Am I the only one who didn’t know that the Dr. Seuss-looking trees in Joshua Tree are actually called Joshua trees? Go figure…

For those of you out-of-towners who don’t know what Joshua Tree even is, it’s essentially a large protected Southern California National Park, which essentially encompasses a beautiful desert filled with awesome geological formations, the iconic Joshua trees, cacti, and other desert things. Ya know, just desert things 💁🏼‍♀️ People usually go there to camp, see the landscapes, and hike… or take Instagrams. To each their own. 

Anyway, the park is about 2 hours and 45 minutes outside of LA, so if you’re planning on going, bring some snacks, water, and a good podcast for the car ride lol. 

My friend Rebecca and I went this past Sunday for a little road trip adventure and had an amazing time looking at the beautiful landscapes, climbing rocks, and exploring the desert! On top of that, we passed a HUGE windmill farm on our way, as well as cattle, horses, and giant hills covered in purple and yellow flowers. Nature at its finest 😊

So if you like nature, definitely visit. If you don’t like nature, then go back to living under your rock, ok?? K thnx bye. 

Anyway, sorry for that long ass intro, here’s the scoop on the vegan food in the area: there aren’t many vegan places within the small town (is it a town?) of Joshua Tree, but there are some options! 

Some of the options I found online were: Crossroads Cafe, Cali Greens Cafe, Joshua Tree Health Foods, and the place we went- Natural Sister’s Cafe. 

Natural Sister’s Cafe is just up the road from one of the Joshua Tree park entrances and it is VERY vegan-friendly. They have a variety of fresh juices, smoothies, fun lattes, sandwiches, salads, and even vegan desserts and pies. 

To start, Rebecca and I both got apple/celery/lemon juices. I’m not going to lie, it didn’t taste amazing, but I think that’s because they put more celery than apple, so it wasn’t very sweet. But it did taste fresh and green! 

For lunch, I got the avocado, sprout, lettuce sandwich on sourdough bread with veganaise and added spinach and tomato to it. IT WAS SO BALLER. The entire sandwich was bigger than my head and I ate every single bite of it because I’m a sandwich hoe. It was so fresh, tasty, and delicious. 10/10 recommend. 

If you find yourself wandering around the desert and are looking for some desert grub, check this place out!