Remington, Mocha and I made a three and a half hour drive to the wonderful Joshua Tree. We decided that we wanted to go camping, . Although we didn't really know what we had gotten ourselves into. Living in SoCal, we've been kinda pampered with the weather, we definitely were not equipped for the 100+ desert. I've heard that sometimes you have to pay to get in, other times you don't, so its kinda a game of luck. It's always a good time when you save $30 right?
There are tons of different camp sites throughout the desert, so Rem spent some time going through our options the night before we left. He decided on "Jumbo Rocks", based on peoples stargazing reviews. At first, I was halfway hoping we would just pick one of the campsites as we first got in to the park, we were so ready to get out of the car, start setting up camp and exploring around a little. But after our first nights view of the stars, I was glad that we drove the 40 extra minutes to the middle of the desert. After living in the big city for about a year now, I haven't seen a sky full of stars since I was back home in Kansas. I had forgotten how beautiful the night sky, to its full potential, really was. Don't get me wrong, I see an occasional two or three stars, and I'm definitely not complaining about the palm trees and ocean views, but nothing beats the Kansas back roads and nights full of stargazing. Also, the further you got in the desert, the less and less phone service we got, which was good for us because both of us are on our phones quite a bit. So driving farther into the park was actually the way to go! We got our fix on the stars, and got some quality time just the two and a half of us. :)
Although I grew up in Kansas and have been camping more times than I can count on all of my fingers and toes X10, you would not guess that by the way I camp these days. I'm talking at least 15 blankets to cushion the hard ground, a duffel bag full of clothes and shoes that could last me a lifetime, and so on. To me, that's pretty normal, but to Rem it's considered "glamping" I guess. My back is far to sensitive to have it any other way and I think that would be my sass peeking through...
Because of all the wildlife, dogs aren't allowed on most of the hikes, which is basically all you can do out there. We still had fun exploring where we could! Rem and I would have liked to do more of the trails though, so I think that means we will just have to make another trip out there soon.
Here's some shots we took :)
Our last morning, I woke up pretty early because I wanted to catch the sunrise. Our campsite was a grown mans jungle gym, with big rocks that let you see for miles. So I grabbed my camera and started climbing, I had picked a rock that was pretty easy to climb. The night before, while Rem was cooking our dinner he burned himself pretty badly and was up all night, so he slept in and missed the best view all weekend! I sat up there for a couple of hours because I wasn't quite sure when the sun would be peeking over the mountain tops. While I was sitting up there watching something so satisfying, I just couldn't stop taking pictures. Although the view was absolutely beautiful, the camera just couldn't do it the justice. I realized that the moments that a camera can't catch, are the best moments in life.