Pizza Bats

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The next day greeted us with that same vicious heat. We were in the pool before 11 am and thankfully there were less people. We stood still in the water, so as not to accidently exercise, and tried to keep cool, but it wasn’t working. We went back to the room for lunch. Zack prepared delicious grilled chicken avocado sandwiches and Ralph’s French loaf. Ralph’s has the most amazing bakery bread!

After lunch, we napped. For 2 hours we slept! In the middle of the day!

We got up and decided to go to Joshua Tree National Park to see in the night sky. So at 6:00, we ventured out to the local Sam’s Club, our “home away from home”. We always go there on our vacations for discount pizza and giant sodas and the strange family feeling with the giant bulk superstore. This Sam’s was adapted to fit the cultural surroundings and served king-sized churros at 50 cents a piece!

Then, we headed 35 miles east to the park. We turned off the highway and saw a jackrabbit right away-those things have the longest legs. We drove a few miles and saw a coyote and a deer! It was the most wildlife we had seen for sometime. 1 car passed us as we drove slow, looking for wild beasties. It got quieter the further we drove. We passed no cars; the ranger station was closed (so you just go on through without paying after 4pm), and headed out into the desert. It was getting cooler and the sky more beautiful, so we found a pull-off and parked the van. We could see the moon starting to appear and knew that we wanted to stay until the sun was gone. We pulled open all the doors and dug out the cameras. We just sat in the silence—and that’s when the ringing in your ears really comes out. I meant it, you couldn’t hear a thing! No wind, no animals, definitely no cars; you’re protected by the mountains on all sides, so no sound pollution at all. We decided to channel our inner Mark Twain and sit on top of the carriage to see the sky.

We played a twilight game of Yahtzee on the van top, waiting for the sun to go down. After the game that Jenn won (for once in her life!), we sat staring at the sky with amazement. We found ourselves whispering to each other, as if to speak would take away from the scene. Slowly the sky began to fill up and the sun slunk behind the mountains, leaving only a red glow around its rigid summit. We sat in quiet for a long time, feeling small and aware of everything.

We could have stayed much longer, were it not for some very curious bats that chased us into the car. We could hear the bats and see them in the sky and Zack would clap loud to scare them off. This system worked for a while, but then they translated that a human clapping means, “Please fly right next to my head and bite me. Please, I want rabies. Just keep flying at me and that would be great.”

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Comments

[Jessica]

Bats, beets, Battlestar Galatica
"Myth - three Americans die every year from rabies. Fact - four Americans every year die from rabies. How many of you know someone that has been afflicted or affected by rabies? Show of hands. One, two, three... too many to count. It is truly the silent killer. No, it is the foaming barking killer." --Michael Scott It's a good thing you ran away from those bats! Love, J