Joshua Tree National Park, California

Hi all!

Instead of the usual from Audrey and Dom, we thought it would be fun to switch it up this week and decided that I, Kelly, would be the guest host of the lil blog post for our trip to Joshua Tree. I know Audrey and Dom were both absolutely devastated about not getting to write the post for this, I mean I basically had to pry it out of their hands…please sense the sarcasm here. So let’s start from the top:

I think one of the badass things that both Audrey and Dom have ever done besides the whole going-and-surviving-West-Point thing was coming to pick me up at LAX during midday rush hour after already having driven 5 hours that day from Northern Cali. After our 2 hour ride into Joshua Tree, we headed to a little vintage store right down the road from our 70s-minimalist-atomic-family-vibe AirBnb, eventually heading back after we all boiled inside and outside the lil joint. Before heading home, we had an interesting encounter at a liquor store in town and promptly returned and locked the car doors with our treats. Our plans for the rest of the night were to head to the Joshua Tree Saloon because we had been told that it was a must-see spot in JT, especially with the live music that started at 7pm. With the spare time we had on our hands, we settled down and played tipsy slap jack and I am convinced that Dom cheated. 

So naturally, Audrey and I decide we have to get sort of cute to go to this saloon, right, because we have heard such great things, only to roll up and realize we are chronically overdressed. Boy OH BOY, what an interesting crowd. We settled in, Audrey and I finishing up our order at the bar while Dom grabbed the table, managing to land a front row seat to the local woman doing her interpretive dance AT Dom to the live covers of Led Zeppelin and Allman Brothers Band. He was so entranced by it that he even texted Audrey “help me” while we ordered our drinks for the night! We did, however, end up having some of the best burgers we’ve had and eventually turned in for the night as there wasn’t much going on at the saloon. We attempted to watch Zac Efron’s new Netflix Movie “A Family Affair” but it was so awful that we decided anything would be better and went to sleep.

The next morning, we woke up and Audrey found a cute little coffee place for us to try: Más o Menos. This place was absolutely adorable! All of our drinks were great: we were baffled at how Audrey’s latte tasted like marshmallows, Dom’s cold brew literally tasted like dark chocolate, and I got a sensational dirty chai to top off our order. Dom had picked out a breakfast place for us to go after called the JT Country Kitchen, where we all had some BOMB breakfast and they even had actually-good gluten free toast for me! So best day ever! After we were absolutely stuffed, we drove into the middle of the desert to check out the Transmission Statute. The 28-foot cement woman was complete with mosaic glass and mirrors to create a really interesting play with lighting. We spent minimal time there, as the heat was already starting to get unbearable and we still wanted to go see Joshua Tree National Park. The park was way more beautiful than we expected. There was a loop through the entire park that we drove and got to see all sorts of crazy rock formations that later-that-night-drunk Dom (I’ll get there) was moved to the point of saying: “I do not give any types of Fs for rocks, but the rocks here are much cooler; they are like crumbles.” We listened to Luke Combs entire new album for the drive and all proceeded to shed a few tears because damn. After finishing our drive up, we went back to the house to rot for a few hours. We made some lunch, watched The Blind Side, and listened to Dom try to make a decision about his mattress and his bamboo sheets (HAS to be the bamboo sheets).

Then it was dinner time. This requires a paragraph for itself. As a graduation gift for the happy couple, my parents wanted to treat us to a nice dinner: so we found a place called Kitchen in the Desert. We had read such fantastic things and their menu looked amazing, so we got all cute and cleaned up and went to dinner. The place was super trendy, filled with plants, interesting art, and playing the best music. The menu was structured as a tasting menu, so we all decided we’d pick something that sounded good and start there. Oh! But first we picked out some cocktails - I picked out one of their signature martinis, Audrey went with the classic mule, and Dom got an iced version of a Hot-Toddy; I wish I could replay the conversation that occurred between Dom and the waitress when ordering this drink that ended up tasting like watered-down whiskey with a drop of lemon and a sprinkle of cinnamon (DOM’S STRIKE 1). It was time to order and Audrey and I listed our picks: Lamb Pops and a Garden Salad. It was Dom’s turn to order and the waitress sadly let us know they were out of the Smashburger, which was the one thing that Dom wanted (DOM’S STRIKE 2). So we ordered some Jerk Chicken instead. Everything was delicious - definitely not enough though. So we decided to order a little bit more and Dom volunteered the Flank Steak, which of course was ALSO unfortunately unavailable that night (DOM’S STRIKE 3). After watching the defeat spread across Dom’s face), we decided on the Cod and it ended up being a pretty good choice. We decided to close out the night with a round of Espresso Martinis that were actually SO delicious (and Dom’s redeeming order for the night) and then were tasked with our next Everest: finding a ride home. With help from our waitress and another restaurant worker, we made it back, settled in for the night, and threw some gluten-free cookies (that Dom and Audrey actually liked) in the oven before calling Pete and Mamma Landers to tell them about our dinner. Dom’s speech could have been the keynote talk at whatever the biggest TedTalk event globally is with the passion and verve that he spoke with when describing dinner to Audrey's parents. We all could not stop laughing and bringing up more funny moments from our time in 29 Palsm/JT. We wrapped up the night with yet another movie, this time Shrek, and then rolled out relatively early the next morning to drive back home to Gilbert.

I’ll let Dom and Audrey add any of their comments if they want, but we had so much fun and managed not to fully melt away with the heat.

Audrey here.... not only did Dom have three strikes that Kelly mentioned... but he also tried to order pie for dessert.... because Dom LOVES pie. But. You guessed it. They were out of pie. It was so comical! None of us could contain outself from busting out laughing each time the waiter had to cut Dom off before he was finished ordering to let him know, "you're about to ask for the pie.... we're out of the pie..."