Joshua Tree | Spring 2015

The best part about revisiting a National Park? There's always new nooks and crannies to be discovered. Joshua Tree does not get enough love. Most people have this notion that it doesn't have a lot to look at or explore because it's in the desert. I personally love this place. The rock formations are incredible, the views are to die for, the sunsets are beautiful, and the night sky ... man, the night sky leaves you speechless.

made of random stop on the road because - awesome rocks

many awesome valleys in Joshua Tree

Jumbo Rocks Valley

Hidden Valley

Keys View / on a very clear day you can actually see Mexico from here

Big Sur | Spring 2015 Pt. 2

Started the beautiful day off with a hearty breakfast. Day two in Big Sur was gloomy & rainy. I like that I got to experience two different types of weathers while I was here. Pretty nice. The day consisted of driving down the coast and stopping (every 2 min) to take in the views. No hiking involved, but no one's complaining.

Big Sur | Spring 2015 Pt. 1

A few weekends ago my friends and I took an unplanned, impromptu trip to Big Sur. I've always wanted to do the drive up and down Pacific Coast Highway and it ended up being more awesome than I anticipated. Coastline on one side, foggy mountains on the other. What more can you ask for? It was one of those long drives that I never wanted to end. I was way too excited and took quite a few photos so I'm dividing this post into 2.  Here's what we did the first day:

We left at 1am Friday night and reached our first stop at around 8am (or 7am?). Fell asleep for most of the ride up, but woke up just in time for the for all the nice views. The sun started to rise as we got closer to Big Sur and we got to experience a bit of magic. The light & fog we saw on the side of the coastline as the waves hit the cliffs were unreal. It was like a scene from the movie The Endless Summer. Very romantical.

Our first stop was at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. From there we hiked a short trail to McWays Falls. You've probably seen pictures of this place thousands of times on Instagram. Well, here it is again :)

After McWays Falls, we crossed into the woods, climbed over some trees, appeared through some bushes, jumped over a few streams and found a random trail to hike. Honestly, we had no idea where we were, but it was fun. We even got lost (what's an adventure without that?), but luckily met some friendly hikers who showed us the way back. 

After the hike, we wanted to relax so, we spent the rest of the day driving along the coast. We stopped by places like the very popular and very touristy Bixby Bridge, random shorelines (it's everywhere!), and Vista Points to take in the view. 

Since we didn't have anything planned beforehand, we didn't have a place to camp. Thankfully, a park ranger told us about a "secret" public lot where we could park our cars and sleep for the night. So we went on our search for the spot. Once we arrived we took one look at it and decided it was just too perfect. It was a grassy area on a hill, away from all other campers (and all people, really). There was also a beautiful view of the ocean as we laid and slept on the grass. It was pretty freaken great. Oh yeah, we had a few beers while we ate and watched the sunset. Mother Nature, you're just so perfect. 

All photos were taken with iPhone 5