Joshua Tree National Park

Split Rock

Found her...hmmmm

Skull Rock

Sun Rise

Snowing

Jennifer under "The Arch"

Wind Farm outside the park
(Photo taken by Jennifer)

This past week my college friend Jennifer came for a visit.  We made the drive to Joshua Tree National Park.  This place is so beautiful.  I may end up coming again sometime.  We ran into some snow...been a little while for me and snow, it was strange having to drive careful because the road was icy.
I am repeatedly reminded how lucky we are to have National Parks to visit where things are left uninhabited.        It was good to have Jennifer, my fellow explorer and adventurer, here to enjoy this place with.

Out with a Bang

A stop at Golden Gate

We had just enough time on the way back to the airport to stop at the Golden Gate Bridge and drive through the city a bit.

Heading back home from the Redwoods.

Confusion hill Gravity House

Drive through Tree

Creative shot taken by Cynthia

Me and Cynthia

So we stopped at Confusion Hill (confusing by the way) and also at the Chandelier drive Through tree on our long drive back to San Fran.  It was nice to stretch our legs to break up the driving.  Pretty Cool.

Day 2-Hiking through the redwoods.

Cynthia enjoying the view at Patrick's Point.

Redwood trees

Lots of mossy looking stuff

Lots of Clovers

Me at "The Big Tree" in Prairie Creek

So amazing 1500yrs old

Cynthia and me

A branch off the big tree which is like the size of another whole tree.

So the second day was a day of hiking.  We first stopped of a Patrick's point for a nice view. We then headed up a little farther and hiked about 10 or 11 miles through the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.  This park supposedly is uncut and the real deal.  We hiked to Fern Canyon which was pretty neat with a bunch of ferns growing along a canyon wall.  The last part of our day was visiting "The Big Tree Wayside."  Pretty amazing to see a tree so large.  You have to have pictures with people to understand the size of these things.  I loved this place and highly recommend going sometime in your life.

A trip to the Redwood forest-day 1

Golden Gate Bridge on the way up.

The first viewing a Redwood.  Sort of a drive by while the driving in the car shot.

Of course I had to stop for a geocache in the Cemetery.

Stopped at glass beach on the way up.

Glass beach Sunset.

Last weekend a friend from work and I went to take a super short trip to see the redwood trees.  The first day was basically travel.  We flew into San Fran, and drove up the rest of the way from there with a few stops along the way.  The redwoods were on the bucket list and was glad to cross off the Golden Gate too.

The Grand Canyon

The second day of our trip was to the west rim of the Grand Canyon.  This was for sure what I came for and was not disappointed.   

A couple of us decided to pay the big bucks for a helicopter and boat ride.  We were picked up at the top, we rode down to the bottom, rode up the Colorado River for a while then got back in the helicopter to ride back.  It was pretty cool!  It is really hard to put into perspective how big this place is with nothing around for scale.

From the Helicopter

Boat Ride

Eagle Rock

Sky Walk- has a glass bottom to see below you.

Hoover Dam

118 degrees F.  Hot day.