Joshua Tree (March 24-27, 2022)

Once again venturing into the timeless and unearthly beauty of Joshua Tree. Photo by Christina.

It's kind of great that I've literally lost track of how many times I've visited Joshua Tree, CA at this point. I was first there in my childhood and teen years, and then started going on a regular basis after my first desert trip with Christina in 2010. Since then, not a year goes by (except, cough, 2020 for some reason) that I don't get out to the Mojave Desert at least once, and sometimes more when it's possible.

We'd planned this trip in January. It's always a time where having something on the horizon to lower the stress levels is appreciated. By the time late March rolled around, we were on the edge of complete burnout, which is the perfect time to head toward the High Desert.

Thursday March 24
We always have the same routine for our desert trips. We work on Thursday morning, which makes sense; we can't check into our place until mid-afternoon, so by leaving Redondo Beach at noon for the three hour drive, it's perfect timing.

Also part of the routine when possible: we are joined by our great friend and bandmate Bunny Knutson. Since Bunny lives in the Valley and we're in the South Bay (all Southern Californians now thinking, "Say no more"), we rarely have the opportunity to hang out in person, so these desert trips also give us the opportunity to be with our pal. Since Bunny is also the third member of our band They Stole My Crayon, it's also an opportunity to create new music in person, and we did a whole lot of that. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

After our usual process of a stop at the store for snacks and a stop at McDonald's for an unhealthy but satisfying lunch, we were on the road. I'm happy to report that other than a couple of small pockets of traffic, the roads were pretty clear, and we got up there at about 4:00. It was our first time in a new (for us) place: the Jensen House via Hi Desert Dwellings. This is the same rental firm we used for our previous trip, and we thought they seemed cool. We were right.

The Jensen House is in the middle of the Joshua Tree neighborhood we know and love most of all... the JT Highlands, and was smack in the middle between two other places we'd stayed multiple times before... Casa Rosita and Rancho Rincon. It's just a few minutes away from the western entrance of Joshua Tree National Park, sequestered from the world up a couple miles of dirt roads from the main thoroughfare, and yet still super convenient to Yucca Valley and all the necessities like groceries and restaurants.

From the outside, the Jensen House looks like a tiny one-room shack in the desert. Inside, it becomes a spacious 2-bedroom, 1-1/2 bath paradise with a full kitchen and a spacious and comfy living room area. Photo by Christina.

I think we were all in shock at how roomy and spacious the Jensen House seemed from the inside, compared to the outside view which resembled a rather stylish shoebox in the middle of the desert. I made the inevitable comparison to Dr. Who's Tardis... larger on the inside, yada yada. The place has two bedrooms, a comfy living room, a kitchen, and 1-1/2 bathrooms, with the toilet and sink in one area and an open shower and bathtub in the other. It sounds weird but it's really not. The decor was nice, all the amenities were present, and we were totally happy with our choice of Jensen House from the get-go and throughout the trip.

Jensen House living area. Photo by Hi Desert Dwellings.

Jensen House dining area. Photo by Hi Desert Dwellings.

View from the back porch at Jensen House. Photo by Hi Desert Dwellings.

As is always the case with our desert journeys, the first thing we did after unpacking was to turn around and leave. We needed supplies and sustenance for our trip. One of the greatest things about staying in a rental house is being able to treat it like a house, and not be forced to eat out at restaurants for every meal, and having your favorite snacks around while you're chilling. That being said, after a super busy day that included driving for hours and grocery shopping, we swung by a fast food place and grabbed some tacos and burritos and such, then headed back to Jensen House to spend the rest of the evening eating and relaxing. 

Friday March 25
I awoke leisurely at about 8am (a luxury for me) and got up to get the day started. And, once coffee was consumed and eventually I whipped up a delicious ham and Swiss scramble, we proceeded to do nothing at all.

Taking it slow on Friday morning and enjoying the wonderful high desert.

That's not entirely true. In fact, if we had one all-encompassing important agenda item for this trip, it was to relax. Part of being in the desert is to become more at one with the desert, and the fast-paced life isn't congruous with submersion in that environment. Look, the first bunch of times we did Joshua Tree, we were curious to explore every inch of the park and life in the High Desert, and we often packed our entire days with exploring the entire scene. Nowadays, we can split our precious time there between enjoying the world around us but also the inner world of peace and being present in our own respective environments.

So while I say we did nothing, that's actually completely false. In addition to our time serenely enjoying the essence of the desert, we also spent the day making music. A lot of music. Bunny and I had our guitars, and thanks to the wonder of modern technology, we had an entire recording studio via an iPad and a stereo condenser microphone. The best way to take advantage of a trip like this from a musical perspective is to just let the ideas flow. Don't have ideas? No problem. Put your hands on your musical instrument and see what they do on their own without thinking too hard about it. We ended up creating 15 (!) new pieces of music between Friday and Saturday, and some of the nascent songs are full of potential. Some of them were thought through; others were audible sketches that were 100% improvised as the "tape" rolled. But the process of making them was super fun, and it's something that just can't happen unless you get creative people in a room at the same time.

I'm always inspired to make new music in Joshua Tree. Photo by Christina.

We had to curtail our music making in the late afternoon for an important reason. The one actual must-do item on our list for this trip was to get back to Pappy & Harriet's, our favorite desert food experience. Last time we went in June 2021 was just as the pandemic was starting to allow restaurants to reopen, and we weren't able to get up to Pappy's, opting for the also-terrific Joshua Tree Saloon instead. This time, with all of us vaccinated, we felt good about going to Pappy's. However, since the restaurant is still is not taking reservations, we trekked up to Pioneertown and purposefully left earlier than we usually would have to avoid a long wait.

They Stole My Crayon at Pappy & Harriet's.

It was actually comical. We arrived and parked, and walked in where the following conversation happened between me and the maitre d'.

"How many in your party?"

"Three."

"It might be 35-45 minutes before we get you a table."

"No worries. Sounds great."

"Okay, please wait out front and someone will get you in about 25 minutes."

"Thank you."

(eight minutes later)

"Zak, party of three?"

So, it ended up being less of a wait than when we've had actual reservations. We went in and got seated, and then ordered some beers. Being at one of the long tables, we were shortly joined by a group of senior citizens who were having a good old time. They were conversing and laughing with us, and there was something cool about being out in public and interacting with random people that the past two-plus years of pandemic life made me appreciate much more than I used to.

TSMC outside P&H. I was going to kill some time while waiting for our table to be ready with a band photo shoot. Then they called us in nearly immediately.

Bunny enjoys an IPA while an admirer looks on.

It's amazing that I managed to take this photo of my rib eye, Mac and cheese, and broccoli before devouring it voraciously.

Eating steak, talking to the oldsters, and listening to the sound check/warmup for Rosie Flores & James Intveld, the great country/Americana band, made for an excellent evening all around.

Here's a true story. When Paul McCartney played Pappy & Harriet's, he had one condition, and that was to take down the many skulls and trophy heads that make up the place's decor. They gladly obliged. Photo by Christina.

The band was warming up during our early dinner (we all had Pappy's world's-best rib eyes and various sides), and it was just fucking perfect. Food was outstanding and we were all in super happy mode as we finished dinner, waved goodbye to our new old friends, and headed back to our little house. Once there, Bunny and I had resumed our music-making fest when suddenly Christina, having checked her phone, said, "Oh my God. You guys..."

It took her awhile to deliver the shocking news that Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters had died. Like pretty much everyone else in the entire world, we are all big admirers of the Foos, and apart from Dave Grohl, Taylor has been the heart and soul of that band. Details of his death are still trickling out, but it doesn't really matter to me. What does is the loss of an outstanding musician and great person. We spent some time that night reading the many tributes that were pouring in, and then honored the man by cranking "Rope", a song that features some of Taylor's most incendiary drum work on record.

I definitely will remember Taylor Hawkins like this... overjoyed and being one of the best fucking rock drummers that ever lived. Photo via Getty Images.

I feel obligated to mention an eerie side note to this. There seems to be a random but bizarrely consistent phenomenon that happens in which our desert trips coincide with some unthinkably awful news happening in the world. We were in Joshua Tree in November 2015 when there was a horrible terror attack on the Bataclan in Paris where Eagles of Death Metal were playing... a band we'd seen at Pappy & Harriet's on a previous trip. We were there the following April when we got the news that Prince had died. Those are just two examples; I'm not sure there's been a single trip where some earth-shattering news hasn't happened while we were out of town.

Obviously, there's no causal relationship between our taking our rare trips to the desert and these things happening. It's nothing more than disturbing coincidence. But the one thing I can say is that each time things have happened, we've been able to process it and not let it ruin our vacation. I was glad, in some ways, that I was there with close friends who had an equal appreciation of Taylor and his contributions to the world. At some point, we finally called it a night and headed to bed. 

Saturday March 26

I have to admit; despite being right in the middle of a much-needed and happy vacation, I awoke still reeling from the news about Taylor. I spent a little while that morning poring over news reports and seeing reactions from the music world about this universally-beloved guy. I guess that's what "processing" is all about; letting yourself come to terms with information that's both incomplete and too complex to sum up in a few words.

But I'm also a pragmatist, and knew that being fixated on the sadness about Taylor's death wasn't going to bring him back, and it very much would mar an otherwise excellent vacation. We spent some more time chatting about Taylor and the Foos that morning, and then Christina took her turn for breakfast preparation, making a big egg dish with potatoes O'Brien. We lallygagged in the house for a bit; as I said, our ideal vacations never involve tight schedules. But then after getting showered and dressed, we had an appointment with the main attraction of the area: Joshua Tree National Park.

Saturday in the Park.

I'm not going to say anything about JTNP that hasn't already been said many times by me and countless others. I will point out -- with zero complaining -- that this particular trip was more crowded than I've ever seen it over a lifetime of visits there. The reasons are all totally comprehendible:

• We went on a Saturday, the busiest park day in any week of the year.
• Early springtime is peak season at JTNP, with perfect weather and the desert plants in bloom.
• In the time of pandemic, more and more people have opted to spend vacation time in the great outdoors.
• Joshua Tree is more popular than ever before, with all the good and bad that comes along with that fact.

So yeah, there was a line of cars to get in, and a good number of people at each spot in the park we visited. Did that stop us from enjoying it? No, not one bit, especially since we've experienced those same spots in near complete isolation on other trips. It's always magical and amazing just being there in that otherworldly environment. We spent several hours at spots like Quail Springs, Keys View, and Cap Rock, not to mention cruising the miles of open road with our carefully-curated playlist of music being the soundtrack for our excursion.

TSMC cruising the rocks at Quail Springs.

The color of the sky in the high desert is just somehow different than everywhere else.

Bunny at Keys View, one mile high above the Coachella Valley.

Me in my happy place, near plants and birds and rocks and things.

After our return from the Park at around dusk, we did some more music making, and then it was time for dinner. We concocted a delicious and plentiful meal of spaghetti and salad, and then relaxed for the remainder of the evening. Perfect vacation day, if you ask me.

This is an unfiltered photo. I could happily live with my day ending like this every day.

Sunday March 27

I've done the JTree trip too many times to not know what to expect on Sunday morning, which is a feeling that if you just had another day (or two, or three) to stay there, you could really fully unwind and find some kind of Zen happiness. But real life beckons, and as a small business owner, I don't have anything that resembles actual vacation time. Taking half of Thursday and Friday off was a luxury for me, and we needed to get back to the realities of life regardless.

One thing that I advise any traveler staying in a rental house, be it through a private service like we did with Hi Desert Dwellings or the more well-known means like Vrbo or AirBnB; give yourself time to properly clean the place before you depart. Minimally, leave the place in as good a condition as it was when you arrived. This is just the right thing to do from an ethical standpoint. We have a routine that has us packing our stuff, and then going room to room to make sure we weren't leaving any trash, making sure dishes we'd used were washed and so on. It's easy to do, and will leave you in the good graces of the rental firm for your next visit.

We'll be back. Photo by Christina.

After we'd packed, cleaned, and consumed some bagels, it was time to hit the road. The drive back to the LA area was mostly uneventful. You hit pockets of traffic here and there, but you gotta go with he flow in this most literal sense. We still manage to have fun while traversing the freeway systems of Southern California, listening to music and occasionally singing along as band people tend to do.

There are plenty of other places to visit, and plenty of things to see. That being said, Joshua Tree will probably always remain the one place in the world that's both convenient for me to travel to and offers so much that you could never find elsewhere. That's why my next vacation, whenever it is, more likely than not will be back there once again.