Sometimes we have trips that you don't realize how much you need until you are there. Joshua Tree was one of those trips for me. I had seen dozens of photographs of the park, but as we began driving through, I could not believe how beautiful it was and how peaceful the desert felt.
We had decided to drive to the park on short notice, despite it being a holiday weekend, and were certain it was going to be packed. Chances were high that all the dog friendly hotels were booked, but we took the risk and jumped in the car. A few hours later I started calling every hotel. As luck would have it, a hotel near Palm Springs had one room left. I quickly booked it, and our spontaneous weekend began!
We skipped the first, most popular park entrance on the recommendation of some random person online, driving another 20 minutes to a smaller and less crowded entrance. With virtually no one around we flashed our National Parks pass (thanks Kondrats!), and headed in. For the next few hours we drove all around, stopping for a few quick walks, and finishing in a large open field to watch the sunset. The warmth and beauty of the sun going down will stick in my memory forever. It was absolutely magnificent.
