Kim turned 30 this year, and her birthday wish was to head to Joshua Tree National Park for a beginner rock climbing course. Every time we visit the park, we watch climbers hanging high above the granite formations and she talks about trying it herself someday. I personally don’t think I’d get very far without panicking.

Unfortunately, my leg injury had other plans. Rock climbing would have to wait if I was going to even begin to participate, so instead we packed up our camping gear, headed to Joshua Tree, and planned a weekend of camping and easy hikes. It wasn't the original birthday wish, but it still sounded like a pretty great way to celebrate.

Since we arrived in the middle of the week, we had the chance to try a new campground without competing for the usual weekend crowds. We stayed at Ryan Campground, which sits almost in the middle of Joshua Tree National Park between Hidden Valley and Jumbo Rocks. It's a great location for exploring the park while feeling a little quieter than some of the busier campgrounds.

This is from Site 31, looking through Site 30 towards the bathroom

Our campsite looked out across open desert, giving us beautiful views right from the tent.

That evening, Kim spent the last night of her twenties sitting around the campfire with me. Firelight danced across the granite boulders while the moon rose over the hills behind the campground. It was one of those quiet desert evenings that reminded us why we love camping in Joshua Tree together.

The next morning started the way most of our camping mornings do: with coffee.

Over the years we've experimented with all kinds of camping breakfasts. We've cooked breakfast burritos from scratch over the fire, which tastes amazing but also means cooking in the desert sun and cleaning cast iron without running water. We've also made burritos at home ahead of time, wrapped them in foil, and simply reheated them over the campfire.

We’ve also pre-made all of the ingredients at home and rolled up our burritos in foil so we can toss them on the fire in the morning to heat them up. This works great and has minimal clean up.

That was the choice for this birthday breakfast - delicious burritos, hot and ready to eat in a flash. One of my favorite parts of camping in Joshua Tree is how peaceful the mornings are. We carried our coffee up onto a nearby boulder and watched the desert slowly wake up. The soft morning light, the quiet, and the endless views are exactly why we keep coming back.

After breakfast, I surprised Kim with a few birthday presents I'd tucked away before the trip, including a new hat.

We packed up and headed out to hike around the area for a few hours. We just stayed on a shot trail plan, and hiked until Andrea’s leg said it was time to stop.