In the spirit of adventure, while my best friend and I were visiting LA, we decided to road trip to Joshua Tree National Park. Cameras and survival kit were quickly packed (survival kit = lots of snacks.) As we made Icona Pop’s song "Emergency" our road trip anthem, we took off on our Joshua Tree road trip around 4 pm in hopes of basking in the desert sunset. Thanks to LA traffic, that didn’t happen.

On our way to Joshua Tree, California’s terrain was on full display. Accustomed to the luscious vegetation of Florida, the desert was ironically striking. We made our way through what looked like the set of an old Western movie, formally known as Joshua Tree Town. Unfortunately, it was too late to explore the quaint whimsical town so we headed towards our sandy destination.

In the dark, scared and excited at the same time, our first adventure landed us in one of the best areas for star gazing. The moon was full and its brightness was really more of a spotlight that was nowhere near our curiosity playground. Once situated amid "our" darkness and engaging in a snack session, we grabbed the cameras and set out into the desert. I started snapping away and had my best friend jumping and running around holding a flashlight - all while thinking she was getting pranked. As I continued to shoot, Alexandra wandered around like a lost child in a toy store. If she could, she would pet everything she came across. OUCH.

One of the best parts about going to the desert at night is to be serenaded by the stars. Amid the silence of darkness, we found absolute peace and beauty.

Joshua Tree National Park is an amazing getaway destination with a plethora of activities to satisfy everyone's adventure bug. You can plan your trip and stay for a few days at a hip Airbnb, or take a spontaneous ride to find yourself enjoying the simplest things. We just went on a whim to shoot stars but would have loved to spend a day there exploring Joshua Tree town, climbing rocks and hiking too.

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HOW TO GET THERE

There are several entrances to Joshua Tree National Park. The North and West entrances are located in Joshua Tree town and Twentynine Palms. The South entrance is located in Cottonwood Spring. From LA, take the I-10 East towards Riverside to CA-62 (Twentynine Palms Highway). For the South entrance, stay on I-10 and exit on Cottonwood Spring Rd.

To find out more about Joshua Tree, visit their page here, but I urge you to just go explore!