No Dice... EVER

This weekend was the stupidest weekend ever. This past week of work was insane for me. See this post here if you wanna time-stamp-fact-check. Several times I thought about unplugging my phone and crawling under my desk into a little ball and only coming out when the coast was clear at 5pm. 

Thinking about camping Friday night and getting to hike in Joshua Tree National Park was my own nirvana. Ross got off early and had time to finish loading the car, get gas, and buy ice for the cooler. I got out of work late because THIS WEEK WAS RELENTLESS. But it didn't matter because we were on our way.

Very little traffic.

And a nice drive through uncharted territory (for us). I'm in love with this picture.

Everything went smoothly until the sign:CAMPGROUNDS FULL

My heart sank a little. Look at Ross's "oh crap" face.

We kinda went back and forth about what to do next. It was getting late. And the BLM land we had thought would be a good back up was way on the south side of the park and would take and hour or more to get to (little did we know there was actually some about 5 minutes from us when this picture was taken). 

After some talking to the ranger we bought an annual pass and drive through the park... Not even a Joshua tree in sight. Looks like the park fees in this part go to the road, not any Joshua tress. We saw a bunch of rabbits and maybe a bat or two.

We made it to the other side of the park and carefully tried to navigate to the BLM land, getting lost and turning around. By this point it was very dark (being in the middle of the desert will do that to you), and almost 9pm. We were driving so long we were kinda fed up. The BLM wasn't even up to our low crummy standards we were expecting and it was pretty crushing to me.

"We are supposed to put the tent where?!"

Especially having had looked forward to it all week. Long story short, over an hour later, we were back home with a car packed full of tin foil dinners, gallons of water, sleeping bags, pie irons, day packs, and other camping gear. 

Oh Hai Coachella! Glad some people are having fun today!

Being the resilient little Widdison I am, I woke up Saturday morning unable to admit defeat. I took a shower (ha! Take that camping!!) and made breakfast not freezing cold over a tiny camp stove (ha! Take that camping!!). And informed Ross we were going to go on a short drive to a day-use area and maybe build a fire or go for a nature walk (don't want your stupid 4 mile perfect wildflower dotted panorama hike ANYWAYS JTNP!!).

We made some sammiches and head out for a drive.

And we drove.



And drove.

And finally found a place that might work. No fires, but maybe just a picnic table would do. $25 for a campsite?!?! Holy crap on a spatula. PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Poor people don't even have camping anymore. I'll have to talk to a banker about deducting money from each paycheck so I have a "I want s'mores and fresh air" aka camping fund. Sheeeesssh. Because now it will cost you to live like a homeless person and eat your dinner out of scorched foil packets. 

Ugh.

We continued up the mountain believing there was a ranger station. Maybe as a last-ditch-effort we could talk to a ranger and get some info on a site and at least take a walk.

No ranger station.

By this point we were getting concerned about gas because we were coming up on A FULL TANK OF GAS wasted on nothingness in less than 24 hours. We headed back down the mountain, me behind the wheel at Ross's request but only because he was (rightly so) sick of driving. But I'm psycho and he gets car sick easily so I knew that wouldn't last long. 

As I was driving I was thinking of a newest last ditch effort since I'd only had about 7 plans fail. And I came up with one. But I won't even tell you cos that failed too. 

Right on cue Ross wanted to drive again. Getting out for a minute to prevent full fledged sea legs.

And take a pano because duh mountains.

And then we continued home. 

Where's the punch line right? When do things get better? Well, if you know me, you can predict it comes after a nap (yep I'm 3 years old) and some ice cream (now I've matured to the ripe age of 5).

And also dinner of a meat and cheese plate (now I'm just a wealthy snobby old lady).

I guess the weekend finally looked up but I'm not counting chickens now. I still have tomorrow.