Palm Springs & Joshua Tree
A relaxing summer trip to the surface of the sun
This trip was in part a celebration of Erik’s birthday with some pals that have their b-day within the same week. As our first group trip outside of immediate family, this southern California adventure was a fun new chapter for us!
The only catch? The birthdays were in August, in the desert, during the hottest summer in recorded history! Datsa spicy meatball!
Here’s how we beat the heat and made the most of our trip to Palm Springs and Joshua Tree National Park.
Dates: August 1st → August 6th
Highs
👍 We’ve never seen so many stars! Joshua Tree is an International Dark Sky Park, so every night we were treated to incredible stargazing: watching the moon rise, countless shooting stars, and actually being able to see the Milky Way. To boot, our stay had a rooftop patio with huge, cosmic-printed floor pillows specially for marveling at the night sky.
👍 Speaking of the rooftop patio, our Airbnb was perfect. It was tucked away on 8 private acres of desert landscape with a large pool, spacious + artsy interiors, and a sand volleyball court (though we didn’t dare play). We don’t usually worry too much about the amenities of our stays on national park trips, but for the amount of time that we spent watching movies and staying up to our chin in the pool, this place hit the spot.
👍 The encircling beautiful and bizarre rock formations of Indian Cove Campground felt like you were at a campsite on Mars. We easily could have spent more time there, as the landscape was perhaps more impressive than much of JTNP.
👍 Exploring Mount San Jacinto was well worth it. Besides the gorgeous views of miles-upon-miles of desert from up the mountain, it was also a good 30 degrees cooler at elevation, giving us a much-needed reprieve from getting melted.
At the Hidden Valley trailhead. No ranch dressing in sight, 1/10, unhike-able
Lows
👎 “But it’s a dry heat!” Temperatures got up to 110°F during our time in Joshua Tree, and that wasn’t ideal. During peak temps (noon-7pm) we made it work by staying either a) inside, or b) fully submerged in the pool with a comically-large straw sunhat on.
Buffalos
(aka the odd-and-or-funny stuff)
🦬 We came under attack from a swarm of bees at Chola Cactus Garden! And, by the way we sprinted back to our car, you would have thought a mountain lion or a feared outlaw with a six-shooter was on our tail. Prayers go out to those group members who were stung.
🦬 Riding the PS Aerial Tramway was wild. In a matter of minutes, you ascend over 5,000ft of elevation, while the floor slowly rotates in a circle. And upon reaching each cable tower, the tram rocks back and forth like a mini swinging pirate ship amusement park ride. We don’t like roller coasters, but still enjoyed the ride!
🦬 Group travel dynamics! There were 4 other people in the squad, some landing on different days, some whom we’d not met. But, everything went smoothly, we all got along, and lived happily ever after.
🦬 The Palm Springs airport is all outside! Palm Springs sees rain and low temps so rarely that nearly every part of the airport but the gates are outdoors. The immediate change from freezing plane to 100 degree airport was wild!
Itinerary
Here’s what we did each day, and some notes on how it all went.
Day 1
Flew into Palm Springs airport
Visited Palm Springs Air Museum (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2)
Located right next to the airport, this was a great stop on the way out of Palm Springs!
Lunch at Fuzion Cafe (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
Drove to our awesome Airbnb in Twentynine Palms
Day 2
Hiked in JTNP
Hiking and scrambling around Skull Rock
Lotsa pool and lounging time
Dinner from Nydia’s
Day 3
Rode the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway
Hiked around Mount San Jacinto on the Desert View trail (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2)
Dinner at Boozehounds (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2)
This was one of the few spots that we could get group reservations on late notice, it turned out great!
Checked out Palm Springs’ weekly VillageFest
Took our first shot at astrophotography
Day 4 (Erik’s birthday!)
Relaxed at the house all day 😎
🍝 Emily’s spaghetti dinner (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!)
Got out the floor pillows for rooftop stargazing
Day 5
Hiking in JTNP
Spent the afternoon in Joshua Tree (the town)
Crossroads Cafe (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
Shopped at the farmer’s market, Time Echo, and Hey There
Explored Indian Cove Campground, stargazed
Day 6
Drove around the Vistas Las Palmas neighborhood of Palm Springs
Saw beautiful mid-century modern and unique homes, including one owned by Elvis
Flew out of Palm Springs and back home
Our Tips & Musings ™️
✈️ This was maybe the third trip we’ve taken since getting TSA Precheck and we’ve loved it. Short lines, not needing to get to the airport as early, and most importantly — leaving your shoes on at security.
🆒 We brought a portable fan with a built-in mister with us and it ruled.
🌭 Using the Airbnb’s grill was such an easy and tasty way to make a group dinner. We’ll definitely be making sure that any place we pick for upcoming trips has one!
🌡️ We think summer is a perfectly do-able time to visit Palm Springs and Joshua Tree — it’s certainly less crowded and the temperature didn’t prevent us from doing anything on our itinerary.
🥾 If you are in Joshua Tree (or most national parks in the Southwest) during the summer, prepare yourself for getting your hikes in early and quickly! We arrived at the park around 7:30am and were on the way home by 11:30am.
🙃 We typically over-program our trips in an attempt to make the most of our time and money. But, this vacation had far less structure and more down time and it was the best! We’ll try to chill for once in our lives on our next couples trip 🤞
🤓 We’ve learned this year that we’re big-time planners compared to some of the friends and family that we’ve travelled with. Maybe that makes us a necessary and much-appreciated mom & dad of groups that we’ll travel with. Maybe it makes us annoying. Probably a bit of both! It’s fun (and sometimes eye-opening) to see what lessons travel teaches you about yourself.
