Breakin’ the law, breakin’ the law

So for the past four days we have been off grid at a crazy hippie compound in Joshua Tree. It was one of the first places I put on my “saved” list, and we tried to stay there in Sept but it was double booked. Now was our time. I had some misgivings due to it being dead of winter and with the current state of the pandemic, but it turned out amazing and I’m so glad we went. These monthly getaways are such a lifeline for me. I don’t know how I would have gotten through the last year without them.

Our lodging was a tiny two room fantasy house on top of a boulder. It was the hippiest place I have ever been.

There was a small propane heater for the cold nights, a port-a-potty around the corner, and we did our minimal cooking outside. 

The place itself was a vast sprawling hippie paradise, with random camping spots, trailers, and structures. We spent one day rock scrambling at the National park, but honestly we could have spent all our time just exploring the grounds. 

There was a big open area where a large group had gathered to do yoga and various winter solstice activities. Last night was also the night of the Saturn and Jupiter convergence, which we stayed late at the park to observe and which I think also drew visitors to the hippie compound. We of course stayed far away from everyone, which wasn’t hard to do. 

The boys never tire of rock scrambling, which makes me so glad - it proves that they can, in fact, be entertained by something other than Minecraft and inane gamer videos.

With my arm in the state it’s in, I have to sit out most of the more athletic activities, and all week I had to be extremely careful and mindful of every single movement, from how to pick up a pan to how to navigate the treacherous stairs up to our Boulder house (I tripped once, and just the act of putting out my hand to stop myself from falling put me into a spasm of miserable pain for many minutes - things like this happen multiple times a day). It’s very mentally and emotionally draining to have to live like this, and it really puts a damper on everything. It occurred to me that when summer comes I probably won’t be able to swim. But then I think, by the time summer comes so many other things will have happened - Biden inaugurated, a vaccine, kids back in school, an answer on whether I can run my business or not - things will be so different by then I probably won’t even recognize myself, frozen arm or not. 

At any rate we had a great time, I loved the wind and the cold and the silence, and the BF and I were both reluctant to leave. Now if I can just talk some hippie-tolerant friends into joining us there in a few months when it’s warmer and hopefully we’ve all been vaccinated...