Joshua Tree

     Thursday morning we woke up early to say farewell to our sister, Andie, as she headed off to the airport to go to her last semester at bible college in York, England. We were supposed to stay up and get on our way to the desert but we decided cuddling and sleeping an extra three hours was more important. I'm glad it was. When we finally did awake, we got to see Dad and August on skype (they're serving/living in Iraq for the time being) it was so nice to see their cute cheery faces. Their positive atitudes and faith in God always encourage me, to the fullest extent. So I guess you can say it was a great way to start the day! Two stops left: Coffee and sprouts then we were off!

     Usually the drive to Joshua Tree seems so long to me, but with our recent traveling experiences two hours seemed like nothing. When we arrived we stopped to use the restroom and the backdrop was inspiring for a mini selfie shoot (seen above.) The sky was overcast, the wind blowing hard, and the air sharp and cold for the desert. I suppose it is winter, but you still never get used to the crispness when you're used to the heat. We immediately drove to where we wanted to camp out so we could get a spot since we were running super behind schedule, and like I predicted it was all picked over, except spot 28. It was a cute little spot, with huge boulders on both sides. If you know anything about me, I am deathly afraid of huge rocks, I imagine myself as a bug being crushed with a regular sized rock.

Austin is really cute when he likes something, he gets so into it that literally it is all he sleeps, eats, breathes. This was our first attempt as Camper/backpackers! I guess you can say practice, or backpackers in training. 

     We practiced what it would be like to eat dehydrated camping food, it was pretty good. Once we ate dinner it was pretty much dark outside, and once again, huge baby over here is afraid of the dark. We got ready for bed at a mere 6:30 pm, however, we went to bed much later than that. The night included long talks about dreams, God, life, family, and death. I love being in nature, for the pureness of conversation, the absence of technology. I thought I would never say that I'd be happy to be away from my iphone, but I loved it. Whenever you have the quiet and nothing but time the meaning of your words become so raw and real. I found myself getting emotional on many occasions that night because I got to free the words captive in my brain. It was a true weight off my shoulders. When you live like we do these days it's much harder to put your thoughts into every day words. We just lay under the stars, expressing our deepest of thoughts. The wind was probably at about 50 mph austin (HAD HIS IPHONE OUT) played a game, and I read a few chapters of a book. It got to be about 10 and we decided to try to call it a night. It lasted breifly, my anxiety heightened I couldn't lay another second beside a boulder, not with the wind. So we slept in the car, the wind was so bad it shook my car so we stayed in there until about 4 am when the winds died down. When we finally decided to go back into the tent our sleep was peaceful. We awoke, ate oatmeal, and had some coffee...Then it got serious. A sixteen mile hike ahead of us, and I was so ready to take it by storm. Austin's eyes were wide with ambition and set for success.

The first hour and a half was so simple I couldn't believe we hiked four miles already. Then the mountains came, rocks upon rocks. I asked if we could start walking back, but Austin pressed us on! We hurdled over and overcame and kept walking. Minutes turned into hours and we hiked and we hiked. Until the hike turned into flat, open space, and we saw a town ahead of us about two miles ahead. Unfortunately with the sun going down in two and a half hours we had to turn back. I was anxious and Austin worn down. A lot of silence, sweat, and almost tears. It wasn't that bad, but at some points it seemed as if I was going to break down. We made it just at sunset, which was an incredible answer to our prayers. I had never been more happy to sit down, I also had never been more happy to go eat some food! All in all it was a great practice, and I hope one day we finally get to hike the AP trail, even better backpack through EUROPE!