Travel: Joshua Tree National Park

Itinerary:

• Day 1: E and H drove out to LA from SD to ride up with us to Joshua Tree National Park. My tango partner, F, drove up in a separate van with 4 other people and met up with us there. We stopped at an REI along the way to rent camping equipment. At the park, we drove around taking pictures of the trees, flowers (they were in full bloom!), and mountains. We couldn't find any camping grounds in the park (we didn't make any reservations), so we camped off the park grounds. We spent the night getting to know each other, dancing (E was our DJ!), drinking wine, and eating smores around the campfire we built. In reality, we had very little food and not even the correct cooking supplies, but we, amazingly, had a blast. We slept through the incredibly windy night.
• Day 2: Starving, we drove out to have breakfast at a diner at Chiriaco Summit. We were near the General Patton Memorial Museum, so we checked out the various tanks and military equipment on the grounds. After taking a long, wrong detour, we then regrouped to hike Ryan Mountain for a 360-degree view of the park. We all made it to the summit but we went with a girl who was dressed in inadequate boots and who slowed us down. To convince her to continue hiking, we told her there was a Starbucks at the top of the mountain (which there was not). Later that afternoon, we all drove home. Despite everything that could and did go wrong, we all had a really good time :).