When you google these words you first and foremost learn all about U2's great album from 1987. A bit further down though one can find out that there is more to the Joshua Tree. In fact, about an hour away from Palm Desert is a US National Park called "Joshua Tree National Park", and that's exactly where we were today.
Admittedly, after the amazing national parks that we had seen out West over the last 2 weeks it was always a hard act to follow. But the Joshua Tree National Park is unique and quite intriguing in its own way. Against a very barren landscape you have only two things that (literally) stand out - bizarre rock formations and the joshua tree plants that have given the park its name. These plants are some sort of yucca plant and supposedly there are over 1.5 million joshua trees in this national park.
Quite cleverly, the National Park Services have found a way to keep kids engaged in visiting these parks. Kids get a book with lots of things to look out for and when they have completed the task (...well, kind of) they get their "Junior Ranger" badge for this respective park. It must be the proximity to Hollywood, because the Ranger at the Joshua Tree National Park really got into this and not just handed the badge to Lucy and Fiona - but performed a full ceremony (including the kids having to repeat his words and taking an oath of protecting the national parks). While Lucy and Fiona were somewhat embarassed by being such center of attention, the rest of the visitor center probably enjoyed the free entertainment...
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