Hidden Valley Loop Trail, Joshua Tree National Park:
- In the distance were giant boulders and, everywhere on the plain beneath them, Joshua trees. I had always loved the oaks and pines and redwoods of the Bay Area, with their long and leafy limbs, but I had missed the desert trees: stout, prickly, wild-armed, and yet utterly fragile.
— The Other Americans, by Laila Lalami, p. 137