2/11/21 roaming through the desert of southern california

fell asleep right under the most insane stars we have ever seen on friday night... didn’t even bother to set up the tent when we were out in death valley. the weather was so perfect & we found a great campsite, so we just slept on our sleeping pads🪐 woke up saturday morning to join our camping neighbors for a little tea party after some guitar&writing. made them pb&j&banana tortillas in exchange for some fancy tea from china 🍄

the sun in the desert was so so warm and much needed after a cold few weeks in utah (where nights got so freezing that natalias contacts would freeze 🥲). explored the park a bit on saturday: saw the mesquite flat sand dunes, then walked out to the bad water basin salt flats for sunset. super crazy to see these formations. most of death valley is below sea level, so we were walking around the botoom of a dried up ocean. definitely looked like we were at the bottom of the ocean while we were there. the salt deposits in bad water basin made some insane geometric shapes that once again made us feel like we were on another planet !!

we slept at the same campground saturday, once again falling asleep blanketed by the milky way✨💫 woke up for an early sunrise over some badlands in the park. another insane view: swirls of neutral colors made up these smaller hills that were surrounded by mountains that were tinted pink from the rising sun.after the sunrise, we explored the artists pallet of death valley. the name we nothing short of a perfect description for this area. pinks, greens, oranges, and yellows accented the rusty volcanic ash mountains in a way that looked as if someone had painted this sand🌈

we ended up just hanging out at the campground and doing some laundry before walking back to the badlands to hike around a bit. got so entranced by the “psychedelic swirls” of the badlands that we ended up staying for sunset as well. super history-rich area that used to be used as a mining area before the land was protected. mining area = some insane rock finds 😜 made some insane pasta and beans with peanut sauce that night before falling asleep as we watched the stars, only to wake up at 2 am to put all the food away 🐛

tried to wake up early enough on monday morning to make it to service for our 9 am class, but sadly service was further away then we thought :/ felt so good to spend the weekend in death valley with no service at all 🌈 weird going back into the real world, where schoolwork and passport renewal exist :,(

after catching up on the real world for a bit, we drove through the mojave desert. surprisingly there are more joshua trees in this area than there are in the actual joshua tree national park. found a super dope joshua tree forest off some dirt road, so we stopped to explore for a bit. these trees are so nutty, they look like they belong in a dr. seuss book. each one is so uniquely shaped & they all have the craziest leaves and seeds. so interesting how well plants like this adapt to the desert climate. tough leaves prevent transpiration, so they are able to retain more water. gotta love the desert 🌵

after the joshua tree adventure, we explored the kelso dunes area of mojave. super huge dunes surrounded by the most unique rocky desert mountains. quite the hike up, but so worth it for the views. left the park during a mesmerizing sunset. we were running super low on gas and ended up in a super small town off the old route 66, where the gas attendant filled up the tank for us... first time experiencing this as millennials 🐒

spent tuesday driving through joshua tree, exploring a few little areas on the way. heading back there now after picking up my sister from san diego, so we weren’t too concerned about seeing everything on the first trip. did see some crazy rocks and cacti though... cannot wait to be back here 😎

after our little trip through joshua tree, we stopped in slab city - a totally off-grid city near the salton sea where everyone lives in campers / random huts that they made out of whatever scraps they could find out in this area. some super dope people that made dope art exhibits. there was even a legit museum out in this crazy society. interesting to see people living this kind of life. although there were really no rules here, everyone was very respectful to each other and was super kind to those visiting the area. got tips about the good and bad areas of the town from some locals, super sweet. checked out salvation mountain and east jesus as well as a little skate park made in an old pool. super cool area that i’ve been interested in seeing for a while, stoked that we got to check it out. a fun end to our journey through the desert before heading into san diego