Joshua Tree National Park

Hello everyone!

Yesterday was a great day. We left Yosemite for Joshua Tree and had Chick-fil-A for breakfast. Even if I stopped this post right now, that would be enough to constitute a great day. But let’s keep going.

On our way to Joshua Tree (7 hours) we drove through the desert. Who lives in the desert? Crazy people. I have no idea who lives in the sparse little houses we saw, nor why or how they make a living. You’d have to pay me a few hundred thousand dollars a year to live out there, and even then I’d take the money after a year and peace out. Everything looked vacated because it was so hot outside, and if we stopped I’m sure we would’ve been approached by walkers out of The Walking Dead. But I digress. Some people may love it out there. I wouldn’t.

We made it to Joshua Tree without melting our peanut butter, and turns out what we expected to be a unique but ho-hum place was actually awesome. The Joshua trees are only a part of it – all around are HUGE mounds of rocks, rows of mountains, and other kinds of cacti. The rocks are all way bigger than they look, even in person. We figured that out when we started climbing on them.

So as you can see, it’s a beautiful place in its own way. I kept expecting hyenas to be watching us from the top of the rocks. It was hot, but surprisingly enjoyable since there’s no southern humidity here. The best part was the sunset though, which we saw from the top of Keys View. See below!

We’ve been able to see some amazing sunsets on this trip. Even after these photos as we drove to dinner, the sunset light kept giving beautiful colors before it faded.

We took a suggestion from someone we met in San Diego for dinner and headed to Pappy & Harriet’s. Turns out it’s a honky tonk hippie bar with live music every night, and we were there on open mic night! As funny as it sounds, we loved it. The food was great and music was too. We’d go there if it was in Greenville.

Instead of camping, we got a hotel halfway to LA and it felt GREAT to sleep in a bed again. I miss beds. And showers and clean sheets and breakfast. Well, we stole breakfast from the hotel next door. But they’re just two different kinds of Mariott, so it all goes to the same place, right? We’re young and poor. Help us.

Today we’ll head to Palmdale to stay before we go to Six Flags tomorrow for my birthday. I’m going to get Taylor on the Superman, you guys just wait. See here. SIX FLAGS YAY!

Love love love,

Michelle