04-05-2015, 02:30 PM
Many years ago, Greg gave me U2's Joshua Tree on CD because I said I didn't have any U2. Thanks for that Greg. I still cherish that CD and it served me well last week. My first RM show was U2 Joshua Tree (which I've mentioned many times here before) so it holds a special place in my heart. Stacy and I are starting to take the bucket list seriously now that we've both crossed the half century mark and Joshua Tree was on hers, so we went. It was also a good time to let Tara practice driving because there's a lot of empty desert roads. Going to the desert in a 4-year drought might seem odd in retrospect, but I like to think of it as being prepared. We have tix for U2 in May- S is lackluster about it as she's not that into them despite her Irish blood, but JT provided a perfect soundtrack for the meditative desert drives, so she's finally warming up to them. U2 really captured something with that timeless album, something I never quite got until hearing it beneath the JT desert skies and seeing the dive motel where they wrote it.
JT is a weird national park - the opposite of Yosemite in many ways - for one thing, there's no water. You can fill up at some ranger stations on the way in, but that's it. There are only a few roads, only a few trails too. It's minimal on many levels. Our 1st day was blisteringly hot as we struggled to hike to tiny palm oasis. Everything seems to want to suck your moisture away. It's intensely rugged country. We wound up bailing out on our plan to do a night of backpacking because of the heat, but regretted that after because it cooled down and became more manageable as the week progressed. By the end of our trip, it was actually chilly. Desert weather is tricky. It actually wasn't that hot - just the 80s and I've thrived at 100+ degree Reggaes, but something about that landscape made me constantly thirsty, always struggling to keep hydrated. I woke every morning to wicked cottonmouth - constantly parched. We took one short hike up Ryan Mtn where I thought I wasn't going to make it. The stone stairs, the ascent, it kicked my ass and was a tiny trail really, less than 3 miles round trip. We started called Tara the gazelle because she was springing up the mountain, barely breaking a sweat, on those long teenage legs of hers. I was sucking wind and cramping and blaming my BP meds. But I made it and it was stunning. Those sunrises and sunsets - so sublime, colors and sensations that simply cannot be photographed or captured in any other way but being there. The desert slowly opened up to us, the sun-bleached terrain gave way to radiant wildflowers and colors so vibrant that it was like gazing into the very eyes of God. Even the lizards were spectacular, especially the Chuckawalla, which I couldn't help but say in my best University of Wallamaloo Aussie accent. Desert sage, creosote plants and cheese bushes infused the air with piercing incense perfumes. And the rocks, towering impossible monoliths of such texture, boulders as big as busses teetering high atop each other, catching the sunlight in magnificent ways. It was very moving. Mrs Dm kept saying how it would be the perfect place to shroom, but Dm knows if he ever took that path he would end up nekkid, lost and dying to dehydration, trying to talk to rocks and cuddle cacti. There's a lot of prickly nastiness out there. It is an unforgiving place. But we found a wonderful hippie cafe in the town of JT, all veg, cheap and healthy, catering to the rock climbers who convene at JT to test their skillz against nature. It's a rock hoppers paradise with a whole different set of areas designated for climbers.
On April Fools, S got me again with a rubber snake she found, flinging it at me in horror as I was waking up, then laughing hysterically for the rest of the trip about it. She gets me every year. After that, we spent two nights at this retro 50s spa hotel in nearby Desert Hot Springs, which was wacky weird (at one point, DM was accosted by a harem of partying Chico women all in their 60s+ clad in gold lame pants and cheetah prints). We had dinner in Palm Springs where T got served a chunk o chicken in our veg pizza, earning us a free dinner from a very apologetic manager (we had nachos and chocolate cake after at another restaurant).
It was a grand trip, a true getaway, and I feel wonderfully at peace in its wake. Put 1400 miles on the Fit, spent a fair amount on food and gas, but it was all well worth it. S might go back some day - she fell in love with those desert colors - I could be convinced to return but I have so much on the bucket list left to go...
JT is a weird national park - the opposite of Yosemite in many ways - for one thing, there's no water. You can fill up at some ranger stations on the way in, but that's it. There are only a few roads, only a few trails too. It's minimal on many levels. Our 1st day was blisteringly hot as we struggled to hike to tiny palm oasis. Everything seems to want to suck your moisture away. It's intensely rugged country. We wound up bailing out on our plan to do a night of backpacking because of the heat, but regretted that after because it cooled down and became more manageable as the week progressed. By the end of our trip, it was actually chilly. Desert weather is tricky. It actually wasn't that hot - just the 80s and I've thrived at 100+ degree Reggaes, but something about that landscape made me constantly thirsty, always struggling to keep hydrated. I woke every morning to wicked cottonmouth - constantly parched. We took one short hike up Ryan Mtn where I thought I wasn't going to make it. The stone stairs, the ascent, it kicked my ass and was a tiny trail really, less than 3 miles round trip. We started called Tara the gazelle because she was springing up the mountain, barely breaking a sweat, on those long teenage legs of hers. I was sucking wind and cramping and blaming my BP meds. But I made it and it was stunning. Those sunrises and sunsets - so sublime, colors and sensations that simply cannot be photographed or captured in any other way but being there. The desert slowly opened up to us, the sun-bleached terrain gave way to radiant wildflowers and colors so vibrant that it was like gazing into the very eyes of God. Even the lizards were spectacular, especially the Chuckawalla, which I couldn't help but say in my best University of Wallamaloo Aussie accent. Desert sage, creosote plants and cheese bushes infused the air with piercing incense perfumes. And the rocks, towering impossible monoliths of such texture, boulders as big as busses teetering high atop each other, catching the sunlight in magnificent ways. It was very moving. Mrs Dm kept saying how it would be the perfect place to shroom, but Dm knows if he ever took that path he would end up nekkid, lost and dying to dehydration, trying to talk to rocks and cuddle cacti. There's a lot of prickly nastiness out there. It is an unforgiving place. But we found a wonderful hippie cafe in the town of JT, all veg, cheap and healthy, catering to the rock climbers who convene at JT to test their skillz against nature. It's a rock hoppers paradise with a whole different set of areas designated for climbers.
On April Fools, S got me again with a rubber snake she found, flinging it at me in horror as I was waking up, then laughing hysterically for the rest of the trip about it. She gets me every year. After that, we spent two nights at this retro 50s spa hotel in nearby Desert Hot Springs, which was wacky weird (at one point, DM was accosted by a harem of partying Chico women all in their 60s+ clad in gold lame pants and cheetah prints). We had dinner in Palm Springs where T got served a chunk o chicken in our veg pizza, earning us a free dinner from a very apologetic manager (we had nachos and chocolate cake after at another restaurant).
It was a grand trip, a true getaway, and I feel wonderfully at peace in its wake. Put 1400 miles on the Fit, spent a fair amount on food and gas, but it was all well worth it. S might go back some day - she fell in love with those desert colors - I could be convinced to return but I have so much on the bucket list left to go...
Shadow boxing the apocalypse