In May, two close friends, Elise and Liz, and I drove from Los Angeles to Joshua Tree National Park to spend three nights in the desert. Can I tell you how this came together?

In January, only a few months prior, Elise was visiting us in Nashville from Los Angeles. We went to dinner at Folk, and as usual, we began discussing what currently felt well and healthy, what felt challenging, and what filled our daydreams. As our conversation progressed, we learned we were each craving concentrated time to work, create, discuss several topics, and honestly, catch up with ourselves, and each other, a bit. We eagerly said, “What if we plan a trip together?”

We didn’t overthink it. After our dinner, we began an email thread and planned a three-night stay in the desert. Our time together flew by as we separately wrote or made significant progress on work-related tasks, cooked most of our meals together, and spent our evenings diving into conversations about values, fertility, family, and more.

This was my first-ever visit to Joshua Tree National Park, and I felt completely captivated by its otherworldly nature. Because of this, I spent some time alone in the park while Elise and Liz stayed focused at our Airbnb. (Please note: I highly recommend sharing your location via Find My Friends, estimated entry time, and estimated departure time if you explore alone.) Before I entered the park itself, I felt tempted to pull off on the side of the road to ingest the surrounding landscape. But, of course, it was very worth the wait to enter the park because the views only became more and more surreal.

Below is a short list of places I recommend in Joshua Tree, most of which were first recommended to me by Elise.

The recommendations below include only sites I’ve experienced myself. See below for additional guides.

Recommended Eats

Pappy + Harriet’s

La Copine

Recommended Stay

Elise, Liz, and I stayed at this Luis Barragán-like Airbnb in Yucca Valley and had a wonderful experience.

The one improvement I would make to this rental is increasing its water temperature. I prefer hot-ish showers. The water was warm but not hot, and I felt slightly chilly in the shower. This is reflected in its reviews on Airbnb.com.

Recommended Sites

Once you’ve entered the park, you can simply pull off on the side of the road to soak in the Dr. Seuss-like views, take photos, and hike. There are designated parking lots near the more famous rock formations. See below.

Flying Dawn Marie | Top 8 Rock Formations

Invisible House Joshua Tree | I did my best to see this masterpiece from the dirt road that leads to it. I will admit: it is better viewed online, but is certainly worth sharing regardless.