Joshua Tree National Park Visit

This past weekend, we decided to go to Joshua Tree National Park. It's just over a two hour drive northeast of here. When we arrived, we found vast beauty, peace and tranquility. The roads there and back were fascinating too. As we drove, there were large wind farms at the base of snow-capped mountains, large foothills and winding roads laced with tall palm trees. 

Joshua Tree National Park has about 800, 000 acres of protected desert-lands. Its location actually contains two deserts; the Colorado and the Mojave. The Colorado Desert is the eastern portion of the park and is below 3, 000 feet in elevation; while the Mojave lies higher in the west. We experienced the drops in temperature as we climbed the roads in Mojave while the temps rose in the east as we went down farther. The Mojave is not only cooler and higher, but moister than its counterpart. Therefore, it provides the perfect habitat for the famous Joshua trees, which we saw thousands of! This area has a notable selection of unique geological formations which the boyz loved climbing! And I mean all of my boyz! :) While the gang climbed, Willow checked out the holes in the ground and I took in the quiet, the landscape and the sunny sunshine! The boyz reported awesome views and 'deafening silence' when they returned. The Keys View was amazing and freezing! The wind was blowing us off our feet practically. The Keys View is a popular destination in the park which is located on the tip of the little San Bernardino Mountains with views of the Coachella Valley. On the way there, Josh spotted snow-at the side of the road-at first we didn't believe him, but low and behold there it was and he had to touch it! hee hee

Other highlights were found in the Colorado Desert where there were natural gardens of ocotillo and cholla (choy-a) cactus. The cholla cactus look almost fuzzy and soft from a distance, but in fact are extremely sharp as cacti usually are and these guys can shoot out and 'grab' onto you; attaching themselves, if you touch them. Jeff, of course had to touch one to see just how sharp it was! Visitors are only permitted on a small trail to view them and dogs were prohibited from the trail; so, Willow stayed in the car for a few minutes. I absolutely fell in love with these plants and proclaimed I would never forget seeing them.

Additionally, we sighted a coyote, unidentifiable large rodents, lizards and common ravens. We checked out the super-sized wall murals at Twentynine Palms which all tell their own historical real-life story. We saw the moon at its brightest in the evening and again in the morning. Breathtaking! We watched the kids play at the park, take pictures and look on in awe of this tremendous and historical place. 

We highly recommend a trip to this park!