Wandering Orbit

We had a quiet week because of Christmas, which we spent in Huntington Beach. Thursday we headed out, stopping by the Geisel Library on the UC San Diego Campus in La Jolla, California. Cool fact: Dr. Seuss lived in La Jolla for years. Interesting fact: Seuss was his mother's maiden name and the original pronunciation is more like vowels in "voice" than "use". Super funky building which was renamed after Theodore Suess Geisel died in 1991. We stopped in San Bernardino to see the location of the original McDonald's along Route 66.  This was the McDonald's before it became a franchise and the "Golden Arches"     Inside the building is a museum comprising all kinds of walk-down-memory-lane items. There were even displays with McDonald's products from around the world   If you haven't seen The Founder , it was a really interesting look at Ray Kroc and how McDonald's became what we know it as today.

Monday we went to Mojave National Preserve. There are cool cinder cones there, plus sand dunes, lots of places to camp and hike. The visitor center is this historic train depot The lunch counter was still inside! Lots of exhibits upstairs about the history of the area and how trains played a role Myself and the kids spent the night in Death Valley--no internet connection for the Mr. to work, so we left him behind in the motorhome in Barstow, California Tuesday we drove through Death Valley--we had wanted to see Scotty's Castle but it was closed after major flood damage in 2016.  We had been here before so were mostly just enjoying the views as we drove through   Death Valley has these cool kiosks that you can use to pay the entrance fee or for camping     It was a beautiful sunrise We came to Death Valley for the 2016 superbloom and got blown out of the valley by fierce spring winds.  Also, those dinky tent stakes that you get with