Don’t believe everything you see.  We all know it, but sometimes, we do it anyway.

A couple of months ago I saw Into the Wild. While I was entertained and fell madly in love with Emile Hirsch’s portrayal of Alex Supertramp, there were a lot of things about the movie that bothered me (spoiler alert!). It really romanticized the whole concept of nomadic travel.  I mean this kid was on the road with no money, no car, basically nothing but the clothes on his back, and his only bad experience was with a poisonous potato?  I mean, he never met any bad people?  He never got robbed, beat up, etc.?  Come on!

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The best thing about Borrego Springs is that it is home to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park — the largest state park in California. Today, Chris and I decided to check out one of Anza-Borrego’s most famous wonders — Palm Canyon.  Palm Canyon is a three mile desert hike to a breathtaking palm tree oasis.  The whole area was ravaged in 2004 when a flash flood came through and destroyed 70% of the native palms, so now there are upside down palm trees all over the place.  It’s really wild.

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There are some advantages to being in the desert — especially if you like star gazing.  Tonight we got a PERFECT view of Venus, Jupiter and the crescent moon as they formed a perfect triangle in the sky.  It was amazing!!!!

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After nearly ten days of desert living, the gypsies needed a night out.  We decided to drive the eight miles into downtown Borrego Springs to see what was shakin’ on a wild and crazy Saturday night.  Borrego is actually a cute little place — a couple galleries, little shops, a French cafe, etc.  And tonight we were pleased to find the opening reception for the Women Artists of the Desert Exhibit at the Borrego Art Institute.  It was actually really impressive, and we got a free glass of vino.

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Though from our pictures it looks like we are camped out alone in the middle of nowhere, the truth is there are tons of rvers around us — especially this holiday weekend.  Our Airstream friends are literally right next to us, and a few hundred yards away a group of Escapees are huddled together around a gynormous campfire pit.  For you city folk, the Escapees are THE club for full-time rvers.  They give you an address, handle mail forwarding, manage campgrounds all over, organize activities, rallys and trips to Mexico, and lots of other fun and practical stuff.   Chris and I are not Escapees, but the group was nice enough to invite us to join them for their Thanksgiving celebration.

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The weather the last couple of days has been kind of crappy — at least by desert standards.  Unusual amounts of rain, super strong winds and even a little bit of lightening.  Yikes.

But on this beautiful Thanksgiving morning, there was a surprise waiting for us — the most amazing rainbow we’ve ever seen.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

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Check out these really cool pics of the clouds resting over the mountains around our desert oasis in Borrego Springs.

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Those of you who have been following our story know that Chris and I have had more than one unsuccessful attempt at boondocking — or free camping in the middle of nowhere with no water or electricity.  From Fort Worth, Texas, to Kanab, Utah , we have had one disaster after another when it comes to taking advantage of free camping opportunities on our federal lands, and thus far our free camping has pretty much been limited to Walmart.

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This morning we left our campground in San Diego and began traveling east toward the California desert.  Traveling east.  That sounds so weird.  This whole trip has been all about going west, and now here we are heading east.  But I guess once you drive the whole length of the Pacific, there’s no other way to go.  And I had just started getting used to the ocean being west.

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So yesterday we went to the San Diego Zoo, and it was amazing.  I have never seen so many different types of animals, and they all seem happy and well-cared for.  My personal favorites (as you will see from the crazy amount of pics we have) were the zebras and giraffes, as well as the rhinos which we got to see in some kind of cool, play fighting action.  Chris is partial to the monkeys, but that’s a whole separate issue

Also, because it was a slow day at the zoo we didn’t have to wait in the typically super long line for the panda exhibit.  I personally find these furry friends to be a little on the creepy side, but that’s just me.  Anyhoo, before you click ahead to our millions of awesome pics, I just want to say a quick thanks to Aunt Donna and Uncle Tom for the zoo passes.  It was a terrific and thoughtful gift, and we had an amazing time.  We miss you and can’t wait to see you soon!!!!

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