December - End

Shortly after returning home from visiting with the girls, my new camera arrived. Christian took us out to Kelso Sand Dunes to try out our new cameras. Christian got my old camera...which isn't really that old but it is the last DSLR that Canon is making, so Christian is hoping to be able to stick with that for some time to come. 

We had not been to Kelso in a very long time. We actually have never even taken the girls here because it has gotten too popular. It has changed a lot...and not for the better. As soon as we arrived, we had a problem with the Jeep's brake lights. We parked and started to lock up before heading out when Christian noticed that his brake lights were still on for some reason.

Christian had to do some serious contortions to get under the steering wheel and check on the switches and electronics to see what the problem was. He managed to get it sorted out though and we headed out to take some pictures.

We found a ton of varmint tracks all over the sand where people haven't obliterated the tracks with their own. We think that the Kelso Dunes have become a sanctuary to all the Kangaroo Rats in California. There were just tracks everywhere.

I was pleasantly surprised to find a few remaining flowers leftover here.

We had a nice long walk, which is also what we wanted. It wasn't exactly peaceful since there were some very loud parties at the top of the dunes, but overall, it wasn't too bad, all things considered.

When we got back to the Jeep, however, we found a couple of vehicles had parked right next to us and had basically taken over the campsite that we were parked at. We were not there to camp but they didn't know that and we were there first. They just intended to shove us out of the way. We were happy not to stay there. We got dinner at our Ludlow Cafe on our way back home. This time it was open but just barely. Apparently, they also close super early, so something to keep in mind.