tree-ing up summer

tomorrow is memorial day, which is often seen as the kickoff to summer. growing up, summer to me meant no school, baseball, time with friends, and family vacations. for the latter, we would pile in to our rv and drive all over the western united states and canadian provinces.

many a time, we hit a national park or two - yosemite, yellowstone, glacier, death valley, zion, rocky mountain, etc - on our way to our ultimate destination. one park that we didn't visit as a family was joshua tree.

i added the chrome version of the 2022 topps allen & ginter inside the park mini to my "meaningful and just because" collection due to the fact that it is one of the parks that i've been to most often, even though i didn't get there until i was in high school.

located off of the 10 near palm springs, it was a bit out of the way for our family vacation routes. however, my friends and i were inspired by u2's 1987 album, "the joshua tree", to check out what was then a national monument. our first visit occurred in the summer of 1987, and over the course of the next five or six years, we went to the park to hike, camp, and do some freestyle rock climbing (a very tame version of freestyle rock climbing mind you) several times. 

i am very thankful for my parents and friends instilling in me an interest in national parks - an interest that includes state and regional parks as well - as they really are a great resource for us collectively and a fantastic way to spend time outdoors.  this summer, i have plans to visit at least one national park in the pacific northwest as well as one here in northern minnesota.  as for joshua tree, i last visited the park about 10 years ago, but hope to get back someday. i think there is a work related conference in palm springs next year, so fingers crossed!

i hope everyone has/is having an enjoyable memorial day weekend!