Later on, IRL

We decided to drive to California for Christmas. The kids and grandkids wanted to get away just as much as we did, but none of us wanted to fly around the holidays and they didn’t have the time to drive far. So we spent a couple days in the car, and drove to Joshua Tree, where we rented a house for the week of Christmas, arriving on the Monday before the Wednesday holiday that year.

We had a full afternoon to ourselves in the park before the others arrived and it was beautiful, which isn’t always guaranteed for a winter desert day, so we took the opportunity to explore a bit on our own. Driving through the park, there is a sense of being insignificant. Enormous piles of rocks are all around, as far as the eye can see, dwarfing anything else in sight. The only thing larger is the view of the sky, blue with wispy clouds that gave an otherworldly impression.

The rock piles have the appearance that made me think that some indifferent colossus creature-child hand tossed them haphazardly, with some landing in a stack while others rolled to a stop nearby.

It takes a while to adjust your eyes in a landscape like this – such enormity can be so much to take in that you don’t notice details at first. Taking time just to look around, proved to me that I needed to slow down and breathe, to study, to observe. Zooming in my focus on a Joshua tree, I could see a bird, perched in the shade the spiny leaves had created. Either a raven or a crow, I admit I can’t tell the difference. Looking down at a shadowy little gap between two rocks, I saw something twitch. A lizard. As my camera clicked, the creature skittered away.

The more you look, the more you see.

December can be the perfect time to visit Joshua Tree, but it’s important to remember this is the desert. Last time I visited in December (2019) there was more than a foot of snow. Those big piles of rocks looked a lot different. Stunningly beautiful in a completely different way. With or without snow, I prefer December in Joshua Tree over July.

We visited the park every day for the 5 days we were in the area, and for each visit, the park presented us with a different feel. On the first day we had sun, making the views sharp and clear, requiring extra sunscreen. The next day, clouds muted the colors and the warmth, requiring extra layers of clothing. On the third day, Christmas, the wind picked up and it was all we could do to hold onto our hats.