desert getaway part III // pioneertown

Our final day in the desert brought us to Pioneertown, a former movie set for old westerns in the 40's and 50's. We came for the food at Pappy & Harriet's, and stayed to check out the ghost town-like grounds and front yard oddities of the people who live there. One of those places where you feel transported to a different time.

 Equally as charming as the shops and buildings were the front yard decor of Pioneertown's residents. We saw a rusted car with a cacti garden growing out of the trunk, and a shrine-like collection of broken bits of pottery and dishes laid out in a circle on the ground. Anywhere else, this would seem slightly mad or out of place, but in this desert town it just seemed to fit.

With our bellies full of food and our desert adventuring sated, we said goodbye to this quaint little bit of California history, and made our way back down south to San Diego. A perfect end to the best two-day getaway I've had in a long time :)

desert getaway part II // hicksville trailer palace

Oh man. You guys ( and by 'guys' I mean the three people who actually read this thing), there's this place near Joshua Tree called Hicksville Trailer Palace, and you need to go immediately. It was like camping without the sucky parts of camping. It was like hanging out in your friend's awesome garage and never wanting to leave. It was like going to a small but chill party where you don't know anyone else at first but soon you're all sitting around a bonfire in a giant teepee making s'mores and talking about the universe. Oh, and themed trailers. Gotta have the themed trailers.

The Mister and I stayed in The Fifi, and just like Hicksville's website says, it really was like sleeping inside a genie bottle. A purple and gold, shag-carpeted, Louisiana wig shop-themed genie bottle. It was glorious.

You wanna shoot BB guns? They have BB guns. You wanna try your hand at some archery? They have archery. I quickly learned that I suck at archery, but I'm pretty okay at shooting beer cans on an extremely windy day. They also have a ping pong table that we used heavily (and where we met two other fellow San Diegans), and the world's tiniest library.

 Our friends stayed in The Sweet, and I was so dang jealous of their trailer! They had a record player, 8-track, electric fireplace, TV, and even their own private gas grill. Oh, we used the heck out of that record player. And we gave the 8-track a whirl, but the tapes were pretty much shot. Still fun though, in all its kooky, 70's glory.

We met some pretty interesting people while we were there. Besides the aforementioned San Diego locals, we met a high school physics teacher, a bio-engineer, and a couple of Aussie musicians that were there to use Hicksville's recording studio. It's one of those places where you just naturally talk to the other people staying there because the place is so small and there's not a lot of privacy (besides your trailer). Besides, if I hadn't struck up a chat with the bio-engineer, I never would've gotten a peek inside the Cramps-themed trailer he and his partner were staying in.

Of course I had to get some photos of us standing next to the weirdest trees ever. It was our first time seeing a Joshua tree up close. And so much desert. Everywhere. I remember saying to myself as we were walking toward these trees, "Ok, keep an eye out for snakes. And scorpions." And thinking how odd that felt, being a mere three hours away from a place where that isn't a general concern. Oh California, you're so crazy.

Hicksville, you were a pleasure and a treat. One night was not enough. I am so coming back to you.