A Trip to the High Desert: Joshua tree

Our visit to Joshua Tree California

Have you ever visited the Mojave desert? In the high desert you can vanish into the surrounding nature: the sunlight, the starry nights and the spaciousness of it all. 

Before visiting Joshua Tree for the first time, I had never experienced anything quite like it's landscape and terrain. It almost felt like the surface of some faraway planet, but amazingly it is here on Earth, a textural horizon, scattered with Joshua Trees and rocky formations. The National Park spans 1,200 square miles of the Mojave and Colorado deserts. 

Over the past 3 years, we have made an annual trip out to Joshua Tree, which is about a 3 hour drive east of downtown Los Angeles. 

This year, our trip was for a long awaited block-printing workshop that I participated in with Block Shop textiles! Today, I will share some photos from the area near Joshua Tree National Park, where we stayed, and a few of our favorite hikes. 

I hope you are ready for a mid-week escape to the desert with me! 

A coyote pup from the dirt road

The Togetherness House where we stayed was a few miles from the west entrance of the park. As the name itself, inspires connection to self, others, and your surroundings. The house is a mid-century pioneering woman's dream. It's mid-century furnishings, cozy area rugs, and a large front picnic friendly front porch.

This home's owners were drawn to the property and all of the accessible adventures that the National Park had to offer. The quiet, stillness of the desert, and, really, the people. According to them, everyone up here has a story and they are incredibly friendly, it has a real small town feel with a contemporary attitude of eco-consciousness, equal rights, and artists galore.

While we drove, I noticed many signs pointing to various artist studios throughout the town. In the morning, we enjoyed waking up to the sweeping views from the front porch and enjoying breakfast outdoors!

Some of our favorite things about the Togetherness House are as follows:

• the kitchen
• the collection of books on architecture, arts, and photography
• cozy floor mats
• mid-century furniture and feel 
• outdoor living space 
• location near the National Park 

For us, this place really is perfection, with it's mid-century flourishes. Furthermore, the home offered us plenty of sleeping accommodations as a family of 3. I hope to return to share the space with family friends in the future. 
​
Yes, California really is all about the outdoor living, The Togetherness House is located on an large plot of wilderness with some footpaths for you to enjoy. 
​
In the evening, we made a toast to a successful family trip and our time together! True to form my husband came up with a custom mixed drink for the occasion: The Joshua Tree, which features bourbon, apricot, and thyme. 

You can check out the Joshua Tree drink recipe too~ cheers!

Meanwhile our son, nature boy was really enjoying the local scenery by lining up a solid rock collection! The surrounding nature is surreal and inspiring: branches and rock formations dispersed wildly.

If you are looking for a few short  hikes that can be accomplished with younger kids, I have two spots that I can recommend...the first one is more like a stroll, and the second is a legitimate hike.

• Oasis Visitor Center: situated north west of the park, is a fantastic place to visit to pick up a guide to the park. On the day we visited, there was an informative talk about wildlife and specifically the desert tortoise.  Behind the center, you can tour the Oasis of Mara, a short 1/2 mile paved loop that is stroller and wheelchair accessible winding through a grove of Palms.
• Hidden Valley loop: a 1 mile loop that winds along massive boulders through a legendary cattle rustlers settlement near Barker Dam. Mostly flat terrain, we took our 2-yr old, at the time, he had some experience on longer walks up to 1 mile in the past. One highlight of this loop is the petroglyphs on the rocks and potential to sight big horn sheep. 

I hope you have enjoyed getting lost with me:) I always feel much more peaceful, inspired and motivated, when I return from even a little getaway. My son actually did not want to leave. There is something transformative about time spent in nature and what it does for us all, and especially children, filling our craving for exploration and freedom. 

If you would like to see more posts on west coast travel, then please check out our guides:
Kauai Guide and Seattle Travel Guide 
​
Next week, I promise to share a few photos of the textiles workshop, which was creative and inspiring! I hope you will check back in to see.