Las Vegas > Mojave Desert > Joshua Tree > LAX

Now that this idea of traveling to National Park was a go, we were ready to start planning big. Which city have we not been to on our bucket list? What is the most popular National Park you want to see?

Then COVID-19 hit and the world was slow to reopen come our fall break weekend. Now we had to choose from secluded, safe and and open. This lead us to Joshua Tree National Park, and while it had no adjacent city we were interested in seeing, it was not too far of a drive from Las Vegas. We could work with that.

Wednesday

Again, we are still so spoiled having Hartsfield Jackson as our airport, though this time we were not flying the native Delta. We were using a credit. You see, I had purchased a super cheap flight to England to see a friend right as Covid-19 was hitting the news, but not shutting down. And as predicted, that flight was cancelled and the travel company issued me a credit, but only to be used on the flight of their choosing….which was Spirit Airlines. Now I am not a snob, I would rather go for cheap and less luxury than stay home, but my husband found that Spirit Airline is an experience he never has to have again.

After securing our rental car, we drove the strip to see the flashing lights. At the end of the strip we found our hotel https://aria.mgmresorts.com/en.html The Aria. If you need somewhere safe, clean, beautiful to stay in Vegas, I would recommend this. Now, I believe we used some of my Father-in-Law’s credits and got a super deal ($280 for one night), but if you can swing it, you should.

Tired and needing to move, we put on our going out shoes and checked out the casinos. I had never been to Vegas or a casino, but I promptly lost $20 on the slot machines (though it was fun to pull the lever!) We did learn that the Bellagio Fountains last show is at 11:55, so we missed it by 30 minutes. But overall, it was worth seeing the strip.

Thursday

Remembering how overbooked we were on our last trip, we really slowed the pace down for this one.

10:00 AM – Checked out of the Aria and left Vegas. Driving to the city of Twenty-nine Palms was estimated to take 2 hour and 57 minutes via I-15 S. We stopped and stretched our legs in the Mojave Desert, and any gas station we could.

1:00 PM – Arrived in the tiny, small, grouping of people that called their town Twenty-nine Palms. Here we learned something new about each other. I would again rather go for cheap than not get to go, and as long as it says clean on the reviews I will book. Josh, does not want to stay in a motel. It is hotel or bust for him. But considering his one night booking at the Aria cost the same as 3 nights at Americas Best Inn, we agreed to ride it out.

2:00 PM – After waking up from our nap, we decided to grocery shop and check out the town.

For Dinner this whole week, we ate at Kitchen in the Desert (6427 Mesquite Ave Twentynine Palms CA 92277)

Friday

8:00 AM – Drove around Joshua Tree NP via highway 62 E, and 177 S (1 hour 15 minutes) to enter through the Cottonwood Visitor Center Entrance.

9:30 AM – Explored the 0.5 mi out and back portion of the Cottonwood Spring Oasis, where we got to see running water and a change in vegetation, so interesting in the middle of the desert.

10:30 AM – From here we followed the main (and only at this point) road deeper into the park. To me, one of the coolest parts about this drive was that on one side of the road you could see the Colorado Desert, and on the other, very distinctly, the Yucca Valley Desert. We then walked the 0.25 mile loop through the Cholla Cactus Garden, making sure to stay on the trail and be aware of our surroundings.

11:30 AM – We continued through the park up the Pinto Basin Road to the Twin Tanks Parking lot. From here we had a 1.4 mile lollipop trail through sandy and rocky terrain to reach Arch Rock. At this point we had only seen a few of the namesake trees, when I was informed that my husband (Josh) would in fact NOT be taking a picture with every single Joshua tree

12:30 PM – We stopped for lunch, which we ate in our air conditioned car as the temperature had started creeping up. And decided we would head back until the evening. But on our way out we drove past the jumbo rocks campground and saw that Skull Rock was just right there off the road. And with that small addition we made our way back to the Oasis visitor center which was right by the hotel. Yay for air-conditioning.

That night before dinner, we swung by a little craft/artist fair that was popped up that weekend. It was cute and a fun bonus we were not expecting.

Saturday

7:00 AM – Knowing how fast it got hot the day before, we get an early start to the days hike. Using the Oasis Visitor Center entrance, we made our way down Park Boulevard keeping right, to pass by Skull Rock area and continue to the Barker Dam Trail.

8:00 AM – Parking fills up quickly at the Barker Dam area as this is one of the most popular day hikes and a great spot for bouldering. This 1.1 mile loop was filled with stunning views, and plenty of history. You can take a tour, but we did not feel that was needed.

Note: If you are not prepared for rock climbing or bouldering with a team and materials please do not climb off trail. There were many families scaling large rock formations without the appropriate equipment and no regard for safety.

11:00 AM – We stopped at the picnic areas here before leaving and ate a quick lunch, people watching the families and voting on which ones would lose a kid over the side. There was also a very cute Dachshund puppy that kept barking at everyone and making us laugh.

12:00 PM – Done with the big hike for the day, we slowly made our way to the West Entrance Station. Stopping at Hidden Valley, Hemingway and Quall Springs to take pictures.

1:30 PM – Picked up a Patch and Shirt at the Joshua Tree Visitor Center before making our way to the Crochet Museum which was cute if you like crochet, but it was small and not much more than a photo op.

Sunday

Lucky for us, the flight back home from LAX to ATL was later in the day, which gave us plenty of time to make the 3 hour drive, drop off the rental car, and navigate to the boarding gate.