Our last stop before returning to reality: Joshua Tree.

If you’ve never been to Joshua Tree, here’s a couple of quick facts about the state park:

1. It’s a desert.
2. There’s a variety of strange and interesting vegetations.
3. At one point, there’s a bunch of rocks which you can try to climb on.
4. You probably won’t be able to find a better place around to stargaze.
5. Every part of the park is picture perfect.
6. If you live in Los Angeles or the greater LA area, there’s really no reason why you shouldn’t visit Joshua Tree at least once.

If you ever do decide to visit Joshua Tree, enter from the south of the park and you won’t be charged an entrance fee. It’s about 50 miles to drive through the park, which would take about an hour and a half if you don’t make any stops (which is highly unlikely). Although the road is very curvy, the drive is definitely enjoyable because you are constantly surrounded by strange looking desert plants. They’re super ugly but that makes them kind of cute too. Judge for yourself.

Here comes the rocky part that I was talking about. Its super cool how the rocky hills consist of hundreds of individual boulders that pile on top of each other like they are purposefully placed there. I still have no idea how the landscape had been created naturally overtime, but it’s so fascinating to see (and climb) these rocks. There’s also a huge rock with holes/caves in it, which I believe is called the Skull Rock. Scary, but it really does look like a skull. It’s fun to try to scramble your way up the rocks to get a better view of the area – just make sure you can get down.

Our very last stop in Joshua Tree is a hidden gem on the north of the park. If you exit from the northern entrance and continue to head northwest, you’ll find this little museum in the middle of the desert. It’s called the Noah Purifoy Outdoor Desert Art Museum and it’s absolutely amazing.

For about the last fifteen years of his life, Purifoy lived in Joshua Tree to create assemblage sculptures from scrap that he collects. The scale of the museum is incredible. It feels like a deserted little town that is built from the imagination of the artist. Every piece of sculpture that Purifoy created is also extremely thought-provoking. The emptiness of the constructions contrasts with purposeful details to create a paradoxical combination of simplicity and complexity. There’s a strong sense of wistful nostalgia for a simpler time. It’s also free – so do pay this little gem a visit if you’re ever in the area.

Annnnnd that’s a wrap. Last photo is of the amazing view we saw on our way back to LA when we drove past Big Bear Mountain. Shout out to Brandon for being the best road trip buddy and for driving most of the trip.

Shot on Olympus EM-5 Mark II with 9mm Fisheye

1700 miles / 4 days / 3 states

 

Yeah that was fun.

 

xx

– vivian