Filed under: Friends, Life, Long Beach, Love, Photography, Things that make me smile
Spring Has Sprung! My girlfriends and I took a wonderful walk on the beach the other day…
The sun was finally shining and it was a beautiful day in Long beach so I decided to take a walk…
Filed under: Big Bear, Cooking, Friends, Inspiration, Life, Photography, Road Trip, Travel
After working 15 hour days at the Rose Parade floats, I really needed to relax. My friend Abigail found a cabin in Big Bear with a jacuzzi that sleeps 4 quite comfortably for $100/night, we were in! Two days after New Years, we headed up the mountain. On this trip was Abiana Jones, Wyldeflower, Anichiban, O-Twizz and myself. We stopped at a grocery store for supplies and were on our way. We didn’t do much but RE-LAX, enjoy home-cooked meals & play a little outside. Here is my photo essay of the experience…
The End.
Filed under: An afternoon @ Mini Mansion, Friends, gardening, Life, Photography
I recently had the pleasure of spending the afternoon in my friend Yassi’s garden. The sun was warming my skin with glorious beams of golden sunlight and I was inspired to capture the beauty.
Hopefully my sister, the garden center expert, is reading this and can help identify the plants & flowers.
Filed under: camping, Cooking, Life, National Parks, Photography, Road Trip, Travel, Zion National Park
We woke up and made some breakfast. Today we planned to take the tram up to the top of the canyon and get off at the last stop, the Temple of Sinawava. We brought water shoes and planned to hike back down towards our campground IN the Virgin River which carved the canyon over millions of years. The water is knee deep or so and I recommend a hiking stick to help balance yourself while walking over smooth and sometimes slippers round rocks that pave the riverbed.
spam & rice was a lovely way to start the day
honey, ginseng, chai tea for breakfast
the tram route
WuTang Rock in Zion National Park hee hee
We hiked in and along the Virgin River all day
Zion rock formations
Junebugg the happy camper
the road is red in Zion because they used rock quarried locally
a motorcycle tent trailer!
pasta & Modelo for dinner
night cap... the Wild Turkey in action!
Filed under: camping, Life, National Parks, Photography, Road Trip, Travel, Zion National Park
We woke up and packed up camp. It was time to head home but we planned to take Zion National Park Scenic Byway.
good ol' #85 was our home at South Campground
We took the scenic drive and had to go thru this tunnel
a view from inside the tunnel looking out
beautiful Zion rock formations and colors
Checkerboard Mesa in Zion National Park
the canyon rose high above us...
red rock
my car hit a milestone on the way home
Filed under: Arizona, Arizona Road Trip, camping, Cooking, Grand Canyon, Life, Photography, Road Trip, Travel
We woke up early; excited to explore the canyon. Since the National Park is protected, personal cars aren’t really welcomed at view points around the canyons rim. The parking lots just aren’t big enough to accommodate everyone Millions of people visit the Grand Canyon every year to see one of the Wonders of the World. The environmental impact of all the people and their cars would be too great so the park service came up with a wonderful solution. Visitors park their cars and take air conditioned trams to all points of interest. No one has to worry about parking or traffic or any of those mundane issues. Here are some of the sights we saw…
Abi, Ethan & June... enjoying the air conditioned tram ride to the rim
the first glimpse takes your breath away, "Grand" Canyon is not an accurate description of how immense it really is.
a distant view of the Bright Angel Trail which goes down to the canyon floor
a closer look: this is a strenuous trail that requires the whole day and LOTS of water. Its 20 degrees hotter at the bottom of the canyon!
Love is in the air
Millions of years of erosion by the Colorado River formed the MILE DEEP canyon!
its huge and vast and no camera in the world can capture its greatness
its SU-PER ABIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!
After a sweltering hike along the Rim Trail, we went back to camp to wash up and have a snack before going back to the rim to watch sunset. When we got to camp, we discovered why you are supposed to secure all your food items. A bird had ravaged our pantry, he ate everything from chips & incense to tea & cereal. Items and trash were strewn across the campsite. The bird was proud of his work and sat squawking in a tree high above us… laughing at our lack of caution.
We didn't even open the box yet and he ate it all!
He must be a professional, he even left a calling card!!!
A snack of honey mustard chips, seaweed and apples hit the spot!
Next we showered up and headed back to the rim to watch sunset. Sunset is amazing from any point in the canyon, there is no bad spot to watch the spectacle. The sky changes colors every minute and the sun paints the canyon walls in a million colors. I’m not even gonna caption these next pics, just marvel at how the sights changed from minute to minute. These pictures were taken in order over the span of about 30 minutes…
WOWSERS! That sunset was bananas! We went back to camp, cooked dinner and settled in around the fire for jiffy pop and beer. I gotta say it was a good day!
Filed under: Arizona, Arizona Road Trip, camping, Cooking, Grand Canyon, Life, Photography, Road Trip, Slide Rock, Travel
Despite the sweltering heat the day before, we woke up to a cold and overcast Grand Canyon. It was time to pack up camp and head 2 hours south to Slide Rock State Park. On the way out we explored more of the canyon and tried to stay warm.
Tusayan Museum offered a glimpse of how the Native Americans lived
This is where a kiva once stood
The river was sooooo far down, it was hard to photograph but I got it!
bye bye Grand Canyon!
We stopped in Flagstaff to get groceries for the next couple of days. For $13.77 each, we were able to get steak & wine for dinner plus breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next day! Driving into Oak Creek Canyon brought back memories of road trippin’ with my hippy parents as a kid. We got a site at Cave Springs Campground and set up for the night. The campground is one of the more beautiful I’ve visited.
E5 had some soft sand to set our tent on
the camp host was gracious enough to deliver our firewood on his golf cart
a snack of chips & cherries while we waited for dinner to cook
sunsets do amazing things to the sky!
no camping stove tonight, the fire gave us all the heat we needed
I found Ladybug Wine!!! Organically harvested and it was yummy
camping dinner of champions... it was even better than it looks! YUMMMM
After a while around the fire, we went to bed, excited to explore Slide Rock State Park the next day…
Filed under: camping, Cooking, Life, National Parks, Oregon, Photography, Travel, West Coast Road Trip
We woke up EARLY and packed up our two campsites. Today our plan was to drive from Crater Lake National Park in Oregon to Redwoods National Park in California.
over the river and thru the woods... (Rogue River)
Oregon State Parks
after a couple hours we entered California!
And not long after that the Redwood National and State Parks
California coast near Crescent City
Crescent City is susceptible to tsunamis. According to Humboldt State University,[3] the city experienced tsunami conditions 17 times between the years 1943 and 1994. Although most of these effects were barely perceptible, one tsunami in particular extensively damaged the city in 1964. We were lucky to not experience any tsunamis during our visit.
crazy cousins
the O'Neill 3
California state flower: Poppy
I got some sand from this beach
Paul Bunion and his ox Baby Blu
no Kristi the saying goes, "Grab the bull by its HORNS"
The Treeeeeeees of Mystery and a big crock of shit
Junebugg & Bigfoot
Check the vertical trees growing from the branches
Somehow they called it the worlds largest tree
more "Trees of Mystery" crockery
again, can I get some help on the name of this flower
People actually PAY to get married here
The Brotherhood Tree
Us cousins at the Brotherhood Tree
a fascinating Redwood fact at the Trees Of Mystery
this is what made my $14 worth it at the Treeeees of Mystery
halfway up
THIS my friends, is the attraction at the top
a fascinating Redwood fact
this was so crazy to me
some guy carved this with a redwood with a chainsaw
Digger the redwood dog
Paul Bunyan's table setting
oh my God its Eddie Munster!
Redwood National Park is pretty low budget
I love this path
Whoever owns this bike is probably pretty interesting
Lady Bird Johnson Grove offers a beautiful nature walk
in the parking lot we noticed someone with a creative sense of humor had been there
We saw his work all along the trail
he had mice everywhere!
since it was chalk, I considered it eco-grafitti
a wild boysenberry
looking UP inside a burned out hollow (and still living) tree
I loved how this moss was hanging from all the trees
people are pretty small
these massive trees stayed standing and living despite massive fire damage
a little tunnel
Redwood trees are the tallest in the world
Kristi the acrobatic
Big trees lay where they fell (unless they are blocking a trail)
the mouser strikes again
this guy was my hero for the day
Our campsite #65 at the beautiful Atwell Mill campground
We had some curry chicken for dinner
and settled in for a wonderful campfire after a looooooong day
my favorite Adidas hiking shoes
Ok so maybe the entire campground hated us… but we had a great campfire that night!
We woke up early and got the hell out of the campground before any of our neighbors woke up. Today was going to be a long day. We planned to drive from Redwood National Park on the coastal border of California and Oregon alll the way down to Hollister via Highway 1, the Pacific Coast Highway. The good thing, no rush hour traffic and breathtaking views. The bad thing, 2 lane highway on the edge of a cliff with sparse civilization like gas stations, restaurants or cell phone reception.
yikes... Tsunami zone!
Logging is a major industry in Oregon and Northern California
Irish Beach! We should have stayed here
We started to get hungry but there weren't many towns along the way
We were excited for this place but it was hot inside and smelled like fish
so we ate at this place instead... thanks Barb!
a partially sunken boat
we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge but it was too foggy for a pic =(
we drove thru San Francisco for a bit
We were SO tired of driving and so close to Hollister
sunset was beautiful, this picture didn't do it justice
We finally got to Hollister and the home of our cousin Parris and his wife Mariah. We were so excited for a clean shower and real beds. When we got there, an even better surprise awaited us… champagne and giftbags! As if that wasn’t enough, Parris made us some nutella banana goodies. We felt like we died and went to heaven that night.
