My husband and I recently took a trip to Joshua Tree National Park in California to disconnect and escape into the beauty of Nature, and, for us Chicagoans, the unfamiliar desert. Like many city-dwellers, we held the misconception that the desert was a barren place, but this was nothing like that. No, it was so beautifully alive! It was nature stripped down to its bare minimum. I cannot describe the beauty and peace we felt there, the calm silence and breathtaking views of expansive, orange, rugged rock formations amongst gardens of twisted, bristled Joshua Trees.