Joshua Tree + Extreme Wind
November 29, 2016
Joshua Tree National Park, California, USA
Hey There!
We finally packed our bags and left bright, colorful, happy San Diego and headed into the desert wasteland that is inland California. I'm kidding! Sort of... it is pretty beige back there.
I think that since we are used to Colorado mountains - the lack of trees is a little shocking. Anyway! We made the trek to Joshua Tree which was about three hours. We were both coming down from almost two weeks with friends and a full house again so it felt a little sad actually, but nice to get back into the swing of things at the same time.
We pulled into town just as the Super Moon was coming up and myyyyy, my, my was it pretty! I was on the phone with my friend Allie - and Blake and I both yelled "whoa!" as soon as we saw it. It was gigantic and orange and so beautiful. We followed the road into the campground just staring at the moon. By the time we got there it was a little higher and less bright but it lit up the whole area and there were a lot of other campers out and some people with pretty impressive camera set ups so I'm sure there were some really amazing photos taken.
Since the time changed the sun set so early that night and it was already dark by the time we were looking for a parking spot. Blake got a little frustrated and pulled into a spot without really thinking about it and then when we realized we needed to turn around he scrapped the whole side of the van on a giant yuca plant... (insert teeth clenched emoji) also - sorry to the yuca. We have learned that desert plants are veerry fragile and people are very sensitive about them..
We found a great spot though and posted up for a few days. Joshua Tree is a little less accommodating for pets than Zion was. It makes sense because its too hot for them the majority of the year but it made it a little harder for us to do what we would have wanted to inside the park. The Ranger showed us a cool little hike that we were able to take them on but its was only about .75 of a mile so they were a little restless but we made it work. We also took the drone out again to try and get some cool footage. You can tell by how i said try that it didn't work. Blake hiked up this trail with it and got it all put together before remembering that he had changed the password but didn't know what he changed it to... *rolls eyes*. Oh well, we'll get it in the air soon!! I'm so excited to start using it!
Moving on! If I'm being honest - I wasn't too impressed the first two days in Joshua Tree. Like I said - it just seemed like a pretty boring desert with some wonky trees here and there. I had read a lot about the park in the weeks prior to going a lot of them wrote a lot about the "hidden magic in the desert" and I just wasn't seeing it.
The third day we got up and headed into the park in the early afternoon. It wasn't too busy which was nice and once we got about 5 miles inside I started to see some of the beauty. The rock formations look like they can't possibly have gotten there on their own. Blake and I just kept coming back to it until he finally looked it up. Turns out that we aren't the only curious ones because it tells you about it right there on the visitors map. I won't bore you in case you aren't into rocks but it's super cool and you can read about it <here>
We got out a few times and checked out some rock climbers and some of the prettier hike spots. Since we had the dogs we had to be choosy but I feel like we saw the highlights. For people who like rock climbing or biking I think Joshua Tree would be an awesome experience. I really enjoyed our final day there have an appreciation for it but I doubt that it will hit my list of top 5 National Parks.
On our last night there we stayed just outside the park on the South Side. They actually have some really nice BLM camping right outside the main entrance and honestly I wouldn't bother trying to camp inside the park if any of those spots are open. They're free and you have cell service! If you guys are planning to go I would say leave puppies at home for this one do as many trails as you can. The hikes are all relatively short and you can camp pretty easily in some of the dry sites inside for about $10 a night if you don't want to leave.
On our last night there we stayed just outside the park on the South Side. They actually have some really nice BLM camping right outside the main entrance and honestly I wouldn't bother trying to camp inside the park if any of those spots are open. They're free and you have cell service! If you guys are planning to go I would say leave puppies at home for this one do as many trails as you can. The hikes are all relatively short and you can camp pretty easily in some of the dry sites inside for about $10 a night if you don't want to leave.
We hope you guys are liking the photos and if the video won't load for you, you can find the original here.
Happy Monday!
La Jolla + Not Enough Time
November 18, 2016
La Jolla, San Diego, CA, USA
Friday, Friday, Friday!!!!
Currently the weather is 11 degrees and the mountains are finally getting hit hard with 5-10 inches of snow. Anyhow that is back home in Colorado and not in, arguably the most perfect town of La Jolla, California where the average annual temperature is 70.
If you aren't familiar with La Jolla, here are a few helpful facts to get you a little more aquatinted with this pleasant place. La Jolla is part of the city San Diego and is bordered by Pacific Beach. It originates from the Spanish word La Joya which translates to "the jewel". It has a population of nearly 47,000 and at one time was actually called home by Dr. Suess!
The reason behind our recent adventure here was to visit our friends Joe (my best man) and his lovely wife Allie. Presently, they reside about three blocks from the beach which can be accessed by a short, shoeless walk on Avenida De La Playa Drive. With such a prime location, the opportunity for activities were endless. Days consisting of paddle boarding, surfing, deep sea fishing, digging tunnels in the sand, mopeding downtown for rooftop yoga sessions, nature hikes and sunset walks on the beach with the pups definitely called for bottomless french pressed coffee! Activities surely consumed the majority of our day and made the time fly by. Nonetheless - Brit and I managed to habitually enjoy the local beach bar rightfully called "Shore Rider" to catch up on the world series, crazy election and somehow work a breezy 40 hours a week..... That was both of our hours combined but hey, who is counting anyways?
La Jolla will always be remembered and have a special place in our hearts. And maybe, just maybe..one day we could also call it home. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Brit, Teddi, Huckleberry and I could not thank Joe and Allie enough for letting the Menter's and everything we own stay at their humble abode for twelve days. Their joyful attitudes towards everything in life and whole hearted love will undoubtedly be missed.
THANKS GUYS!!!!!!!!!!
Next stop, Joshua Tree National Park.
- Blake
Zion National Park + Vegas Fail
November 14, 2016
Springdale, UT, USA
Happy Monday Everyone! The blog is about two weeks behind -- and I'm really sorry about that but lets catch up!
Cedar City was so good to us that we really had a hard time leaving! We woke up the third morning there and had to force ourselves to get out of town and move on. The weather that day was kind of rough and we went back and forth about whether or not we would even enjoy Zion if we went. I told Blake I didn't care and he could just pick a direction and go and I wouldn't care. It was mostly true... even though I was a little disappointed when he turned off the highway towards it. It didn't take me long to get over it though because its beyond gorgeous.
When you're driving towards the park you have about 30 miles been I15 and the park entrance. There are several little towns along the way that have really adorable houses and I wanted to take pictures of all of them.
The Park and the town of Springdale have a pretty cool relationship and I'm interested to see if that's pretty common with other National Parks. The town is just on the outside of the park entrance and they have a lot of pretty resorts and bed and breakfasts but it just seems like a really charming little place. Along the main street there are several parking lots and bus stops that will take you through town and even to the visitors center. The park no longer allows for personal vehicles to drive to a few of the main attractions. There are about 7 or 8 places in the park that most people try to see and it can get really crowded so they have limited transportation to those sites to just the shuttle bus. You can take the shuttle from the visitors center and get off wherever you would like and then when you're done with that hike or looking around you just just hop back on and go to the next one.
I think we were there at almost the perfect time of year. We didn't plan ahead at all for this trip and just got really lucky but there were no lines - we were able to camp easily - and it was cool enough that it was safe to have the dogs there in the RV so we were able to do some hikes without them.
Sorry about some of the maybe boring details but they are good to know if you want to go there yourself! Which you should because it's amazing. Last tid bit -- you can buy a one time pass that's good or 7 days for $30 or you can buy a year long pass to ANY National Park for $80! If you buy the pass you get a $10 discount on camp grounds in the park making them just $10 a night! Okay - thats all on that.
Blake and I got there and needed a little break from the car so we went on a walk with the dogs on the only pet friendly trail in the park. I was expecting it to be lame or at least really busy since it was the only pet friendly options but it wasn't at all. It was about a 4 mile walk and it just kept getting prettier and prettier. It was a nice little intro to the park. We spent the rest of the afternoon looking for a camp site and we even broke out the moped to cruise into town! It's coming in so handy already! We were in search of wine honestly... but I forgot that it's Utah and it's not nearly as easy to find booze there - not to mention that it was a Sunday and they don't sell liquor on Sundays.
Our campsite was right on the river and after walking around and talking to a few people we decided to stay multiple days and do some of the more exciting hikes. If you're there you should definitely so Angels Landing or The Narrows. We hiked to the Emerald Pools. Thats where the waterfall picture was taken. We took a little picnic and ate towards the end of the hike at the highest pool.
We were both a little sad that we didn't do any of the larger hikes but we couldn't be away from the RV that long. That was the first time we had left the dogs and there was a pretty good chance they spent the whole three hours barking their heads off. It was beautiful though and I don't think you can go wrong with any of the hikes or things you choose to see. Even though it was off season it was still busy. The trail was pretty heavily populated for 80% of our hike.
If you're looking for a more challenging or individual experience they have a lot of guide maps and people around the park that seemed really helpful. I'm a little too much of a chicken to do very much back country stuff. I'm hoping to become a little braver over the next few months and maybe I won't pee my pants at the thought of bears. We actually met a really cool woman who is a wildlife educator at Yellowstone National Park. She was in Zion doing some hiking alone and I thought she was pretty inspiring. She invited me to a women's only fly fishing trip in Yellowstone in the fall and I think I just might go!
We left Zion on Tuesday and just like Cedar City it was tough to leave. We're really lucky to be able to do this - we have already had so much fun and I'm now even more excited for other National Parks. We had to start making the trek to San Diego and thought it would take us a few days with a stop in Vegas.
Turns out Vegas is mostly only fun when you step off of an air conditioned plane - immediately grab a drink - head to the pool and the gamble away a reasonable amount of money. It's not as nice with two dogs - a hot dirt parking lot and no drinks. So we moved right along and got into San Diego almost two weeks ago now!
I'll be back really soon with a full recap of our time here but for now thats all! Seriously, If you can make it to Zion you should. I know its not as glamorous as an island vacay but it's amazing and totally worth it - Have a great week everyone!!
Our campsite was right on the river and after walking around and talking to a few people we decided to stay multiple days and do some of the more exciting hikes. If you're there you should definitely so Angels Landing or The Narrows. We hiked to the Emerald Pools. Thats where the waterfall picture was taken. We took a little picnic and ate towards the end of the hike at the highest pool.
We were both a little sad that we didn't do any of the larger hikes but we couldn't be away from the RV that long. That was the first time we had left the dogs and there was a pretty good chance they spent the whole three hours barking their heads off. It was beautiful though and I don't think you can go wrong with any of the hikes or things you choose to see. Even though it was off season it was still busy. The trail was pretty heavily populated for 80% of our hike.
If you're looking for a more challenging or individual experience they have a lot of guide maps and people around the park that seemed really helpful. I'm a little too much of a chicken to do very much back country stuff. I'm hoping to become a little braver over the next few months and maybe I won't pee my pants at the thought of bears. We actually met a really cool woman who is a wildlife educator at Yellowstone National Park. She was in Zion doing some hiking alone and I thought she was pretty inspiring. She invited me to a women's only fly fishing trip in Yellowstone in the fall and I think I just might go!
We left Zion on Tuesday and just like Cedar City it was tough to leave. We're really lucky to be able to do this - we have already had so much fun and I'm now even more excited for other National Parks. We had to start making the trek to San Diego and thought it would take us a few days with a stop in Vegas.
Turns out Vegas is mostly only fun when you step off of an air conditioned plane - immediately grab a drink - head to the pool and the gamble away a reasonable amount of money. It's not as nice with two dogs - a hot dirt parking lot and no drinks. So we moved right along and got into San Diego almost two weeks ago now!
I'll be back really soon with a full recap of our time here but for now thats all! Seriously, If you can make it to Zion you should. I know its not as glamorous as an island vacay but it's amazing and totally worth it - Have a great week everyone!!
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