Welcome to Joshua Tree. There is so much to do here. We figured we would narrow it down
to our top 10 favorites and bring you along. It is 4:27 AM and we are headed to Joshua
Tree to see the sunrise.
Just getting to the gate. Hey, Frank. Good morning. How are you? How are the kids? I
know, right? One of us is a morning person. It's not this guy. Apparently, it's supposed
to be an amazing sunrise here. Tell Flo we said hi. Catch you later, Buddy. One of us
definitely needs coffee.
4:00 AM wake-up calls do make some people a little crazy, but it's typically worth it.
Especially, for these kinds of views. We made it a Cholla Gardens just in time for the sunrise
and it's so pretty.
Cholla Gardens is one of the most famous areas of Joshua Tree, thanks to these super cute
little cacti called Teddy Bear Cholla. But, don't let the name fool you. They might look
soft and cuddly, but they aren't. These little cacti are just as prickly as others, if not
more. But, with the mountains to the east of the garden, it's the perfect place to watch
the sunrise.
Now that we've got to experience a Joshua Tree sunrise, we figure since we're already
in the park and it's basically a geographical oddity, you're 30 to 45 minutes from anywhere
from here, check out a hike.
We're here to check out Skull Rock and if you want to see Skull Rock, the secret is
to get her super early because this place gets packed during the day.
When we visited before, we've seen people actually climbing into the Skull for selfies.
I quickly learned that my climbing skills weren't up to par for that.
I think I see a way. Not that way.
Okay. So, maybe both of us need some rock climbing lessons, but we'll save that for
another day. I snapped a photo of [Dee's 00:02:29] best attempt and off we went to our next adventure.
This is the Hidden Valley Trail.
It's a really cool one. Locals told us if there was only one hike we were going to do
in Joshua Tree, that this should be it. The history of it is really interesting. Apparently,
we're going to walk into a valley where they used to keep illegal cattle. BoBo
Naughty.
Into the valley, we go and as you can see, someone is finally woken up.
We've been on the trail now for about 20 minutes and we have not seen a single other human
being, just another good reason as to why getting out here early makes perfect sense.
Since it's already 7:15-ish, it's not really that early at this point.
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Welcome to the Great Burrito. If you're not much of a rock climber, you probably don't
know that Joshua Tree is world-class rock climbing and behind me is one of the most
popular spots. That, I mean, does that look like a tasty burrito to you?
A world-class climber, just so you know. Nailed it.
I think getting up at 4:00 AM is starting to catch up to me. It is definitely a time
for coffee and with that in mind, we're going to check out the coffee shop in Joshua Tree.
All right. We made it to coffee. Somebody desperately needs it.
Desperately.
But, I don't even do coffee and I'm pretty excited about this because we came here yesterday
and it was so busy. We couldn't even get a cup. So, it has to be good.
Exited. Just got some coffee. Now it's time to grab some breakfast.
We came here first day to grab lunch very casually and then we loved it. So, that of
course is why we're here again today.
And since I love breakfast, I did a Tofu Hash and Daniel got his favorite go-to, the Beyond
Burger.
It's good.
With full bellies, we headed back home to the Airstream, which brings us to our sixth
thing to do in Joshua Tree that you really don't want to miss.
If you watched our last video, you saw our day in the life here in Joshua Tree, living
in the Airstream. Camping in Joshua Tree is definitely one of the must dos. We've stayed
here while camping in the Airstream and we've stayed at a ritzy hotel, but it was on the
south side of Joshua Tree.
Although the hotel is wonderful, you really get a different experience of Joshua Tree
being here camping. You're in the midst of the most beautiful sunsets you've ever seen
and you just kind of get a taste of what desert life is really like.
Speaking of how amazing camping is in Joshua Tree is a perfect segue into the seventh thing
on our list. Check out a local music festival and this one just happens to be literally
a couple of steps from the Airstream because our campground also doubles as the Joshua
Tree Music Festival venue.
If you've never heard of the Joshua Tree Music Festival, you're missing out. They have one
big event each year, but they also have a series of Spring concerts, which is what we're
attending. The vibe of this place is simply magic. It's totally outdoors and listening
to live music under the desert sky is so relaxing. As you can see, the venue's set up for multiple
stages and tons of local vendors, and the desert style is really unlike anything we've
seen elsewhere. We had the pleasure of meeting the owner, who's a local of course, and he
envisioned the place over 20 years ago. He spoke with the family who owns our campground,
told him about his idea and to his surprise, they agreed it should be done. It's grown
little by little into this spectacular music sanctuary, which only gets more fun as the
sunsets.
Okay. Before we knew it, it was time to head back to the Airstream and call it a night
because we have big plans for tomorrow morning.
One of the things that makes Joshua Tree so much fun to visit is how eclectic it. Everywhere
you turn, there's a dinosaur on the side of the road or funky new cool-looking art pieces.
But, the next place we're going to visit and show you might be the epitome of all of the
art put together in Joshua Tree.
Although we didn't include this in our Top 10 things to do, it is super fun to peruse
the local shops in vintage thrift stores in downtown Joshua Tree. You can find some really
unique stuff.
Daniel and I love to find unique attractions wherever we visit and this one takes the cake
for not only being a local creation but being the most unique thing on our Top 10 list.
Welcome to the world-famous Crochet Museum. It's so tiny. This is so weird. Come on.
Curated by local Shari Elf, the Crochet Museum is a converted drive-through photo stand.
It is now home to just about every type of crochet animal and figurine you can think
of. Crazy fact, Shari doesn't crochet. She just passionately loves these little critters
that she's been collecting since the early nineties.
Just to give you some perspective on the actual size, I'm 5'10". It's pretty tiny in here,
but there's a lot packed into such a small space.
One of our favorite ways to explore the culture of the cities that we visit is through local
Farmer's Markets and Joshua Tree has one.
Hi, how's it going?
All right. We've got a pretty good haul at the local Farmer's Market, which is always
a good time. Now it's time to see what we got. Got two soy-based proteins here. The
first one is Buffalo Shredded Chicken. Sounds awesome. And this is apparently their most
popular. It's Barbecue Shredded Chicken. So that'll be good on, well, probably all kinds
of things.
The next thing happened to be one of my personal favorites. It's ramen. There's technically
two servings of ramen noodles in this one bag. Then I mix it with this and three minutes
later, amazing ramen. This right here is Red Pepper Fettuccine and this is homemade pasta.
There are four servings here. It looks really, really good. I mean, what's not to love about
fresh pasta?
We also picked up some organic herbs. We're a little bit low and rather than pick them
up at your major food chains, we decided to pick up our herbs at local Farmer's Markets,
instead. This smells amazing. Can't wait to try it.
Succesfully haul at the Farmer's Market. With our local grocery haul complete, it's time
to head back to Joshua Tree National Park, to share our final must-do adventure here.
Here's my card. Is it still good? Okay. Yeah. I guess the office is closed.
Did you just talk to the wall?
Yeah.
You are such a dork.
I mean, here was nobody there and it's usually... I think it says 30 bucks. So, that's cool.
I mean, we had a pass either way. It's a National Park.
There are tons of fun hikes to explore in Joshua Tree, but if you only have a short
time here, as you saw, sunrise is a beautiful time to come. But, so is sunset. So, landing
our spot number 10 is hiking Barker Dam Trail as the sunsets.
The Barker Dam Trail is a looping trail and is 1.3 miles in length. The estimated time
completion is around one hour.
As the name alludes, the trail takes you out to Barker Dam, also known as Bighorn Dam,
which was built by cattlemen in the early nineteen hundreds and if you come in the spring
or winter, you may even get lucky enough to see water on the trail, which is a pretty
rare occurrence in the desert.
You all know that is the perfect way to sprain an ankle. Not advised.
This tree behind me is called a California Juniper and it's kind of rare that it's right
here because usually they only grow at 4,000 feet in elevation or higher. But, what you
probably know this tree for, is because the little blueberries that come off of it, actually
are used to flavor gin. Go figure.
Ready to check out Barker Dam. First-person perspective. Let's check it out.
If you haven't noticed, there's no water. It's a damn shame.
Pretty amazing that it's still here.
It's true. I think it's pretty damn amazing. You should definitely check it out. Damn good
hiking.
Got some flat surface ahead of us. You know what that means, right?
Yeah.
That I'm going to run. So much fun. If you enjoy running, should definitely try running
on trails. It's hard to beat the scenery.
The petroglyphs behind me were left here by Native Americans. They always wrote in white,
black, or red, but their pictures tell stories about the fact that you can easily find food
and water here. Well, at least you could hundreds of years ago.
Golden hour here is magical, but after a quick discussion about hiking back in the dark and
all the animals that might eat us, we decided to head back and enjoy the rest of the sunset
across the park as we drove home.
So, there you have it, our Top 10 things to do in Joshua Tree. If you haven't been, we
simply can't recommend it enough. Did I mention there isn't wifi in the park either, which
is a delightful disconnect from the day-to-day rush of normal life. If you enjoyed this video
and haven't already subscribed, make sure to do so. It's one of the easiest ways to
support our Shop Local mission and of course, make sure to wander local wherever you may
be this week. It's good for the soul.