After a few cold nights in J-tree, we knew it was about to get even colder. So a few days prior, I booked a cheap room at Desert Hot Springs Spa. This place is a time warp straight to the 70s... and it really looks like they haven't upgraded anything. The geology of this place is pretty cool... the Mission Creek Fault runs right through here and separates two aquifers. One side is the Desert Hot Springs Basin with natural hot springs, and the other side is the Mission Springs Basin with cold water...known for its exceptional taste. So there are plenty of spas here, and this one has 8 pools with varying temps. The kids were in heaven.
The place also had a Thanxgiving dinner special, so it worked out great for us... looking for some R and R that required no cooking, setting up tents, or making beds.
As a disclaimer, this place is a bit on the dirty side... we didn't see or hear anything first-hand to make us want to leave... but let's just say this isn't the place to take someone you want to impress. And another side note... this place also is bankrupt, has one of the
highest crime rates, drug use, and
gang presence... not to scare you away from soaking in the hot springs after a day of climbing in J-tree... but you definitely shouldn't have any valuables with you or leave anything in the car. One night, Kai rode his strider to a near by Chinese restaurant... and while we ate someone took his Kinder Bike, which was parked outside! Yup... some low life stole a balance bike from a 4 year old. People are amazing. Sometimes in the wrong ways.
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| Kai enjoying one of the 8 pools! |
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| And testing out the pull out bed... |
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| the kiddos also got to enjoy a TV lunch. |
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| Hi Nikko! |
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| Thanxgiving lunch! |
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| After devouring an excess of empty calories, we tossed our off spring into the shevanagan and headed into LA. We went straight to Griffith Park and went to the Old Zoo. |
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| The playground near by is pretty sweet... right after this Kai took a nasty fall on his bike. Wear your helmets!!! |
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| Check out that bruise. Yowza. |
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| Soon we were at Pat's house, put our kids down and started unpacking/packing up for our final leg: the Channel Islands. |
