Victorville, CA Part II

Today is the third day of testing for the DARPA Grand Challenge. There are a total of 3 test areas. The teams test individually and there is quite a lot of waiting time. Sonya's attention span is still quite limited so sometimes it is hard to keep her entertained.


As I mentioned, Victorville is more or less a desert area so there are lots of big cactus plants around. I am totally fascinated by their form and structure. Really beautiful!

Yesterday is the first day we saw blue sky ever since we got here. For once, the photos are turning out much brighter and nicer!


This is the MIT LR3 getting ready before the testing yesterday.


This is Justin trying to keep Sonya entertained while we waited for MIT LR3's testing this morning.




This is Sonya and Clara in the car waiting for Justin to finish with his meeting before we head for lunch.


The weather was really very hot the first few days and so we bought a cap for Sonya. Sonya had another nose bleed a few days ago and also last night probably due to the dry weather. She has a slight cough but she is fine otherwise. Clara looks good with caps and hats and so I couldn't resist putting Sonya's cap on her to see how she looks :)


This is our hotel suite. We got a living room and a bedroom. There is also a little kitchenette in the living room area where there is a fridge, a microwave, a stove, a coffee maker and a sink. If we didn't feel like going out for dinner, I could still cook some simple stuff with the microwave using the Glads Microwave Steam Bags. Really cool!


This is the sofa is the living room. You can see our bag of clean clothes. Justin went to do laundry at a laundromat last night. We only brought 5 days worth of clothing.


This is the bedroom with a king size bed. We also asked for a crib for Clara. Sonya is taking a nap after all the excitement in the morning.


This is the kitchen and some of the things, like cereal, banana, water and baby food, we bought after we got here.


We also drove around and as I mentioned, Victorville is a desert with nothing much. We were very surprised to find this place called Silver Lakes. It is totally unlike its surroundings. Things is so different with a lake. The houses were really nice and many of them by the water. The owners have their own little boats, which I think is pretty useless since it is only a lake.


This I thought was a house with quite a unique design.


We have been driving along the Historic Route 66 and passed by this place with glass bottles and things welded onto metal poles. Yesterday, we finally stopped in front of it to take a picture. We still wonder what they are for.