Joshua Tree

Some stories are worth repeating, especially in my mother's family. Like how my grandpa's family was run out of St. Mary's, Kansas in the middle of the night, or how grandma once spotted my grandpa in a newsreel during WWII, or the time my grandparents divorced and remarried. Yeah, they're a little bit nuts. But these stories have become legend and now I enjoy nothing more than passing them onto the new generation. So when my mother decided to come with me on this trip to Twentynine Palms, CA to visit my sister, I knew we would be hearing about the joshua trees. Oh, yes. The famed trees of her childhood that my photo-obsessed grandma would stop at and make everyone pose in front of to capture the yearly summertime treks out west. I'm sure I get my love of photography from her, so I won't get too judgmental. But clearly, my grandma was a bit overzealous with her passion for the joshua trees, and my mother hasn't forgotten it. We finally took a drive into the Joshua Tree National Park today and in good humor, we all had to pose with our first big tree. It wasn't in the scorching heat and it wasn't after days of driving from Kansas City, sleeping in the car along the way. So maybe we had that going for us. There were nothing but smiles all around. Yet, when I hear about how my grandmother would throw her kids in the car and drive by herself all the way there, I wonder where she got the nerve. It makes my little plane hops and day trips seem mundane by comparison. But either way, I guess when you want to get somewhere, you will find a way. I love that my grandmother made these treks with my mom because it made this trip out west with Elisa even more special.