"Out Where the Dreams Are High"

Playing: Battle Born-The Killers
Rereading: The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger

Last weekend, I took a drive out to Joshua Tree National Park for my birthday with Sophie and Tina. We spent the whole day hiking and tromping around trails. As I have mentioned many times before, the desert is one of my favorite places to visit and I can never seem to get enough of it. This is slightly off topic, but you know how your memories from when you were little are often very vague? I have this memory of my dad and I walking through this dam, but now that I look at how much algae there is, I wonder if I'm remembering everything correctly.

One of my favorite places to go to in the park is Key's view because you can see the Salton Sea and Tijuana, Mexico from there. Unfortunately, it was rather hazy and bright that day, so we weren't able to see much beyond the Salton Sea. On our next desert trip, we would like to go to the Salton Sea, even though we heard it smells.

If you have the chance, you should definitely watch the sunset from Key's View too because the sunset there is beautiful. As you watch it, all these pastel colors swirl together and it has a certain dreamlike quality to it.

After watching the sun set over the valleys and hills of Joshua Tree, we stopped by Ma Rouge Coffee House, which I've seen every time I've gone to Joshua Tree National Park and have always wanted to try. The interior of the restaurant is rather artsy and the servers were really friendly. We all enjoyed how our coffees weren't intolerably bitter but not overwhelmingly sweet like most drinks at Starbucks.

Sorry about how choppy this post is. I'm busy writing my English thesis and I just wanted to get something out. Also, the title is from The Killers' song, "Dustland Fairytale."