California Baby!

You know me....I can't sit still for long. A cross country trip in Nov just wasn't enough. Because Jackson is catered to tourists, when they quit coming, the town goes quiet.....perfect timing for the locals to get out. That's exactly what Rach and I decided to do. Megan and Tori went home to GA while Rach and I decided to head in the opposite direction.

Hmmmm, where haven't I been yet? CALIFORNIA. What more could you want? The beach, neat towns, hills, green, warm, islands, hiking, sleeping outside, national parks, ocean; it was perfect! While the snow kept coming, we began to put together our escape. We decided that in 8 days we were going to check out Lake Mead, Hoover Dam, coast camp on the bluffs of Carlsbad in southern CA, hike and camp on Santa Cruz Island (Island 2 of the Channel Islands just off the cost of Ventura), then head to Yosemite to finish the trip off with more hiking.

With that said, here is a little taste of what we did! ...

First stop, Lake Mead... We found a spot to stay for the night to rest up for our trip through Hoover Dam and Vegas!

Hoover Dam

If you look close you can see how low the water was.

Destination 1: Carlsbad, California

Here we took the bikes out and explored the nearby towns. We camped here 2 nights. Despite the rain on the first day we were able to enjoy amazing beach bluff scenery, cute surfers, beautiful sunsets, and the sound of the ocean!

So maybe we were a little upset with the cold weather when we woke up..... we were hoping for something a little warmer!

On the road again. This Orange County, most famous for its reality tv shows featuring a beautiful place with, for lack of a better word, interesting people.

Next stop: Huntington Beach...

This day was full of people watching, sun bathing/burning, and resting. Despite the horrible sun poisoning Rach and I got due to the fact our skin hadn't seen sun in months, it ended up being a great day.

I decided to get in the water.....

It was FREEZING!!!!!!

Burning as we speak!

On to our next destination: Santa Cruz Island, #2 of the Channel Islands

We took the ferry out to the island.

and saw Humpback Whales!!! My first whale experience. It was amazing. It was a mother with a baby and they really put on a great show complete with tale flops, flips out of the water, and plenty of shots of them coming up for air.

Once we were on the island, we set up camp at our reserved sight and headed off to explore the island. Santa Cruz island was BEAUTIFUL. It was covered in grassy fields and high rock cliffs over looking emerald blue water. You could see for miles out. It was a neat feeling knowing that you were surrounded by these cliffs and the pacific.

Next stop: Yosemite

We really didn't have a certain time to get there so we explored along the way. We took the coastal highway all the way up CA and enjoyed scenery like this below all along the way.

The most AMAZING taco's EVER!!!! Served straight from this truck in some random parking lot in LA. It was DELICIOUS! It doesn't quit beat the burrito I had in Encintas our first day camping in CA, but it was a good second place!

On to Yosemite!

Here we stayed at a climbers camp because it was cheap and far away from the RVer's.

This is the first hike that we did. It was straight up but offered great views of Yosemite Falls. Half the hike was closed off but after discussing this with people who had done the hike, we decided to take our chances and venture past the gates. Although we were hiking through snow, we did make it pretty far. However, right before we reached the top our trail ended, the snow got deeper, and the falls looked steeper so we reluctantly turned back.

The next day we ended up meeting up with a photographer that introduced us to a hike that essentially gave us a panoramic view of Yosemite Valley from amazing angles and different elevations. This is a beautiful place!!!

Darn it..... It's time to go home!

I hope that you enjoy these pictures and are somewhat inspired to pick that place you've never been to but always wanted to visit and make it a reality. You only live once and you're not getting any younger.....remember, "life is either a daring adventure or it is nothing".