Our trip to Joshua Tree was the first time we ever took a trip to California. Wow! Is it different than southwest Missouri! We live right off of Old Rt 66, just outside of Springfield Missouri in Republic, and have both grown up hearing about it. So, we thought it was really cool when Jeff was asked to make some furniture and deliver it to San Diego. We thought it would be fun to take the Old Rt 66 part of the way down. 

We drove 16 hours through Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico all in one day.  The next day, We stopped at The Painted Desert and had lunch at this yummy restaurant in Kingman AZ, called Mr. D’s. In Holbrook AZ and Kingman, it’s like you’ve driven right through the movie Cars. You’ll see the motel with tee-pee’s and old cars in front of them as well as more little things.  This restaurant, Mr. D’s, is like you are eating in an old 1950”s diner. I will say, the food was good, but the seating was PACKED!

Before we made our delivery in San Diego, we decided to stop and see Joshua Tree so we wouldn’t need to back-track, and we could drive on to Saguaro National Park instead. This was our first time seeing the desert. It seemed that we drove forever and the landscape never changed. I was so glad that Jeff had brought extra diesel gas for the truck, as well as a cooler with water and food for us since the gas stations were pretty scarce. If you have never been to the desert before, this is a beautiful place to see a desert for the first time.

I didn’t realize that Joshua Tree is in the Mojave and Colorado Deserts, so you can see a mixture of plants and animals here. The Joshua Trees that are plentiful throughout the 800,000 acres are of course, throughout the park. You can also see them in Nevada, Uta,h, and Arizona, but they say they only grow between 2,000 and 6,000 ft. They are so cool looking, and you would think that they came right out of a Dr. Seuss book with their odd limbs and spiny tips. We learned that these trees can live up to 500 hundred years old too. 

This park is just a few hours' drive from Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, and Phoenix, so it can be busy, not to mention that it’s a few hours away from numerous other national parks. So, you might want to check the National Park website and their social media to make sure that there are not any alerts going on regarding entry. 

We arrived at the park after the visitor center had closed for the day, so we picked up a park map and decided to explore the park and see what we found. With so many things to do in this park, we only had two days so we chose to do some hiking and just checking things out. We found Skull Rock right and there were lots of kids and people climbing on the rocks. So we got some pictures and drove on to find some of the 4x4 roads. 

My personal favorite thing that we did, was to drive back out to the park after dinner to look at the sunset and the stars. Our visit to Joshua Tree was the first time we had ever been to a park that is an International Dark Sky Park. The stars were so bright! We saw the Milkyway and stars without the use of a telescope. It was unbelievable and words can’t describe how magnificent the stars were! It was a few years ago and I didn't have a camera that could capture these stars. I will, however, remember them for the rest of my life. 

Anytime Jeff sees that a park has some 4x4 dirt roads, he HAS to try them out. I’m guessing he’s like any other guy with a truck and enjoys playing and “seeing what it can do”. He thoroughly enjoyed these dirt roads. We did the dirt roads in Covington Flat. You can see some of the park’s largest Joshua trees, junipers, and pinyon pines on this drive. The road is 3.8 miles one way and is steep near the end, but the top offers views of Palm Springs, the surrounding mountains, and the Morongo Basin.

Another 4x4 road we took was an eight-mile-long loop.  This didn’t have as many Joshua Trees but it has lots of different types of plants and flowers. We were the only people on this road, so it felt like we had the entire park to ourselves for a little while.

When we visited this park, we stayed in the nice little town of Twenty Nine Palms. There are several hotels and restaurants and it’s right at the entrance of the park. You can also stay at the world-famous Palm Spring town if you don’t mind driving a little to get to the park. Palm Springs can be seen from the park. As you are driving into it, it’s like a rainbow of color in a desert. It’s a beautiful town with all of the architecture, bright colors on the houses, offices, and flowers everywhere.

If you plan to visit this park, or any other National Park, be sure to go to nps.gov to find out everything you need to know about the park before you go. 

Happy Exploring! 

Laura Cole - Owner of National Parks and Beyond