AN ADVENTURE IN JOSHUA TREE, CALIFORNIA

Contributed by estCA staff, Lindsay Vacek and photographer Ashley Wiliams

My phone chimes.

It’s a text message: “Hey. Let’s go out to the desert this weekend! My family has a house out there and we can hang by the pool and explore Joshua Tree”

I quickly respond: “Yea! I’m in! That sounds great!”

This is an exchange that happens quite frequently between my friends and I. We thrive on weekend adventures to get out of the city and explore. It’s also a great opportunity to see friends who live outside Los Angeles because we often will find a cool city to meet up in. Sometimes we have plans and other times, we just go and see where the adventure leads us.

I don’t usually regret my spontaneous spirit. It’s something I quite love about myself - but I don’t know why we thought it was a good idea to go spend the weekend in the desert in the dead middle of summer. Even the water in the pool was hot. I had a massive headache the entire weekend. I think it might’ve been the hottest weather I have ever experienced in my life. I remember walking 300ft from the car to a rock and putting down a blanket and not being able to move.

But I also remember endless laughter. I remember the golden sunsets and the red and orange colors that painted the sky. I remember the Uber rides lined with disco lights and N’sync playing through the speakers. I remember laughing and meeting the most unlikely people, the ones like us, passing through a random town in the desert. And this quote:

“Keep your face to the Sun and the Shadows will always fall behind you”

Note: I am no pro when it comes to shooting and editing video… but this was just a fun little collection of footage from our phones.. and this is what this site is for… to share the adventures.

ALSO, ON THAT NOTE, ANY VIDEO EDITORS OUT THERE, CONTACT US!

HAVE AN ADVENTURE YOU WANT TO SHARE? WE’RE CURRENTLY ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS.