Scout's Golden Hour: Joshua Tree National Park

January 10, 12014

Joshua Tree National Park...wow! Driving in, I figured that we would only spend one night here. It didn’t seem like much and as we soon discovered, the desert holds much more than is apparent to the casual observer.

I really had a different picture in my head of what a Joshua Tree actually was. It is actually a Yucca Brevifolia and a member of the Agave family. They are twisty spiky trees right out of a Dr Seuss book.

It is an important part of the Mojave Desert ecosystem, providing habitat for numerous birds, mammals, insects and lizards. Joshua Tree forests tell a story of survival, resilience and beauty through perseverance. Like the Lorax, we speak for the trees, but often the tree speaks to us.

We are at Jumbo Rocks Campground…and the name does not lie! These rocks are jumbo. It is a beautiful spot and and we are all enjoying exploring all the rocks and cave formations.

We love it here so much we had to spend another full day exploring. We came across a really cool meditation garden, lots of totems and different rock formations left behind by others. We left our mark too.

The entrance to a labyrinth can be a place to stop, reflect, make prayer or intention for the spiritual walk you are about to take. The walk around the design to the center can be a "letting go" - a quieting of the thoughts, worries, lists of tasks to do, a letting go unto the experience of being present in the body. Arrival at the center rosette - a place of prayer/meditation - "letting in" Gods guidance, the divine into our lives. When ready, the walk out "letting out" takes us back into our lives, empowered by spirit to transform our lives and actions.

The rocks are quite unlike anything we have seen. Many huge round balls and also many cut into diagonals and diamond shapes. The kids have a new word they named podacle: noun, a shallow cave like cut out in a rock, usually round in nature.

The boys are off on another hike (I will wait for the sunset hike) while I am back at camp with Scout baking a loaf of banana bread for the morning. I still need my baking fixes!

We have had no internet since we arrived, so sorry if anyone was worried about our whereabouts that last couple of days. We weren’t expecting to have no service, but it has been nice to disconnect. I can still upload and work on my photos, so I am happy.

We met some nice girls that are camping next to us. They remind me of Laney…one has really awesome bright red hair, so young and nice. Scott had heard them chatting outside as the temps started to drop and he thought they might be cold. My mother instincts kicked in and I dug out my 2 extra blankets from storage, all nice and clean and brought them over. They were most grateful in the morning…that and a cup of hot coffee delivered to their doorstep! They are already returning he favor by picking us up some firewood for tonight so we don't have to drive this thing into town. Scott is so funny telling the boys stories. They are stories about us and our trip but with a different ending...sometimes funny, sometimes scary! I made the kids a grilled treat of bananas sliced open with marshmallows and chocolate chips wrapped in foil....not bad. The only thing missing was the ice-cream!

I played around with some night photography. We bought the kids some helicopter glow sticks that they fling in the air like a slingshot. These are the rocks at our site...you can see the constellation Orion.