Coachella Adventure Part 3/3: Return to Reality

Dreading the car ride home & the return to real life, we cleaned up our things, packed the car, and started the journey back to Utah. Exhausted from the last 3 days lack of sleep, basking in the sunshine and dancing the night away. Of course, it wasn't all bad because we had the last 4 stops on our adventure list!
Before we get into that, if you ever find yourself traveling through Yucca, CA, make sure to stop at all the cute little antique & gift shops! They are awesome! Of course there were way to many to stop at all of them but I highly recommend stopping at Rainbow Stew Gift Shop & Route 62 Vintage Marketplace /Studio 62 Art Gallery (you wont be disappointed)!

Stop 1. Fountain of Life "Go Forth With The Heart Of A Child"
Location: 68-7101 Avenida Lalo Guerrero, Cathedral City, CA 92234
We didn't spend much time here, but it was worth it to be able to run through the water! Pictures could tell more about this one than I can, so...:

 

Stop 2. Concrete Dinosaur Ruins
Location: 22861 Cahuilla Rd. Apple Valley, CA 92307
This was also a Very short stop, due to the fact that when they said Ruins, They Meant It!
So the story:
"In 1970, an Apple Valley resident had plans to create a dino-themed miniature golf course but only got as far as constructing a few dinos. Nevertheless, they added a welcome touch of whimsy to the landscape--and indeed still do." 
I'd say barely add a welcoming touch, they look cute and all but its like its been turned into a target practice field for the locals.. Most of the dinosaurs have withered away or been somehow destroyed by man made tools, but we made the most of it! :)
Some photos:

Me doing Dino Hands

Feeling Super Adventurous 

Matt Acting Scared

Stop 3. Buddhist Meditation Center

Location: 20635 HWY 395 Adelanto, CA

In the middle of the Desert uncomfortably close to a Prison, there is a newly built Buddhist Monistary. Very clean and beautiful, sadly we didn't stay long. 

First off, we got there around 5:30 and they close at 6pm (not mentioned anywhere online). We started to walk around and take photos and were stopped by a Monk who's first words to us were: 

" Do you have a Cell phone and Facebook?" 

I said yes and he asked me to see it. My first thoughts were that he was going to smash it, so I handed it to him and mentally prepped myself for the worst. Luckily he wasn't a Crazy Monk, he just wanted us to like his Facebook page (he is the one in the Glasses). 

Then he turned to Matt and basically told him that he was dressed fine "but next time make sure she is covered", Like I wasn't standing right there! Then he told us that we'll have to leave soon or else we'll be locked in by the gates... Kicking us off. 

After that he walked off, so we got a few more pictures and left. He literally almost locked us inside, he was closing the gates right when we made it to the gates! Oh, but not before offering us a place to stay "Only for practicing Buddhists" and Inviting us to come back anytime. Bipolar Monk? Maybe. 

Photos:

Kind of an awkward experience in my opinion.. Beautiful though :) 

On the plus side, I'm going to tell people that we got kicked out of a Buddhist Monetarist by a Monk. . . Cause it sounds bad ass. 

Final Stop! Bottle Tree Ranch

Location: 24266 National Trails HWY Oro Grande, CA 92368

I would describe this place as "Randomly Beautiful". This is Located in the middle of the Mojave Desert surrounded by basically nothing.  Didn't stay long and no cool stories for this one, but I have to say we made it there at the perfect time of day! The sun was hitting everything Just right:

Random, but Beautiful! I just want to know who is in charge of this place and where he got all these random Items! I swear that he had at least 12 Type writers and tons of other antique like treasures!

Thank you for reading about my Coachella Adventure! 

If you haven't already read Part 1/3 and Part 2/3, I insist you do so!

Thanks again! <3 data-blogger-escaped-div="">

Coachella Adventure Part 2/3: Becoming Free

DAY 1.

All the excitement Walking to the Gate is almost too much to Handle!


We took the Day to Explore the Camp Ground and the Art. The first show we went to was Kiesza (around 5pm)!. So great! I love her dance moves! If you don't know who she is than I highly recommend looking into her. So we had all day &amp; there was so much to see! we checked out the food vendors (like the toast truck to the right) Large art pieces, activities to participate in, General stores where you could buy the common needs around camp, a farmer's market, and Tents as far as the eye could see!

 This Sculpture to the right was made entirely of recycled parts! (Don't worry, there will be close ups of this sculpture on day 3).
Quick outfit run down:
Denim colored romper (Forever 21), Brown belt (came from a dress purchased at Kohl's), Tan hat w/ black and white striped band (Forever 21), Tan Oxfords (Modcloth online), Purse was a gift from Mexico, Buddhist Necklace my dad brought back from South Korea.

Random Alien setting
 

Large Bear swing

 

 Made this sweet headband in the Campground. Arts and Crafts provided by Coachella Art Studio. 

Matt and I "Celebrating the little wins" with some wine

Sunset of Day one

Today we Saw:

• Kieza (Top 5!)
• Nero
• Dj Snake
• Alesso (from a distance due to packed stage.. like crazy packed!)
• AC/DC (not a big fan personally but figured we should at least look at them.)
• Slyvan Esso (this one I'm not sure if we did see but I feel like we made an effort)

 DAY 2

Getting Ready for the second day was much harder... The first day was SO HOT and it was supposed
to be even hotter this day. I debated just wearing a swimming suit and cover (shown on the Left). Decided shorts would be better (shown on right). but of course change again to the red shorts below.
  Outfit Rundown: Black bikini (H&amp;M), Red Shorts, Lace shall (Kohl's), and Sweet fanny pack (Men's section of Forever 21)

Making a Ribbon stick.. Best decision ever!

  

 and Yes I did use it right away! Grabbed a quick snack! :)
 
Enjoying the View from the shade :

   

New ink ;)

      

             

Another great art piece that shockingly moved around the field, Its purpose: To provide shade mostly. 

This postcard from Coachella (Taken at the Samsung Tent)

 The Legendary Ferris wheel!











Waiting for Tyler the Creator to come on stage. "Cherry bomb mask". Yes I know its kinda creepy.

 This Ice cream..... "Cookie Monster" (Afters Ice Cream)

It through me off that it was blue but OH MY GOD it was amazing!
Cookie dough and Oreos.
#BestIceCreamEver!

Today we saw:

• Hozier  
• Milky Chance
• Clean Bandits (Top 5!)
• Lights
• Bad Sons (Top 5!)
• Tyler the Creator (not what expected, he didn't play any of his songs that everyone would know, also the only show that a mosh pit started and someone was bleeding)
• The Weekend (so we only stayed for a little bit because we were out of energy. . so we missed Kanye West's appearance. But oh well because I really hate that guy.)  

Day 3 Final Day

  

This day was the hardest for me because I woke up knowing that this was the final day :(.
We spent the day getting some photos, exploring tents we hadn't yet and enjoying the Art pieces. You know.. Soaking it all in.
Today we saw:

• Kaskade
• St. Vincent
• Martin Solveig (Top 5!)
• Kygo (from a distance, again.. stage size)
• Odesza (as we were leaving but He is coming to my town soon so i'll have another chance!)
• Brand New
• Marina &amp; the Diamonds
• Florence &amp; the Machine (Top 5! Cried almost the whole time, Beautiful music!)
• Drake

All great, Florence &amp; the Machine probably was my absolute favorite. Her voice, the words in her songs, the instruments! LOVE HER! sadly she broke her foot weekend 1 by jumping off the stage to run through the crowd so she had to be sitting the whole show. No matter because it was still very touching! 

Not entirely sure what this was supposed to be... but they were standing there all day... so they were art pieces :) 

 Beautiful piece made from recycled cans and wood. So delicate and beautiful :) 

Quick Outfit Run through: 

Yellow Demi cup bra (Adore me.com)

Sheer backless floral crop tanktop (Dainty Hooligan.com).

Shorts I cut form an old pair of Pants

Tan Oxfords (same as ones I wore the other 2 days, too comfortable) 

Oh &amp; you know we had to ride the Ferris Wheel!

This whole experience was truly life changing. Opening the Mind, Heart and Soul to let me be free. No judgement, no worries, just able to forget about the rest of the world &amp; all my problems. It really moved me. I honestly didn't want to ever leave, but of course all great things must come to an end. . .
I hope someday I'll be able to return to Coachella Music and Art Festival. It was exactly the vacation I needed &amp; the Experience I had been craving so much. For anyone considering attending this someday. DO IT! YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT! Trust me :)

Some videos that will inspire you to go!
Coachella Thank you Video
Highlights of Coachella 

Thank you for Reading!
To read about my adventure to Coachella read: "Coachella Adventure Part 1/3: Let the Fun Begin"
To read about the adventure back home read: "Coachella Adventure Part 3/3: Return to Reality"

Coachella Adventure Part 1/3; Let the Fun Begin!

 I just want to start by saying that this was one of the most exciting events of my life! I am so lucky to have been able to go to the 2015 Coachella Art and Music Festival! Thank you to Matt who Bought my ticket, you're awesome and I had a great time with you!

Secondly, packing for this was one of the hardest things EVER & of course I left it to the last minute too. Thankfully all went well and I have any panic moments while on this trip!

Here is the Map showing the Stops that we made along the way!
This was made possible by the Roadtrippers app! Click this link to see our adventure!
 Coachella! | My new trip on Roadtrippers.com!

1st;Stop 1. Las Vegas, NV
this was very interesting experience, since we arrived at 10pm on a Wednesday, No fountain shows, no sexy pirates, half the city was closed! It was kinda lame, but alcoholic Slurpees sure helped! Craziest thing I saw on this trip happened here though. While walking back to the hotel we stumbled upon 3 men in suits snorting lines of Cocaine. . . It blew my mind. I had never seen anyone do this nor did I expect to see it just out on the strip.

Stop 2 & 3. Bonnie & Clydes Death Car; Al Capones Bullet-Proof Car
Location: 31900 S. Las Vegas Blvd. Primm, NV 89019  (inside the Buffalo Bills Casino)
Not much happened here, just learned about how the mob created Vegas to launder money. Not Surprised. P.s. Reason its stops 2 & 3 is because it shows 2 different addresses for the 2 cars but they were in the same place (in the photo you can see Al Capones Bullet-Proof Car behind Bonnie & Clydes car.

Stop 4. World's Tallest Thermometer & Alien Jerky
Location: 72155 Blvd. Baker, CA 92309
When we got there it was 79 degrees! It was awesome coming from Rain/snow the day before. not much to say about a Thermometer...

BUT there were tons of signs saying "Fresh Alien Jerky" everywhere on our way and it happened to be located right across the street. We didn't buy any... but we did take some photos!



Stop 5. Afton Canyon Natural Area
Location: Barstow, CA
Started driving down a dirt road and saw a creepy gate with "No Trespassing" signs & an obvious DIY barb wire fence job. I started to feel like we were in a scene from a scary movie and began looking for spikes in the road ready to pop our unsuspecting tires. Luckily there were no spikes, our tires were fine. After driving for a few minutes you see a bridge with train tracks and some campsites.
the river sadly was all dried up, I was really looking forward to dipping my toes in :( . On the bright side we found some pretty sweet Chalcedony rocks, saw some wild animals, & of course took photos!








Stop 6. Lake Dolores Abandoned Water Park
Location: 72 Hacienda Rd. Newberry Springs, CA 92365
This stop was probably the Craziest stop for sure! In the reviews on Roadtrippers they had mentioned a old man in a jeep pulling up, yelling and screaming at them to leave, claiming to own the abandoned park. After reading through the whole review we couldn't tell if the man referenced just some crazy guy who happened to be there that day or if he really owned it and wanted people to stay off. Of course we had to see for ourselves. . . We got there and there were some poorly displayed "No Trespassing" signs but we couldn't help but take a look around anyways! We didn't get to see much except for tons of graffiti & old shacks that could have been arcade games or snack places way back when.  I started to hear music and as we got closer to the actual water park area we saw a garage with a jeep (of course my thoughts went straight to that review). I began to scope it out to see if there was a way to sneak past easily, but then I saw a motor home with the door wide open.
Panicked, we fled back toward the car because we weren't sure how into "Original Homeland Security" they were. Once back to the car, we saw a truck coming down the road. I thought it would be better to drive toward it nonchalantly and take pictures from the road. the Truck came to a stop once it had gotten to where we had been parked and sat there while I took pictures from a couple 100 ft. away. Once I got enough to satisfy me we turned back toward the freeway and the truck started to follow us! He literally waited for us to leave, and then followed us all the way back to the freeway!
I am a little sad we didn't get to see more of the abandoned water park but I fully plan on returning someday :).
Basically the only pic from this stop:

From here, we had 4 stops left but not enough sunlight. Instead, we searched for food! Ended up stopping at DiNapoli's Firehouse in Barstow. The layout of the restaurant was fun, walls decorated with different city and state's police & fireman's patches. Sadly the food was tasteless and bland (which was upsetting after reading promising reviews on Yelp).
Back on the road, the sun started to set as we headed through Yucca into Indio. I loved being able to look up at the stars and seeing so many so bright! Definitely not a luxury provided when living in the city.

To read about the Days spent at the festival please read "Coachella Adventure Part 2/3"
To read about the Last 4 stops we made on our way back read: " Coachella Adventure Part 3/3"

Thanks! <3 data-blogger-escaped-nbsp="" data-blogger-escaped-p="">