Lake Cahuilla Regional Park, La Quinta

Much of this post concerns our ongoing struggles with Plan A Alex. To understand Plan A Alex, you have to understand the “Unthinkables” (now called “UnthinkaBots”), a curriculum created by Michelle Garcia Winner and Pamela Crooke, PhD, which teaches young children, especially those on the Autism Spectrum, about Social Thinking using self regulation strategies personified by a variety of characters. To teach social thinking, it is important to understand when our brains are getting stuck and be able to identify the ways our thinking patterns are interfering with our ability to self regulate and think flexibly. Characters like “Rock Brain,” “Worry Wall,” “Topic Twistermeister,” can get into our brains sometimes and make us get stuck, like with doing things one way, or focusing on worry, or jumping around topics, just to name a few. Each Unthinkable has its own characteristics, or Bot powers, and it is helpful to know their particular qualities so we can use specific strategies to defeat them. There are specific “Thinkables” who pair with their counterparts, and they allow our brains to self regulate and navigate away from getting stuck. Like, “Focus Tron” helps you stay on task and defeats “Brain Eater,” or “T-Flex” helps you flex your thinking and defeats “Rock Brain” when you are being too rigid. Get it? I’ve used the curriculum a lot over the years and I have found it to be extremely helpful. Oftentimes, students like to come up with their own original Unthinkable and Thinkable pairs to help them understand a specific way their brains are getting stuck.

One of the things that inevitably happens when Richard and I are on long trips is we unwind and analyze the whys and hows of when things don’t go so well. That way, we get a little better at traveling every time we go out. Something we have been identifying as an area of frequent stress is Richard’s tendency to get stuck on things like completing the whole hike, no matter how difficult, or worrying about getting a site in a first come first serve campground. We were thinking it was about exercise, or fear of the unknown, and those are factors for sure, but what we thought about this trip was the tendency to get fixated on following through with Plan A, even if Plans B-Z are equally acceptable.

This is where Plan A Alex comes in, and he appeared center stage on the move from Cottonwood to Hidden Valley in Joshua Tree. We knew already that moving to a non reservable campground would trigger both of us, so we had a couple of vague backup plans at the ready. When we arrived at Hidden Valley, it was packed with rock climbing campers. No way would we be getting an open site. In addition, the campsites are very small and very tippy; not great for trailers. There are one or two sites that could have worked for Dory, but honestly, it was so packed with people, we would have not liked it. Also, it was so cold and windy, I would have been kind of bummed if we had found a site. But after taking a super slo-mo lap through the very tight loop, I could tell Richard was glitching. There was another loop we could have tried, but I did not want to drag Dory through any more. Instead, I drove a little ways down the road and pulled over where she was safe. I sent Richard out on foot to go back and verify there were no sites. This was strategic, in that I knew it would help him to walk, and I didn’t want there to be lingering doubts over whether we coulda woulda been able to stay there. Sure enough, he came back reporting it was crazy packed and way too snug.

With that established, we continued the long drive through Joshua Tree, aiming for the campground on the other side of the park; Black Rock Canyon. Joshua Tree is a huge park, so driving all the way through from Cottonwood meant driving over sixty miles. Arriving there, we also verified there were no sites available. At that point, we were on our phones, looking at reservation apps like AllStays. We had previously tossed around the idea of staying near Palm Springs, and we were successful at finding a place in the vicinity that seemed ok. We called and made the reservations over the phone for the next three nights. With that solved, we went back to the town of Yucca Valley to get groceries and then headed back down to Palm Springs. We noted that the line to get into the park through the Yucca Valley entrance was at least a mile long. Had Plan A succeeded, we would have left the park to get groceries, only to face an hour long wait to get back in.

That was a long day of staying flexible! The result was, I think, far preferable to Plan A because it was easily twenty degrees warmer down in the valley, and we got a decent site in a decent county park, with hookups and cell service. Like, had I known both options ahead of time, I would have voted for 60s over 40s without thinking too much, nor caring too much what the campground looked like. What helped navigate the day a whole lot was being aware of how each of us was processing the shifting expectations. Plan A Alex was using all his powers, but Multiple Plan Marvin was invented to keep him at bay. Multiple Plan Marvin helps you by giving you lots of options and reminds you that most of them can be just as good. We arrived at the county park campground with time to spare before sunset and Richard went on a partial hike (he didn’t even need to do the whole green line) right out of the campground. He took his headlamp and navigated the trail very well, even after sunset. That night hike would never have come up as a Plan A, but he really enjoyed it.

The other fun part about where we landed was that it is in the town of La Quinta. You see, every night before going to bed, we put our coffee packets out for the next morning. We use a little plastic basket and set them on the table. For years, we have called this action “La Quinta” because it looks like something you would find in a nice mid range hotel where they set up little hospitality packets and put them in a basket for you. We never ask, “Did you put the coffee packets out?” Instead, we say, “Can you do La Quinta?” or “Have you done La Quinta?” So now, we got to do La Quinta in La Quinta.

We had pretty good weather the next day, so we drove to Palm Springs to check it out. Parking in a downtown garage, we got the bikes out and rode to Indian Canyons to see Palm Canyon. There is a $12 per person entry fee to get in, but once inside, there are three canyon areas and lots of trails to explore. We were interested in seeing the big palm oasis at the top of the valley. This grove boasts the world’s largest stand of California Fan Palm trees, numbering over 3,000 trees. I believe it. The grove just keeps going on and on. It is definitely worth seeing. We took a loop trail up through the forest floor, and a return along the canyon ridges with sweeping views of the whole valley. That is a great trail.

In the afternoon, we rode back to town and decided to walk up and down the main drag and check out places to get a treat. That we did, with a stop at Brandini Toffee where they were passing out generous samples of their toffee popcorn. Yum that was good! But also rather expensive. We went a few stores down to the Ben & Jerry’s. The person at the counter sold me on Marshmallow Sky, which is a blue colored base with chunks of chocolate chip and chocolate cookie dough. We noted both places for dessert potential and went and got pizza slices at Bill’s Pizza. Their crust is buttery and delicious and their slices huge. Great dinner for not too much money. Ben & Jerry’s won for dessert and we drove back to Dory after a great day.

The next day, Richard showed me the trail he found, which goes from the county park at Lake Cahuilla to the next valley over, called the Cove. Along the way, you pass a little horse statue, which Richard says is nicely lit at night, using the tiniest little solar lantern. It’s a nice six mile out and back desert hike with mountain views and lots of Ocotillo dotting the hillsides. We got back just under the start of the rainy period, catching sight of a Bald Eagle hanging out in the campground trees. After that, it was time to stay inside and be thankful for hookups so we could run our little space heater.

Instagram Irma tugged at me a little with the idea of driving back to Anza Borrego to look again at the winter wildflower bloom on Henderson Canyon Road and see if I could find a Desert Lily. But once it started raining, Weather Wimp Wanda had no trouble convincing me I didn’t want to get stuck in any flash floods. As it turns out, there was lots of flooding in Anza Borrego, so that was a good call. Desert Lillies can be photographed by other people and enjoyed by me without putting myself in crazy situations.

We kept our eyes on the weather, calculating when we wanted to start tracking back home. Some serious downpours were heading our way, so it was a game of stop and go to find the breaks and make a dash. We were happy to hunker down where we were. It may not have been where we set out to be, but Plan A Alex can take a seat for this round because we had a great time.

Total miles from Cottonwood (with 100 mile loop through Joshua Tree): 125.9, 6 hours 38 min, 18.7 mpg. Site 57 hookups. Ok free dump, but with low curb. One side has gap in curb where you can lay a dump hose. Opening is small. No potable water at dump, so fill in site. Excellent cell for both.