Shut up and point at it
I spent the last couple of days in the desert. We were lucky enough to spend a night at the Reset hotel in Twentynine Palms, created by Ben Uyeda. It's a 65-key boutique hotel built from shipping containers with beautiful natural landscaping, set right against the mountains at the entrance to Joshua Tree National Park.
It was a beautiful stay. There is something inherently relaxing about the desert, and the hotel's atmosphere reflects it.
Everything is simple - thoughtful, intentional, tasteful, but not extravagant. We really enjoyed the cold plunge in the morning; the pool is very nice, especially with its different levels, and the rooms are minimal and subtly chic.
How can you resist the walnut?
Appreciate the pouring of different levels surrounding the pool
Cold plunge with a view
It's designed to blend into the landscape with unassuming forms. You weave through the complex, and different views of the mountain are revealed around each corner. It really is all about the view.
Weaving through
The bench outside our room
So much of this was created by Ben, an artist, architect, and prolific YouTube and IG creator. Everything was designed by him - the kitchen cabinets, beds, benches, firepits, and art installations. His simple signature style is everywhere: lots of concrete, stone, muscular fir beams, and beautiful walnut plywood.
He has a gift for finding beautiful, inexpensive materials and building things from them. His YouTube channel is full of tutorials on this approach.
This is a fir timber bench press Ben created at his house nearby, super fun.
I kept asking myself why this place felt so right, even though it's very simple. For most buildings, the surrounding landscape isn't particularly compelling, so the building itself becomes a kind of walled garden, creating an environment for experiencing the space within the walls.
But Reset backs right up to the park; it's a little different.
It's intentionally calm and subdued to feature the unbridled majesty of the Little San Bernardino Mountains.
It's a reminder that context is everything. When you're surrounded by the drama of the mountains, sometimes the most sophisticated thing you can do is shut up and point at it.
We also got to spend time in the park itself. Ben recommended we go up to the Live Oak picnic area. It's not my first time at Joshua Tree, but it was my first time with any real leisure time to explore the park.
A Joshua Tree from the car
If you've never been, it's totally out of another world. There are the Joshua trees, which inspired Dr. Seuss, but the actual granite rock formations are what get me. A lot of Star Wars was shot here. I haven't seen another place where everything is so rounded and pillow-looking.
Giant rounded boulders with gradual folds and bubbles inviting - like a kid's marshmallow fantasty world made out of granite.
I generally think the best places connect with us because they evoke wonder we've seldom experienced since childhood. And this is very much that.
Everything here is somehow both oft and gradual and easy to climb while existing on a massive scale. My wife and I just kept saying that next time we need to bring the kids.
I think we will.
