Poppy’s Birthday in Joshua Tree
It’s kind of hard to believe this was our first trip together.
After our spectacular first date, I asked if she’d like to spend her birthday with me somewhere amazing. It took a few days to get her response, but on our second date, while we gazed into each other’s eyes on her back porch, she told me she’d love to.
I had never been to Joshua Tree, the town or the park, and it’s one of her special places, so she decided that’s where we should go. I was so excited. Yes, for the desert… but if I’m honest, it wouldn’t have mattered where she wanted to go. I just wanted to spend as much time with this incredible woman as I possibly could.
We took turns driving, but she turned out to be a way better co-pilot. She fed me homemade dumplings and slices of Tofurkey as we drove. We had discovered an adaptogenic drink called “Mellow Mushroom” that we loved, and I brought a big box of them. We consumed one after another, savoring the rich flavor, and decided we preferred to call them Magic Marshmallows.
The 7+ hour drive flew by. I found myself almost disappointed it was over so soon. What an incredible experience it was, to spend hour upon hour in a car with this beautiful person, and love every mile of it.
The AirBnB she found for us was perfect. Just a handful of miles from the entrance to the park, it had a beautiful living room with a fireplace, a big well-stocked kitchen, a nicely decorated bedroom, a claw-foot bathtub, and a hot tub outside.
We prepared our first meal together that first night: linguine noodles with pieces of homemade seitan, cilantro, and veggies. It was such a delightful surprise to realize how much we enjoyed creating in the kitchen together. She did all the knife work and prep, and I finished things up in the big pan we found in the cabinet.
The next morning brought a stunning surprise for me: the view outside the big sliding glass doors facing the bed was unreal. Opening our eyes to such magnificence, the expanse of desert and rocky outcrops, kept us in bed a lot longer than we might have otherwise allowed.
We did eventually get up, and drove our way into the park.
I hadn’t been in an environment like that before. Huge monoliths, towering piles of rock, peppered the landscape in every direction as we drove slowly through. Poppy had a list of things to show me, and we munched on vegan jerky and spiced edamame beans as we wound our way through the mounds.
Aside from the radical rocks, there were also captivating cacti. Poppy told me the wrong name for these, but we later learned the right one. I forgot both.
Poppy kept pointing out how open everything is. She loves wild places where you can hike for miles but still see clear across the land you came from. We stopped the car several times along the roadside and ran through the cactus plains, watching carefully where we stepped.
On our way out of the park, we happened upon the Sky’s the Limit “orrery”: a walkable, gigantic map of the planets and their distances from the sun. It was amazing to get a sense of the scale of our little universe.
The next day was the most special day.
It was Poppy’s actual birthday!
We ate cucumbers with plant-based brie and sliced veggie dogs for breakfast. As we sipped our hot tea, I gave her her birthday present: a small handheld monocular. She had complained on our second date about never having binoculars when she needed them, so I thought maybe something half as small to carry around might solve that problem.
I have never seen someone more excited about anything, let alone a birthday gift.
And wow did she get some use out of it that day. She took it on our special birthday hike and spotted all sorts of things. Mostly birds.
Look at how beautiful she is. Cutest birthday girl.
Before we headed back to the house, we visited the Noah Purifoy Outdoor Desert Art Museum, which was definitely…ART!
All day, we had been dreaming about Poppy’s birthday cake. We hadn’t been able to find the exact one she wanted, but… I mean… there was still an entire cake waiting for us in the fridge.
Wishes were made, candles were blown out, and we enjoyed a hot tub under the stars. I chanted in Hawaiian as an offering of intention for her most beautiful upcoming year…
…and then more cake.
Our final morning brought another beautiful sunrise…
…and yet more cake, this time cut into elegant little bites with persimmons and halved blueberries delicately placed on top. The sun soaked us with its warmth.
We enjoyed one last hot tub, made one last meal, and somehow lost track of time. The cleaner arrived before we had made it out the door. Oops. Thanks to excellent teamwork, we were out of her hair and back on the road within minutes.
We stopped by Pioneertown on our way back to the freeway. It had been used as a film set for hundreds of movies through the years, and it was fun to wander through the working shops.
We cranked up the Subaru’s sound system and Poppy played some incredible tracks as we drove. We stopped for caffeine, and both regretted it. We don’t drink it very often.
Poppy told me stories from her PCT thru-hike, pointing out places where the trail intersected the road. I loved imagining her there not so many years before, hiking for months with just her pack, from the border of Mexico, straight through to the border of Canada.
She is so cool.
As we made our way down Highway 58, we saw signs for Boron, an actual town named after a useful mineral. We couldn’t resist. After leaving the highway, we passed these ridiculous speed limit signs with oddly specific numbers like “37.5 mph.” We couldn’t tell if they were real or some kind of joke.
We learned way more about Boron, and Borax, than we ever wanted to. They were very nice there, and even pointed us toward a pile of unrefined boron crystals we could take home as souvenirs.
We had just spent the whole visit learning how toxic the stuff is to humans, so we improvised gloves out of Ziploc baggies and stored our poison memorabilia in sealed glass jars.
I’ll never forget this trip together. Our first, one of thousands we’ll take. It couldn’t have been more dreamlike or special.
But what can you expect, when Poppy is the most precious element ever discovered?
