock climbers. Sadly, many of the Joshua trees themselves seemed to be dying out and in many areas, it almost looked like a fire had swept through. After the hike, we returned back to the house. Interest in volleyball was low, so we just chilled. Dinner was nominally tacos, but all kinds of stuff seemed to precede it - chilli bajjis from Mgd, Chilli tofu from Malini, Some tandoori chicken from previous night, etc. By the time tacos were actually made, I was quite full!
A robust 'discussion' on LTE broke out, with MGD taking no prisoners in his stand that LTE was going to rule the world. His passion was admirable, although nobody was quite sure about the need for such fervor. I am sure the Cab, Zin, and Pinot had something to do with it! Eventually dinner was done, and the table was once again cleared for poker. This time the game went on longer, but a little past midnight folks started fading. MGDs, RD, and us headed to our sleeping quarters, but the tea we had had during poker kept us awake. MGD and RD soon had a game of ping pong going and Latha started racking the pool table. I also joined for some TT, but eventually was too tired to keep going. My early start for golf and golf itself had taken a toll. Even as I sank (literally) into the roll-away the pool game was still going on and the sounds of crashing balls faded as I drifted off into a deep sleep.
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