The Arnetts Cabin, No 23, Redwoods in Yosemite

The final view of our home for the past four nights as we prepare for the long journey south. It seems we've had the best of the weather, being unseasonably warm and dry and blessed with bright sunshine and blue skies which only began to cloud over yesterday afternoon.

Not wanting to experience Los Angeles traffic at rush hour on a Friday afternoon we took a different route back to San Marcos from the CA99 at Bakersfield, running more inland through the Mojave Desert and along the Peartree Highway to eventually pick up the I15 and I215 to head south through Riverside. It was only around Riverside that we experienced some traffic which delayed us for 40 minutes but once through that we were home but not dry. Only we could travel through America's driest desert during pouring rain!

We passed through some pretty impressive sites after leaving the Central Valley at Bakersfield, climbing up to a high plateau, seeing lots of aeroplanes parked in the desert around Mojave, travelling along the Pearblossom Highway, but we didn't see any pear trees only lots and lots of cacti which I wondered were Prickly Pears, or upon further research might have been yuccas. While writing this I read that this highway is one of the worst in the USA for accidents owing to it being a single lane highway currently being upgraded to a duel lane divided highway.

Before hitting the I15 we came past Mormon Rocks at the Cajon Pass coming down off the high desert. Spectacular railway traversing this area, long trains of over 100 wagons hauled up the Pass with up to 4 locos at the front and a couple banking at the rear.

It was with relief to arrive at Chris and De'Shaun's, ready for a beer and some dinner. The drive was equivalent to traveling from Bearsted to Edinburgh.

Thank you everyone for your comments, hearts and stars on my shots and journal over the past two weeks. We travel home on Monday and hope that normal service will be resumed shortly.