So, we’re back. I was actually there for a research conference, so I didn’t have a whole lot of free time to sightsee, but we did get out a little. Things could have gone better. Regarding the recommendations (which I appreciate, even though not all of them panned out):
Sherman’s: Overall, a great place to eat. One nitpick: their reuben has no dressing. They served it with mustard on the side, which made it a totally different sandwich. I am sure they would have redone the sandwich if I had asked, but I didn’t.
The tramway: Oh boy. So, we took the tram up the mountain and had a nice little hike. The top of the mountain is a state park and is high enough up that it is sort of an alpine forest with a stream. The tram ride was not scary at all; certainly no scarier than a plane ride through choppy weather. But. On our way to board the return tram, I stopped for literally five seconds to take a picture of the tram car, and by the time I got to the tram, I was at the back of the crowd. The tram driver then closed the door on my foot as I stepped aboard. He was about five feet away, looking right at me, so I tried to get his attention by knocking on the door and pointing towards my foot, and he just stared at me. To avoid being dragged off the platform and plunging Wile E. Coyote style to the bottom of the thousand-foot-deep rock canyon, I had to jerk my foot free of the door. Almost lost my shoe. The driver closed the door and started the tram, taking the rest of the crowd, including my wife, who waved pleasantly to me as she departed. So I went back to the little waiting area and amused myself by creatively filling out several visitor comment cards. Took the next tram down (it was about 15 minutes between rides). On that tram, there was a kid in a stroller who was covered from head to toe with chicken pox. I’m immune, but geez.
Joshua Tree: I’ve never really liked the desert, barren wasteland that it is, but it had some interesting rock formations and plants. We decided to take the Keys Ranch historical tour. When we asked about it at the entrance, they said the size of the tour was limited to 25. We drove out to the ranch site, which is at the end of miles of unpaved, dusty, one-lane road. We got to the ranch gate about an hour ahead of time and there were far fewer than 25 people there, so we figured we had made the tour. It was really hot and windy, and the only shade was next to the pit toilet, but there was an interesting display about the ranch that had me looking forward to seeing it. Others arrived but they were behind us in line, so I thought. When the ranger showed up, about 20 people stepped up with reserved tickets and went straight to the head of the line (they didn’t tell us about this at the entrance) and with only 5 places left, we didn’t make the tour. But we had a good time peeing in the pit toilet and trying to figure out whether the pile of crap nearby was human or animal.
Frank Sinatra’s House: Cool as hell, even though you have to look through a gate. Interesting that it was in an ordinary neighborhood on a busy street, right around the corner from our hotel. The house next door had a junk car in the driveway!
Palm Canyon: Got lost on the way, ran out of time, had to skip it. My wife went later and enjoyed it but was frightened by a rattlesnake.
Then things really took a turn for the worse. The first half of the week, my wife was with me (she went home on Tuesday.) Our sons stayed behind with my mom. My 7-year-old had stayed home from school due to a bad cough the day before we left, but he seemed to be getting better. Monday morning I’m sitting in a presentation when my cell phone goes off. It’s his school - he barfed at lunch and needs to be picked up. So I called my mom, who went and got him. She took him to the doctor, who listened to his lungs and said he possibly had a mild case of pneumonia and needed antibiotics. He started on the meds and stayed out of school the next day. Then on Tuesday, I get another call from his school. Some other kid in his school has a suspected case (later confirmed) of guess what, swine flu. As you may have heard, swine flu is either worse than the Black Plague, or no big deal, experts differ. So my kid has pneumonia, and may have been exposed to the swine flu, and I’m 2500 miles away.
Long story short, he got better after being somewhat worse and was back at school by Friday and at baseball practice today. I had a hard time enjoying myself under those circumstances, but the conference was great and I got to spend some time with a group of old friends I only see once a year now.