The perfect getaway with BTC crew!

We were at the Corner Bakery in February and hiker mama, Bharti asked a few of us about the possibility of going to Joshua Tree for the weekend. And that’s how it all started…

After some email discussions with Bharti and Thoi, things started to come together!

Last Saturday, Aprill 19th in the year 2008, we all gathered to see/experience the great outdoors! 17 of us went!

Was this to be a service trip? Not really. An evening of awareness? Not so much.

I would call it a communing with nature adventure! Joshua Tree is so very beautifu! I can see why U2 created an album of the very same name.

Everything seemed to work really well. A few of us wimped out on staying overnight. I thought I had so many things to do the next day…I really could have stayed over after all but it was cold and windy! 8 peeps braved the cold and even did a moonlight hike. They really enjoyed!

5 of us day trippers were able to go to Quizno’s on the way in…and we met a guy who worked there…I think the owner…and guess what his name was? Sukh! Sukh and Sukh took a picture together and we made another friend and passed on some Smile cards!

We got to see Mikeee…one of my fave service vacation travellers. We missed him much and it was awesome to see him again. He brought drums!

We stopped at the Joshua Tree Visitor Center and got the 411 *info on all the hikes to take. We thought we could possibly do 2 or 3. Alas, one was enough! 4.8 mile/somewhat strenuous hike was fine by me! We went on a hike called, “The Oasis.” And that it was! We hiked and saw all the crumbly, intricate rocks that make Joshua Tree famous and then all of a sudden, we happened upon cool, shaded rocks and palm trees! But no pools of water (all dried up) as stated in pamphlet.

I really enjoyed hiking with everyone. I stopped to take pics with my disposable camera. I lost my digital one in Sri Lanka :-( But the disposable pics came out quite nice as Madhavi stated.

The day turned to dusk. And we helped the campers put their tents up. Raquel drove in after a Social Justice Summit at CSUF. It was so great to see her and her friends.

Sukh led a discussion around campfire about how nature impacts us. It was so nice to hear everyone’s viewpoints. A common theme was a love for the stars, the feeling we get when we are surrounded by the outdoors and how insignificant we all are in the gigantic universe…what this meant inside my heart….was how being in nature can drown out all the hecticness of city life and can really bring such inner peace, community, connection…

And then came the drumming!! And it was a full moon!

I drove back with Bharti, Sukh, Sonali, and Ruth and was ever so grateful….for this perfect getaway :)