Tags
Airbnb, CA, Cacti, Cactus, Cactus Garden, California, Desert, High Desert, Joshua Tree, Joshua Tree National Park, Travel, Vacation, Yucca Valley
The quick trip I just mentioned that Josh & I took to CA at the end of March was a desert trip! Raise your hand if you’re surprised.. (No one? Huh..) We spent a couple of nights in Joshua Tree and a couple of nights an hour away in Palm Springs. In Joshua Tree we rented a beautiful home through Airbnb. It was about 10 minutes outside of town and on 5 acres of land. Lots to explore!
That land is so completely unforgiving – burning hot days and cold nights – but our house was cozy and welcoming. And loaded with plants, so, kindred spirits. It felt so good to be away from regular life, especially after a hard winter, and I can’t put into words how wonderful that sun felt.
We were on Michigan time the first few mornings so we were up and exploring before the sun. Watching the moon go down as the sun rose, I dunno.. Magical.
And! Jackrabbits were everywhere! The owners had to fence off all of their landscaping that wasn’t established because the bunnies eat it. Anytime we went out on a walk we’d see them scatter in the distance.
Every night we waited for the coyotes to come out but we never heard them. Josh had a habit of sitting out back until it got too cold to handle. But can you blame him?
We spent one day hiking/exploring in Joshua Tree National Park, which was really the reason for staying there. It was a great time of year to go – not too hot (I CANNOT imagine going in the full summer heat!) and the wildflowers were blooming. YES.
Josh picked a few “easy” hikes for us to do – even in those my lungs were challenged at times but that’s a good thing. Trying too much and hating the whole experience would have been a big bummer. I’m thankful that Josh is so good at finding those happy mediums.
We also drove a lot – this cholla garden is at the very southern end of the park, a distance from any of the hiking we did. We were shocked that there was no water access anywhere in the park! I guess that’s just the Michigan in us, but I figured at least a few of the restrooms would have something. NOPE. The biggest surprise was that it was never mentioned anywhere. Like, if you’re coming for 2 hours, bring oh I don’t know, 5 gallons of water because it’s the desert and deserts are VERY HOT AND DRY.
Thankfully we did have enough water but we would’ve probably gone through twice as much if it had been an option. So, there’s a PSA for anyone planning future Joshua Tree trips.
Baby Joshua tree!
“Everybody’s talkin’ bout my tight pants, I got my tight pants, I got my tight pants on!” We sang this a lot during this part of the trip, hah. It was thoroughly stuck in my head. You know.
Coming back to this bed after a hot, dusty, hike-y day was the BEE’S KNEES.
Josh did “harvest” himself a few cacti on this trip (don’t worry! Not at the park!) so he wasn’t AS tempted by this sign, but oh my word they saw us coming didn’t they?
My favorite stop in Joshua Tree? Duh, small town gift shops will always have my heart. I’m 34 grown years old and still can’t resist. Of course I bought prickly pear candy and prickly pear chapstick. As one does. I’d also like to dedicate this picture (below) to my parents and brother who waited for me to shop in many such stores over the years, with varying degrees of patience.
Joshua Tree was everything we’d hoped for and we want to go back. Like, soon. If you’re not quite sick of seeing it, here’s a little video of our time there. BE NICE (or at least not mean), it’s my first video ever!
If you’re on a mobile device you might not be able to see it, so here’s the YouTube link.