Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Refreshment in Amboy

Our family went to beautiful Amboy for a few days of relaxation and refreshment. Anyone who knows Amboy is probably thinking I am crazy, but it was a wonderful weekend. Driving through Amboy, you see the remnants of a small but liveable town. There once was a restaurant, hotel, gas station, school, and other unrecognizeable buildings. Now, only a few residents remain but no businesses. My husband works just outside of Amboy and stays in a travel trailer on a coworker's property during the workweek, along with several other coworkers. The girls and I joined him for a quiet time in the desert. While he worked, the kids enjoyed digging in the dirt while I caught up on my reading. Wen he got back to camp on Friday, we ventured down a long dirt road to see a ghost town (remnants of houses and a mine) and sand dunes. When we arrived at the point where vehicles must stop at the sand dunes, we got out of the car and found nature at its finest. The ground was peppered with white flowers that looked like poppies. At closer glance, giant caterpillars, 3 inches long, were munching on the flowers. The kids were enthralled with the sight. On the way back we found a lemon grove where we picked enough lemons to make lemonade when we got back to the trailer. The following day we slept in, leisurely packed up, and headed home, stopping at Dairy Queen for ice cream on the way. We ended the "vacation" with pizza and movies at home. I doubt we spent more than $100 (gas being half of that cost) but we all had a great time.