Havasupai

Just...amazing. I know this is a little overdue, but it would be a tragedy not to record this one. Pure fun, pure beauty, and one point pure terror. Everything an outdoor adventure should hold.

Beth, Shann, Britt, me, Crisp...in our puffy jackets

Totally candid- this was the look on my face most of the time (minus at the end of the forty miles of walking).

The crew. Christi, Jefferson, Beth, Matt, Shannon, Brittany, me, Jeremiah, Topher.

 That cliff- we climbed it. I thought I was going to die. No joke.

 No filter

The last mile was death, but so rewarding. And I look like a camel.

an idea for a meaningful gift...a brick...

and I love this woman. She is worth listening to.

Ride

Lately this has become my sanity. I need to start keeping it in check so my body can use energy to heal/detox from dead Lyme bacteria (yeah!) but maybe just one more big ride before I concede to walks again. Ugh, walks...

Last Saturday was the perfect day. I left for the coast with a backpack packed with a magazine, beach towel, and bathing suit. After the killer climb (King's Mountain... during which I almost turned back at multiple points) it was pure adrenaline. I descended down beautiful (red)wooded Tunitas, then rode along the rolling HWY 1 to a beach I have always wanted to visit- Bean Hollow. I read, napped, then continued down to Santa Cruz where I met some friends for Radical Reels (Banff film fest. film).

It definitely beat the previous Saturday, when I tried to meet Dad and Tressa at the beach and overshot it by an hour and a half. It all turned out ok though, because I found two women (Sigrid and Kae) who helped me get a phone charge, water, fruit, and a ride to SC where I met up with the fam after about 3 hours of trying to find them. Learned my lesson on being prepared... Sigrid and Kae ended up being BYU alums as well! Small world.  

Pismo... the last couple of visits

I knew when I decided to move back to the west coast that one of the main reasons was to be closer to my family. At that point everyone was pretty spread out, and I wasn't in a place in life where I prioritized family. It was just a feeling I had... that the move was one of the primarily reasons. Actually, it was also for career development as well as personal development. None of these reasons excited me at the time. My dreams and aspirations were far from career and family.

I would not have wanted to be anywhere else, with anyone else in these past four years. They have held challenges and growth I needed to experience with my family. We all live within 3 hours of each other, and I get to see the most important people in my life much more often than I did when I lived on the other side of the country.

When I visit home, this is the meeting spot. I hope that never changes...

Kristina

Alex and I made a spontaneous stop at the beach on the way home from Sunday dinner and Grandma and Grandpa's. Dinner is a whole other fun story.

 We frolicked, we let our feet get buried by the tide, and we experienced one of my favorite places by night. Alex is a natural at frolicking, btw.

The boys drawing a voyager... is that a Star Wars thing?

They are ALWAYS in the water, but it's more rare that I venture into the freezing water. But when you gotta pee, it's kind of the best way to get you out there.

Jesse had the brilliant idea of making a national park. I added a mountain range. I think Shane did a volcano.

 Grandpa is amazing. I hope I'm doing this when I'm 75.

 Can't. Get. Enough.

Lassen

One of my favorite national parks of all time. Every hike was beautiful for a different reason. The pictures don't even come close to doing it justice.

The mudpots.

The perfect swim... glassy lake all to ourselves just as the sun was setting. It was one of my favorite lake experiences.

Emerald Lake. Freezing (thank you, Megan, for the show) but a much needing cleansing dip after a long day of hiking.

I didn't get pictures of my favorite hike- started with meadows, streams, and wildflowers, turned to redwoods, then to rocky as we reached the top and could see the valley and mountains and live volcano and thunderstorms. It was ideal for meditating, sketching, and writing.

Portland

How did I forget to post about this? I've been wanting to move to Portland for...forever...so I figured I should probably visit. Verdict: not for me right now, so my new place to dream about is Vancouver. BUT, beautiful.

Yoga on the Columbia.

The Gorge! It was quite the scramble over fallen trees (not boulders... but kind of as scary), through freezing water. But so so beautiful.

The Lake

This is a little over due... but one of those weekends I don't want to forget. Thanks to a generous bishop, beautiful Donner Lake, and some really great friends, it was a perfect weekend.

 Run around the lake in the morning.

The toys. Jet skied, paddle boarded, kayaked, water skied (attempted... maybe got up for about 10 seconds). Perhaps the reason I had nothing left on day two.

Slept on the dock with Crisper and woke up to this.