Cuppa Connections Ep. 24: Days 8 & 9 - Nature Stole the Show; An Epic Road Trip to Palm Springs and Joshua Tree, CA

This episode is not only about how Cate and I relaxed and enjoyed the simpler times as we drank our coffee watching the most stunning sunrises and sunsets, nor is it about being inspired by three of the loveliest people we met on our hiking adventure. It's about nature stealing the show.

The day started in Palms Springs, CA with us taking the tallest air tram in the world to dine for lunch. Then, hike the San Jacinto State Park. After finishing our exploration within the wilderness, we navigated our way to the town of Joshua Tree, CA where we found all that we needed at our retreat amongst the stunning features of wildlife and its habitat.

Even though we had only two days in the desert, we created a multitude of memories.

We hope you enjoy the journey.

Transcript

Portia: 0:00

Hey guys. Welcome to Cuppa Connections. I'm Portia, and we're here coming to you from our virtual cafe, better with a cup of coffee. We are savoring relationships with coffee lovers around the world and sharing their experiences that have been better with a cup of coffee. It is day eight and nine.

Cate: 0:21

Eight and nine. We went to Joshua Tree.

Portia: 0:24

Day eight, was when we left Los Angeles. And then we went to, we went to Palm Springs. it took us about two and a half hours to get to Palm Springs from Los Angeles, which is a lovely drive in itself. Booked some tickets to the air tram in Palm Springs. It is the largest air tram in the world.

Cate: 0:48

It was scary.

Portia: 0:49

Tallest, rather, it's the tallest air tram in the world.

Cate: 0:51

I, I'm scared of heights and it is a fear I'm trying to overcome. But this went straight up and I was just like, oh my God, I'm scared.

Portia: 1:03

When we were up that high, you really get to see the mountains in the back and we're in the desert. And we get up there, we're starving. I think there was only one restaurant.

Cate: 1:14

Yeah, there was only one. But it was good.

Portia: 1:16

Man, I'm gonna tell you that Blue cheese hamburger with those fries. Lord, her mercy.

Cate: 1:22

I'm glad you enjoyed it. I don't remember what I had, but it was good.

Portia: 1:26

You had a burger too.

Cate: 1:27

Oh.

Portia: 1:28

But it wasn't blue cheese. You don't like blue cheese?

Cate: 1:29

Mm-hmm.

Portia: 1:30

But you know, we, we needed to eat because we were gonna go on a hike afterwards. There's so many trails that you can go on, and there are some short trails, you know, I think maybe less than two miles or something. Then there's some longer trails. Well, you enter into the San Jacinto State Park.

Cate: 1:49

Mm-hmm.

Portia: 1:50

After a certain point, you enter into the wilderness. It was so cool and eerie at the same time, and it was hot as Hades, I'm not gonna lie. And you're 9,000 plus feet in elevation. Yes. So that was the highest point we had been so far. But, so we are in the San Jacinto Park. There are few people that are going our direction, and there's this little house.

Cate: 2:15

Yes.

Portia: 2:17

And it's where the, the Rangers, they're there, but they weren't in the house at the moment. But what you have to do is you have to fill out a form.

Cate: 2:25

Yeah. So they know who's.

Portia: 2:27

Who is left for the day, if any form is left over. So you fill this form out, and then you have to put it in another box, and you take, it's like a, a two-ply type of right form.

Cate: 2:39

So you put one in the box.

Portia: 2:41

Mm-hmm.

Cate: 2:42

And then you keep one for yourself. And then when you're done, you turn it in.

Portia: 2:46

Yes.

Cate: 2:47

That's how they keep count.

Portia: 2:48

If your car is still left over, they'll know that.

Cate: 2:51

Mm-hmm.

Portia: 2:52

There needs to be a search and rescue for you. Yes. But after that point, it tells you that you were going into the wilderness.

Cate: 2:58

Mm-hmm. And, they're mountain lions.

Portia: 3:01

Oh. Girl, were there mountain lions?

Cate: 3:05

I never saw any.

Portia: 3:06

But I felt eyes. They, they always say that Mountain lion, they see you before you see them.

Cate: 3:12

Oh, yeah. So that's why you had a bear, um, bell.

Portia: 3:17

Yes. That was another, another addition that we got. It just, whenever you would move, it would shake. It just made, made noise.

Cate: 3:24

Just made noise. You made, you just make a lot of noise and generally, yeah. Yeah. Wild animals will stay away.

Portia: 3:31

Exactly. That's where I got it and I just hooked it onto my backpack and I was the loudest one out there. I'm not kidding if anybody, sorry. If anybody wanted to be a sanctuary, like a library and be out in nature and all that kind of stuff and be quiet.

Cate: 3:47

What happen with this one.

Portia: 3:48

Wouldn't happening with me?

Cate: 3:49

She wouldn't let me sing. So.

Portia: 3:51

Yeah. It's not an operatic moment. This is not the Grand Canyon baby. This is. Okay. So, so we were, I think it was about a five mile loop. We started on one side. You could start on both sides, right?

Cate: 4:09

Mm-hmm.

Portia: 4:10

We ran into three older people. One, it was a, an older gentleman.

Cate: 4:14

Mm-hmm. He was so kind.

Portia: 4:15

He was, and he was telling us about the poles, like the hiking, hiking poles. Hiking poles. Never had a hiking pole. I mean, I know what they are.

Cate: 4:24

I used to think I was too good for him.

Portia: 4:27

I used to think I didn't even need him. Well, that changed. We see this man and he was so kind with just talking to us about, just about the park itself.

Cate: 4:37

Mm-hmm.

Portia: 4:37

As far as how it is it is, you are in the wilderness, and if you keep going, there's so many other trails where you can keep going. You won't see anybody forever.

Cate: 4:47

Mm-hmm. Right? He was in his mid seventies too.

Portia: 4:49

Was he?

Cate: 4:50

Mm-hmm.

Portia: 4:50

We were so inspired.

Cate: 4:52

He was an inspiration.

Portia: 4:53

Yes. And.

Cate: 4:53

Jinx.

Portia: 4:54

After we meet this, this older man, and I, we probably are about a half a mile from the halfway point. But before we turned around, We met those two older ladies.

Cate: 5:05

Yes. They were so cool.

Portia: 5:08

Oh my goodness. This is, again, meeting all walks of life. When you go on a road trip or when you go out of, away from your element.

Cate: 5:17

Mm-hmm.

Portia: 5:17

And if you are open enough to invite that type of interaction.

Cate: 5:22

That energy. Yeah. It was just, it was priceless.

Portia: 5:26

It was. So we, we passed them.

Cate: 5:28

Mm-hmm.

Portia: 5:29

because we were still gonna truck it. They came past us and they said, yeah, they told us where we were along the trip. It's like, yeah, if you go up here and you're almost there. We just said, thank you so much and thanks for giving us some, uh, insight on it. And we went on our merry way. Shortly afterwards, we just decided to turn back around. Yeah. We were tired and this is our and

Cate: 5:51

The back was hurting.

Portia: 5:52

Yeah. This was our first, serious hike. Well, besides, no, I take that back. Grand Canyon was the first serious hike.

Cate: 5:58

Oh, that was, yes. That was the first.

Portia: 6:00

Being up 9,000 feet in elevation

Cate: 6:03

Yeah.

Portia: 6:04

was something new to us. So we turned back around. And wouldn't you know it, we run up across the older ladies again.

Cate: 6:12

Yes, we did.

Portia: 6:13

And here was so much fun. They were just talking about how, um, one I think lived in southern California, not in, in the Palm Springs area. Mm-hmm. And they were just the closest friends and they just love to go hiking together.

Cate: 6:28

They do it all the time.

Portia: 6:29

Do it all the time. They had their little hiking sticks and again, hearing these older ladies and we walk for them probably.

Cate: 6:38

Walked with them for,

Portia: 6:39

Yeah, with them for the whole trip back.

Cate: 6:41

For the most of the way back.

Portia: 6:43

Yep. And they just educated us. I mean, Isn't it great? You think we're young, and we've got this health thing down packed and being in shape. No.

Cate: 6:53

Mm-hmm.

Portia: 6:53

And you look at these two older ladies and the, the older gentleman who was in the seventies,

Cate: 6:58

I think they all were in their seventies.

Portia: 7:00

Really?

Cate: 7:00

Mm-hmm.

Portia: 7:01

It's such an inspiration. Mm-hmm. So they as pretty much, they were escorting us back. They were escorting us back. Okay. Let's just keep that real.

Cate: 7:11

Yes.

Portia: 7:12

Thank you. We never got names, but we're so grateful for the light and inspiration that you guys gave us.

Cate: 7:19

Mm-hmm. and the laughter.

Portia: 7:21

And it was a lot of laughter.

Cate: 7:23

Yes.

Portia: 7:23

So, at that point, we we were pretty exhausted. It was about time for us to get our drive on from Palm Springs to the Joshua Tree, uh, Airbnb? Yes. Which Palm Springs and Joshua Tree is not far. I think it's maybe a half a mile. I mean, not half a mile. I'm sorry.

Cate: 7:40

Wait. 30 minutes.

Portia: 7:41

30 minutes. We're on our way. Airbnb was just, had everything you needed. Yeah. And.

Cate: 7:49

It was so nice.

Portia: 7:51

It's a minimalist type of space. The walls on the side of you into the back of you were glass. So.

Cate: 7:58

The shower,

Portia: 7:59

The shower was,

Cate: 8:00

Was amazing. You showered outside. I enjoyed that.

Portia: 8:05

I did too. And it was hot as Hades. Once again. It was, it was extremely hot in the summertime.

Cate: 8:11

It was a hundred at least.

Portia: 8:12

Yes. And come to think of. I was about to make a big, big, wrong decision before when we were planning this trip.

Cate: 8:25

You? Never.

Portia: 8:25

Stop it, girl. I was about to. We were about to camp in Joshua Tree for two nights. Can you imagine camping?

Cate: 8:35

That's too much.

Portia: 8:36

It would've been brutal.

Cate: 8:38

Mm-hmm. I'm spoiled. I'm just gonna say, I'm spoiled. I gotta have it cool.

Portia: 8:43

But then I started thinking, have you lost your freaking mind?

Cate: 8:47

You might have lost it for a brief moment, but

Portia: 8:48

It was for a second. So this Airbnb was perfect. It had an outdoor patio, a fire pit, you know, for the cooler.

Cate: 8:58

Didn't need a fire pit.

Portia: 8:59

Didn't need.

Cate: 8:59

Not that trip.

Portia: 9:00

You enter of course in the shower from the, you enter the bathroom on the inside. You get to the shower, but then they had a tub on the outside, outside on a patio.

Cate: 9:11

And I, I soaked in it. It was lovely. She did just out in the open. Oh, it was amazing. Yes. I mean there was nobody around to see. They couldn't peep in, so that's good.

Portia: 9:25

So it was perfect. You're sitting there and you're tub, and you're watching nature and it's boulders all around and when the sun would rise, but especially when it was set.

Cate: 9:34

Oh my gosh.

Portia: 9:35

You know that golden hour when it's

Cate: 9:37

some amazing,

Portia: 9:38

perfectly

Cate: 9:39

yes.

Portia: 9:41

Absolutely.

Cate: 9:42

The sunsets were just breathtaking, absolutely breathtaking.

Portia: 9:45

They were. But what an experience that morning that we had. The best coffee experience ever. We're sitting back, just to ease into the day. It's nothing like being on vacation, and just sitting there and just watching these big, beautiful boulders in the distance. And you have that golden hour sunrise just hitting the boulders perfectly while you're having a cup of coffee.

Cate: 10:10

Oh yes.

Portia: 10:11

To perfection.

Cate: 10:12

Yes.

Portia: 10:13

But the next day, we went to Joshua Tree.

Cate: 10:17

Well, you went to Joshua Tree. Yeah. I'm sorry. I was kind of tired. That hike kind of got to me.

Portia: 10:23

Yeah, I understand. I mean, sometimes it's just not the way that you had planned it or you wanted it to. I think I wanted to go to Joshua Tree, not only because, yes, I've been there before, but

Cate: 10:36

You used to talk to your mom.

Portia: 10:37

My mom and I, we would always talk. Whenever I would go traveling, she would always, we would always call each other and talk to each other. The last time I was at Joshua Tree, I went to, uh, Indian Wells and I went to the professional tennis tournament there and in Indian Wells. So I was by myself, went to Joshua Tree. First time ever. She called me the wild woman. So I just like to explore. Get my ticket, go into the park, and I find a spot and I get out and I call my mom. This was, I don't know, a few years before she had died, maybe a couple of years, years before she had passed away, but that's what we did. So we would call, uh, we would talk on the phone while I'm walking through Joshua Tree on a trail, and I call my mom and it's 10 o'clock in the morning and I'm like, mom, guess where I'm. She, she's like, what? Where are you? I said, I'm at Joshua Tree. She's like, uh, Joshua, who? It was so endearing and I kid you not, the call dropped six times. She was so mad. She was like, this is the last time Portia White. I'm telling you, what if this call drops one more time. Hello? So I had to call her after I finished to explain, cuz I didn't wanna think, I didn't want her to think that I was hanging up on her cuz she would cuss me out, even though she was a God-fearing woman. She fuss me out from sun, down to sunset, whatever. But anyway. So I wanted to go back to Joshua Tree because it just made me feel closer to my mom. Cate wasn't feeling it. And we had spent, I believe it was$80 for the, um, annual pass. You get to go to as many National Parks as you want to?

Cate: 12:27

Oh, yes.

Portia: 12:28

Throughout our country for$80. That's how much the pass is. Well, each entrance to a national park is$30. That's a no-brainer to me. So I took all the water that I could. And, I just parked and I was the only one. After a while, I got used to being by myself and I was just out there being with my mom. And that's what nature does to me. I don't know about, about for anyone else, but it has such a calming presence.

Cate: 13:02

Mm-hmm. It does.

Portia: 13:04

It nurtures you without you even thinking that it could.

Cate: 13:09

Yeah. And I got a wild hair up my butt, and decided I would go venture out around the house and said I walked maybe a half a mile up just to see. And I took, I took some great pictures. Yes. Did you took some amazing pictures of our surrounding area.

Portia: 13:26

You did.

Cate: 13:26

But, um, that morning when we woke up, there were bunny rabbits.

Portia: 13:31

The management, um, company, they would leave bunny rabbit food so that we could, any of the guests could feed the bunnies.

Cate: 13:41

They, they weren't out during the day, but at early in the morning, they would come out.

Portia: 13:45

It's hot as heck out there. I don't know. There's too op shoot, the snakes, the bunny rabbits, the iguanas, the whatever else. The only crazy people were the humans.

Cate: 13:55

Well. Mm-hmm.

Portia: 13:56

So, we finished our trip. We got ready and enjoy the next day, which we were on our way to Utah.

Cate: 14:07

Utah.

Portia: 14:10

Stay tuned for the next day.

Cate: 14:12

Yes, stay tuned.

Portia: 14:13

Because that glamping site was.

Cate: 14:18

There's quite a bit to talk about.

Portia: 14:20

Peace out guys.

Cate: 14:21

Dueces.

Portia: 14:22

I'm Portia White, and I hope you've enjoyed today's conversation. I'd like to give a special thanks to our sponsor betterwithacupofcoffee.com. If you want to be our guest on our show, email me at cuppaconnections@gmail.com. And if you liked what you heard, please rate and review our podcast. And, join us again soon on Cuppa Connections.