Test Run to the Hot Springs

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After buying our little motor home, we decide to take it for a test run down to Agua Caliente County Park, a place where our family has a lot of memories.<span><span><span> Our dad came down here in the ‘80’s and fell asleep every night watching for shooting stars.<span> Jessica and I nearly got lost when we climbed some rocks at night, and our mom only found us because of our light-up sneakers.<span> We’ve been by here during summer, when the old pool was packed like a sardine tin with campers.<span>We’ve visited during winter, and autumn, and spring, with wildflowers everywhere.



It wasn’t blooming quite as much this time, but despite wind and rain on the days preceding our visit, our time spent there was lovely.<span> We packed along 5 people and 3 dogs of varying size, and though we would have all fit into the motorhome, in the interest of comfort, our mother and grandfather drove a separate vehicle down, and our parents stayed in a tent at the campsite.



There were birds everywhere: phainopepla, roadrunners, California thrashers, shrikes, quail, wild turkeys, turkey vultures, finches, doves, and grackles.<span> There were chipmunks and cottontail rabbits all over the campground, and our little dog Rascal was extremely interested in them.<span> We saw a few jackrabbits, and some interesting lizards, and while we heard hundreds of them, we saw only a few small frogs.



We swam in both of the newer pools, heated and not, and went on walks around the campsite.<span> Jessica and I spent a fair bit of time on the swing-set in the evenings, looking up at the stars and chatting.<span> Daddy, Mama, Grandpa, the dogs and I went for a long drive out on the old overland stage route.<span> Daddy, the dogs, and I hiked up muddy hills, where the recent rains had pitted the cliff sides so that they looked like Anasazi cliff dwellings.<span> We were nearly attacked by a swarm of ant drones on top of one hill.<span> Needless to say, we got out of there in a hurry.<span> Our little Toyota Rav4 soldiered on through tamarisk thickets, mud puddles, and deeply rutted roads until we reached the ruined fences of the old stage stop.<span> We took another little walk, and found a tree that looked like the perfect setting for an old west hanging.<span> (It probably wasn’t ever used for such a purpose, but it looked it.)

After 2 days and 3 nights, we had to head home.<span> We stopped on the way back and took a walk out near Lake Henshaw.<span> Purple flowers were blooming amidst green grass, and the sky was bright blue with puffy white clouds.<span> Daddy and Jessica broke apart rocks looking for crystals, and the dogs sniffed after every stray scent.<span> It felt nice to return to meadows and lakes, rather soothing after the desert’s dry beauty.

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