Arrival Friday March 13
63 Miles | 2 Hours
Once most everything in Palm Springs shut down (the tramway, the bouncy houses, did I mention the tennis?), we decide to get outta Dodge. We negotiate a couple days refund for our stay at Emerald Desert RV Park (their phone was ringing off the hook with snowbird cancellations) and head east to Joshua Tree National Monument for a long weekend.
We get excited again, not only because, hey, it's Joshua Tree, but in prior year's trips to the desert we spent literally every single daylight hour at the tennis pavilion 'til our eyes glowed yellow from following little yellow tennis balls... we never had had the chance to get over to JT.
Plus, we'd get to show it to Sibri for the first time!
Not knowing where to stay, but knowing (and confirming) that all the campgrounds inside the monument book months in advance, we downloaded RV Life and dug up our AAA discount. Oddly, there weren't too many private RV parks near the entrance, needless to say ones that met our pretty basic criteria. They mostly seemed like year-rounder homes for those people who've checked out of society, rather than parks meant for travel trailers with young kids. We finally zero'd in on one and pulled in around dusk. Our basic plan was to unhitch and set up camp, then walk around the park, maybe swim in the indoor pool, make some dinner, and get to sleep ASAP so we could head out before dawn and drive the 40 minutes up to lookout point at Keys View — thanks to a great tip from our friend, Debra.
After some fun in the pool and Datta hilariously getting dumped by standing water on the canvas roof (the below video we shot during the second time wasn't 10% as funny as it was the first time, believe me!), we settled in for dinner only to remember that both our stove and gas cooktop weren't working — we tried to fix those in Palm Springs, but no luck. The nearest restaurant was who knows how far away, and likely already closed. We got nimble and made ourselves dinner in the little electric panini machine that we packed (a camping essential for us!). But no, not panini for dinner, nah, that's too obvious. Instead we tested the mettle of that little machine with fried eggs and learned they turn out ruffled and fully cooked in just 4 seconds! We also reheated insanely good leftover Indian food and made a healthy salad.
Datta ran out to the car to quickly grab something and called us out. We were both exhausted but reluctantly came out to see the most magnificent stars! We loved this shot we took -- no flash and the depth of field goes on for galaxies!
We were smart enough whip up some chia pudding to set in the fridge as well as to dress Sibri in her daytime clothes for the dawn patrol trip up to the vista point. And although none of us were ready to get up at 5am (did we mention our heater wasn't functioning at all?!), we did indeed make it for sunrise!
What a wonderful view, thanks, Deb!
We spent the rest of the morning ambling around the trees and boulders, as the park was nearly deserted up there.
By 9am we were exhausted and by 11am, our little hiker was hiked out and hangry, so we headed out to check out of the RV park and head into town from some yummy brunch, a super fun farmer's market, and the most beautifully-amazing cactus cupcakes!
Not really sure where to go next, we decided to make our way over to a 1960s landmark that must have inspired the writers of The Twilight Zone. It's the Integratron. You LA folk have probably heard of it. I think I didn't even realize I was totally missprouncing it as "Integration" until we left. Don't ask me to describe it, except it has to do with ambient sound and healing. We debated whether to do the "experience", but decided wandering the grounds and kitschy gift shop was entertaining enough. It was also a tough decision because it too was closing at the end of the weekend due to COVID, but, hey, we got a great keychain!
Departure Sunday, March 15
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