palm springs: joshua tree national park edition

we drove up over some mountains to the high desert country where the wind is cold but the air is still crazy dry, and entered the park early early in the morning to avoid the long lines we've heard about at the northwest entrance of the park. we cruised in with minimal waiting, and flashed our fancy VIP pass and our very important fifth grader flashed her fancy smile and boom we were in that national park! 

we had heard that the rocks in the park, which are scattered in outcroppings everywhere, and surrounded by dusty flat deseart and joshua trees, are free for climbing on. no trail? no problem! this is a significant departure from the usual park rules, and one that we've found in only one other place: the badlands in south dakota. climbing and running all over the place is the most fun ever, and it's exactly what the kids want to be doing. 

there was a lot of "be careful!" and silent worrying in my own head about slipping and falling and broken bones and traumatic brain injuries, but for the kids there was a lot of running and jumping and imaginative collaborative play and the moments when they got along best with one another were the moments on the rocks.

skull rock. duh. 

it reminded me of skull rock in peter pan.... or even more keenly in my own nostalgia brain, it reminded me of the rescuers, which was one of the best and most overlooked movies in the 1980s disney canon.

 

a hike to petroglyphs and a dam and some old ranchers' cattle watering hole was a highlight for me!

on our second visit, we moved through the park from north to south, exiting on the coachella valley side of the park. i had read that you move through the high mojave desert (where all the joshua trees grow) to the lower colorado desert in the park, and that the area that the deserts run into one another is diverse, apparent, and beautiful. i doubted i had the awareness and ability to see this, but you know what? it was obvious if you knew where to look, and it was a beautiful transition. right at the transition point was the cholla cactus garden, which was gorgeous, forbidding, and apparently sometimes rife with bees. fortunately, no bees of concern on our visit, but we did see a big fat chuckwalla.

and you better believe we pretended to be U2 album art from their groundbreaking album "joshua tree" even if i don't care for their music. david really came up with some humdinger jokes featuring the names of the songs. well done sir. 

headed south out of the park and back to palm springs gave us a beautiful view of the san jacinto mountain state park and her lingering snow. this is the big mountain literally in the backyard of our rental house.