May 1, 2022

written by irene colgan

The last two years may have been the most unpredictable and frustrating time for many of us, from a pandemic that had health officials scratching their heads, to childish political squabbles that left our country divided. A sense of normalcy is in the air as masks have been lifted and the summer of 2022 will be one of the biggest travel seasons we have seen in a long time. It wasn’t all bad though. I learned a valuable lesson to not take tomorrow for granted. The saying has been around for a long time, but I never really felt its meaning until now. We aren’t guaranteed tomorrow, but we can make today the best day ever! What makes a good day? Good coffee and travel.


I love that get up and go feeling. Minimal planning and just seeing where the day takes us. It’s the best! Pack up the car, make sure there are enough snacks, or at least enough stops to Starbucks to help get us to our destination, and a full tank of gas. California has some of the prettiest travel destinations, and I’m making it a point to get out and reconnect with some old stomping grounds and discover new ones along the way.

Last month my husband and I decided to make a visit to Joshua Tree National Park. Neither of us had been there, but it has been on my bucket list of places to visit. So, on a trip to visit family, we planned Joshua Tree to be our first stop in a 1,270 mile road trip. The weather was perfect for traveling.  With pups in tow, Starbucks to keep us alert and a puppuccino to keep our pups entertained, we started our adventure. 


The almost eight hour drive was a breeze, taking us through some interesting places along Hwy 58. We had stretches of civilization that would pop up every so often, and we had stretches of highway with ourselves being the only occupants on a long and empty road. You know, the kind of empty road that would normally be seen in a Stephen King film. We decided to stop to fill up our gas tank and fill up on some gas station snacks at the next station we laid eyes on. Yes, all good road trips include gas station snacks and if lucky, a cherry Slurpee. Can you say, “brain freeze!”? 


Our Audible pick of Bruce Springsteen’s, Born to Run was about half way through when we decided it was a good time to switch over to some New Wave 80’s hits. Yes, I am that girl who loves a good 80’s tune and trying to play catch up to see all my favorites hit the concert stage before I regret not ever seeing them play live. With the sunroof open we sang like nobody was watching. Nobody except our pups in the back seat wondering if we were ok. With a few hits under our belt we finally had made it to Auto Camp, Joshua Tree. 


If you have always wanted to stay in an Airstream, then you have to try out this resort. We couldn’t drive our car directly to our reserved spot, so we parked and walked in where we were greeted by friendly staff in an open concept room that was shared with the resort’s on-site grocery store. All you would need for a comfortable stay was housed in this room. There were your assortments of breakfasts, lunches and dinners that you could make in your Airstream kitchen or directly over flame in your clean wood burning fire pit. Drinks, snacks, clean wood, charcoal, starter, clothing…it was all here. Just outside this main room was a gigantic firepit that could accommodate about 15 people, maybe more, making it a great place to hang out and make new friends with a social drink in hand and chatting away with our new neighbors. Loving all we had seen so far, we quickly gobbled down a charcuterie board with a nice complimenting tap beer. Yes! They have tap beer too. We were exhausted and couldn’t wait to see our overnight accommodations, so grabbed a wagon and filled it up with our bags and headed to our site. Wow! We walked into our trailer and I was taken back by the simplistic modern amenities and decor. It was perfect. The bathroom was nicer than some bathrooms I’ve seen in well noted hotels, and the bedroom was decked out in all white plush bedding. The kitchen was stocked with everything we would need to fix a tasty meal. There was even complimentary local coffee grounds to use with the french press that was also part of our kitchen supplies.  It was a long day and time to hit the hay to get well rested for our day in Joshua Tree National Park the following morning. 


Knowing it would be getting a bit toasty by the afternoon, we made it into the park by 10am. Remember this was our first time here and I will say that pictures do not do this beautiful location justice. We did a few hikes and stopped to take pictures as often as we could. There was so much beauty to be seen here and I wanted to preserve it by getting as many photographs as possible. If you don’t know, the park is open 24/7, making it a great location for some night photography. Since I was going to try and get some shots of the stars, we thought it was a perfect time to get out of the sun and head into town for some lunch. We got rested up and loaded up the car with blankets, snacks, and the needed equipment to try and grab a good photograph of the night sky. Unfortunately we happened to be there on a night with a full moon, making for a bit more light than I would have liked. It was fun waiting though. We talked, ate and spotted a wolf, we think, and a coyote just outside our doors. I was in no rush to get outside after spotting those two! I was moving quickly to get my gear set up and, while doing so, made as much noise as possible to keep any wild animals at bay. I was like Meredith Blake in the movie Parent Trap clicking two sticks together to keep the animals away. The hubs was laughing, but I honestly think that all my noise helped in keeping us alive and giving me the opportunity to write this post. Well, I got my photographs and I was pleasantly surprised with the results of my very first night sky photography shoot. Yay me! We drove around for a bit just admiring the darkness and all the stars out that night. We were headed to the next stop on our road trip the next day and in no rush to leave the park.


Still wanting to enjoy our Airstream just a little more we finally headed out of the park and back to Auto Camp where we put on a fire and enjoyed a glass of wine while bundled up and starting our wind down for the night with reminiscing about our day and the sites we saw. A place named by early settlers after the Old Testament prophet, Joshua. The plants’ stretched out branches resembling Joshua raising his hands to pray. It’s no wonder U2 paid tribute by naming an album after this iconic place. We found it only fitting to enjoy our last night with a listen to The Joshua Tree. This was not at all our last visit to God’s country. 


-thisisme...irene