As we drove through the desert down the 10, my eagerness to spend money we didn’t have soared through the roof when I saw the Premium Outlets. So we went in. We bought dresses, shorts, jeans, and bathing suits. I don’t know why they bother calling it an ‘outlet’ when the prices are just as ‘premium’ as they claim, but clearly it worked because we did not leave empty handed.
Next, we headed for Pioneertown. We had decided it was much too late to go into the National Park now as we deserved a full day of exploration the next day. The thing about Pioneertown is that it looks exactly as people describe it. The lady of the general store laughed, “Well you know, there’s 300 people who live here. You wouldn’t think that, given the amount of space between the houses, but trust me.” And she regaled us with tidbits of Pioneertown life, “We see that Pappy and Harriet’s got a band playing, so we all agree to go and watch them and have a drink and have fun! That’s what life is like in Pioneertown.” She was a groovy lady, Sarah, who had this amazing selection of what I call “Instagram-worthy” tchotchkes. Tarot cards, sage, incense wood, vintage-esque canteens, rad bomber jackets, art, and ramen noodles (the one part of her “general” store that made sense). There were other stores open that we took a gander at. In the leather store, there were these two gentlemen with their white beards chuckling at each other, “Well, I’m glad y’all told us it’s yer ferst time ‘ere, ’cause I should letcha know it’s customary for ferst-timers to buy a saddle!” To which she replied, “If only I had that kind of money!” And I replied, “If only I had a horse…”
So that was fun, and we decided to go to our hotel back in Desert Hot Springs. Lemme be the first to tell you, it was just that little bit of odd that you can’t simply make up. So we get there, get our key, and the lady says, “Up the green corridor and you’ll find the elevator.” So we go up said green corridor and into the elevator, and used our good judgement to go up to the second floor – but discovered that there were no signs to our room! If we go one way, we go the opposite way round the numbers (we were 207 and it started at 230), and if you go the other way, we have to storm through this rugged…bar? So we chose the shorter path and we find ourselves in this dust-filled time capsule of this once, probably, thriving bar with a pool table decorated with a groovy mid century vibe. Now torn into shambles with graffiti splattered on the far wall and glass broken on the floor and seat cushions slashed like gushing wounds… It was quite a sight–and our only way to and from our room!
Apart from that, our room was lovely, we had two jacuzzis, a heated pool, and lovely everything else. The next day, we trekked back up the 62 on our way to Joshua Tree, and my god, that town is so groovy – if you know where to look! So we enter through this weird way that Waze takes us and we end up at like the top of the town. We see Joshua’s general store and flip out. It’s got bugs in candy, buckets of healing/chakra/incense stuff, touristy things to the max, and even a mini bath house! So cute.
We went exploring through the backroads of Joshua Tree and had not wandered far when we discovered what was probably the highlight of our trip. The World Famous Crochet Museum and the Art Queen. If you’ve never heard of the WFCM, it’s a tiny green…what even is it? Room? Structure? Anyway, it’s chocka-block filled with crocheted animals, food, people, etc. Everything you could dream of, was crocheted and sits on a shelf for others to marvel at. As cool as the WFCM is, the best bit was actually the Art Queen who sort of owns the whole lot. We got the pleasure of meeting Stacy, the Art Queen’s trusted friend, who regaled us with more to-know on the valley and Joshua Tree and art and decluttering – which was ironic because we bought a whole bunch of stuff to fulfill our cluttered fantasies…But anyway, I purchased many shirts as I tried so hard to convince her to let me run Art Queen’s Instagram page (trust me, if this place didn’t scream Instagram, I don’t know what does), and had such an amazing time there.
Lastly, we bustled our way to Joshua Tree National Park. If you’ve never heard of it, here’s what you should know – there’s nothing but hiking and rock climbing to do, and there is almost nothing to see if you don’t do either of those things or if you don’t own a 4-wheel drive. Of course, that didn’t stop us in her…Honda Civic… The other thing to note, is that there are almost no signs. So if you don’t have the secret app (that sort of works offline), and/or you don’t have signal (or a GPS), you’re kinda screwed! In conclusion, I would make sure to have one of those if you are a first-time explorer of Joshua Tree National Park…duh!