Joshua Tree

[trip style = active & adventure + weekend getaway]

It's hard to explain Joshua Tree to someone who's never been; it's a magical desert landscape that must be experienced because words can't describe this strange and surreal corner of the world.

"Somewhere in America, about two and a half hours inland from the Los Angeles sprawl is another America, a stranger one. There's a long tradition of people coming out here to get away or to simply get weird. And once you're past Palm Springs and into the high desert, people start to vibrate at a different pitch than they do elsewhere." [No Reservations: US Desert]

Joshua Tree is a dusty and desolate community about an hour from Palm Springs, where new age spiritualists, artists, musicians, hippies, hikers and even Marines (thanks to its proximity to the world's largest Marine base) coexist. 

Neighboring Joshua Tree National Park houses the Mojave and Colorado Deserts and is known for its eponymous trees, ancient rock formations and pop culture prominence. You may remember the episode of Entourage in which the gang took a trip to the park for another type of "trip" on a search for clarity. And I have to mention U2's iconic album, The Joshua Tree, which was inspired by American desert landscapes, physical as well as metaphorical and spiritual, though not Joshua Tree itself. Bono chose the title on a trip to the Mojave to shoot album photos. The band came across a single Joshua tree about 200 miles from the park and the tree inspired the title and the album packaging.

Legend has it that Joshua trees were named by Mormon travelers in the mid-19th century who believed the trees looked like Joshua lifting his hands in prayer. These Dr. Seussical trees can live, incredibly, for hundreds of years. 

Driving through Joshua Tree National Park

Visiting Joshua Tree

After three visits to the 800,000-acre park, I've barely scratched the surface and have kept primarily to the paths well traveled. While it's an excellent day trip from Palm Springs, to really experience the park, you need to camp or stay nearby.

If you only have a day, enter from the Joshua Tree gate and explore Jumbo Rocks, Arch Rock, Cholla Cactus Garden and Keys View. The high desert is known for its extreme weather, so remember to pack accordingly {good shoes, a hat, an extra layer, lots of water}. A one-day vehicle pass costs $15.

The Shadow Mountain Band at Pappy & Harriet's

Pappy & Harriet's Pioneertown Palace

Drive five miles off Twentynine Palms Highway, down a winding, lonely road, and you'll feel like you've traveled back in time to the Wild West. Built in the late 1940s by Hollywood stars like Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, Pioneertown is an 1870s western town that served as both a film set and a small community with a motel, a bowling alley and a cantina. While the film crews have long departed, the cantina remains and houses an epic roadside bar that promises "live music, great barbecue and good times." 

I loved this desert watering hole so much that I visited twice on a trip to Palm Springs earlier this month. The perfect place to cap off a day at Joshua Tree, listen to live music, order a bourbon and eat a rack of ribs with fellow hikers, LA hipsters, bikers, baby boomers and desert dwellers. If you want to sit and eat, reservations are recommended on weekends {there was a two-hour table wait on the Saturday night we visited}. Pappy & Harriet's is a come-as-you-are bar that might be my new favorite place.

Roadside rock formations

Cholla Cactus Garden

A cholla cactus and Skull Rock

Jumbo Rocks and sunset at Keys View

Sunset at Keys View

This post is written by Trip Styler's Assistant Wayfarer/Editor Heather.

[photos by @heatherlovesit & @graceyvr]

Weekend in Palm Springs

[trip style = sun + food + luxe + spa + active]

When I’m in need of a major dose of Vitamin D, I retreat into Palm Springs’ sunny embrace. Steeped in enough swagger and style to outlast the coolest cats in town—just about every big-name celeb has had a brush with Hollywood's first love, including the newest recruit, Leonardo Dicaprio—its effortless cool delivers from dawn till dusk. Here's where to lounge like an A-lister in the desert sun.

Trip Styler Tip: For full details, check out my styled suggestions in 48 hours in Palm Springs for the Expedia Viewfinder.

Day One

Breakfast

• Norma's for alfresco dining fuelled by complimentary smoothie shooters
• King's Highway order an iconic date shake with vanilla bean gelato in the former and upstyled Denny’s
• Cheeky's for the bacon flight alone {and the owner’s fave: crispy buttermilk waffles doused in salted butter and syrup}

Mid-morn
Stroll along North Palm Canyon Drive into the Uptown Design District to browse furniture stores akin to midcentury museums, and while you're in the place that popularized poolside cocktail parties, play the part in a scene-stealing dress or striped seersucker suit from desert-based designer Trina Turk---a shop so legit, you're offered a chilled mimosa upon entering.

Noon
Check into Korakia Pensione, and if your room isn't prepped—check-in is technically in the later afternoon—cool off under the shade of an umbrella beside one of two saltwater pools at the Mediterranean-inspired retreat.

Mid-aft 
Replenish your sun-scorched electrolytes at the Lemonade Stand deep in the citrus grove at The Parker Palm Springs. Sit and sip a muddled lemon bev of your choosing at the chic white marble bar, or under the shade of a tangerine and yellow umbrella. And since you’re on vacation, head a few steps leeward to PSYC {Palm Springs Yacht Club}, a nautical-themed spa offering a co-ed dipping pool and boozy pre-treatment shots.

Drinks
Since you’re already at The Parker, saddle up to the six-seat Mini Bar for a tipple.

Dinner
Satisfy your stomach at Birba, an alfresco pizza and pasta place warmed by the wood-burning pizza oven and a bevy of outdoor fireplaces. Birba is my first dinner stop every single time I lollygag in Palm Springs.

Day Two

Breakfast
Korakia Pensione includes breakfast in one of the most gorgeous settings in the Coachella Valley: a spot next to a fountain under the shade of orange trees. Bite into a rotating menu of dishes like rustic potatoes paired with eggs and multigrain toast.

Mid-morn
Since Palm Springs and modernism mingle in the same circles---it's home to the country's largest concentration of the throwback structures and style---check out some of the homes that have helped to make the city famous. Look up Robert Imber at Palm Springs Modern Tours or stop by the Palm Springs Visitors Center for a $5 map of Modern Palm Springs. Both the DIY and hosted tours are excellent; choose one based on how much time you want to spend drooling over design.

Early-aft
The San Jacinto Mountains, visible from nearly every sun-scorched vantage point, beg to be conquered. Rev your heartbeat and score a killer view of the Coachella Valley hiking one of the many trails that start along the edge of town. Talk to your hotel concierge for a list of nearby trailheads.

Mid-aft
You're in Palm Springs, so spending time by your hotel pool is not only encouraged, but expected.

Dinner
Toast your last night of desert decadence at one of Palm Springs’ most iconic addresses, the ever-hip Purple Palm Restaurant and Bar. Named in a nod to the hotel’s original owner—a mob boss and member of the Purple Gang—the elegant eatery is perched next to the Colony Palms Hotel pool.

[photos by @tripstyler, except mini bar via Parker Palm]