Sun Diego

Just looking at these photos makes me wish that I was back at the beach! On Saturday I drove down to San Diego with my family to hang out at Mission Beach for the day. It was so relaxing to just sit around doing absolutely nothing. My cousin and I did swim around in the ocean for awhile. That's also when I lost my sunglasses to the waves (yes, I was told not to wear them but I'm stubborn and didn't listen lol). Other than that I had the perfect beach day with my cousins!

Below is a short video that I put together for this post. Enjoy!

Find Me in Mendocino

Let me start this blog post off by stating that I've wanted to see Mendocino in person ever since I read about it in a 2009 issue of Sunset magazine. Back then, I was still in college and working part-time at one of my university's library facilities. One day I picked up a random travel magazine in the staff lounge during my lunch break. As I was flipping through the pages, I found an entire article with accompanying photos on some town off of the coast called Mendocino. I immediately fell in love with its scenic ocean views and decided right then and there that I would go to Mendocino one day. So yes, this trip has been floating in the back of my mind for the past six years.

The real highlight of Mendocino for me is the Mendocino Headlands State Park. It contains miles and miles of easy walking trails that take you through beautiful wildflower fields. I spent my first evening there just strolling along the edges of the cliffs with my camera in hand. It felt so peaceful and calming. And trust me, you can't beat those views of the ocean, especially at sunset. I'll be sharing more images from my trip to Mendocino soon, but in the meantime I hope you'll check out this short video that I made!

Walk With Me

These are more photos from my visit to Cabrillo National Monument a couple of weeks ago (see the first round of photos here). There are so many places to explore (hiking trails, tide pools, the lighthouse, etc.) that you could easily spend an entire day wandering around! Let's just say that when I was there, I definitely got my exercise for the day haha! 

Things have been pretty busy lately, but I'm hoping to fit in at least one mini-travel adventure sometime this month. I already have another NorCal trip planned for May! We'll see how the rest of April plays out...

PS I made a short video! Check it out below:

Fortunes and Luck

Have you ever purchased a Japanese fortune before? Because I did, last week at the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco. I thought that it would be as simple as choosing a piece of paper (there was a little tree with papers tied to it outside of the gift shop), but boy was I wrong.

After receiving my payment of $2 (not a bad price), the woman behind the cash register pulled out a container filled with sticks. She started shaking it and told me to focus all of my energy towards it. Then I had to choose a stick. Each one had a number that corresponded to a certain fortune. The woman handed me a folded piece of paper and told me that I had to read it before leaving the garden. If I didn't like it (apparently some of them can be bad), all I had to do was tie it to the tree that I saw outside. You essentially have the choice of accepting your fortune or leaving it behind, which I thought was pretty cool! I ended up keeping mine. Here's what part of it said:

General Luck | Excellent - A new kind of opportunity or idea grows within you. It's best to discuss these ideas with your friends and through these interactions your idea will continue to grow and you'll have a better grasp of what you want to do with it.

Here's a short video clip from my visit:

Horseshoe Bend

While I was in Arizona last month, I stopped by a popular hiking trail that leads down to a spectacular overlook of the Colorado River. This section of the river is called Horseshoe Bend. It's conveniently only a few minutes away from Antelope Canyon, so it was the perfect addition to my trip!

The trail itself is an easy 15-minute walk downhill. Once you get to the cliffs, you'll notice that there aren't any rails or gates to keep people away from the edge. This is both exhilarating and terrifying. I noticed a few parents holding onto their kids (I don't blame them!). I thought it was pretty great to be able to shoot photos and enjoy the views without anything in the way.

Anyways, here's a short video clip from Horseshoe Bend below. And check out other posts from my trip to Arizona here (Antelope Canyon) and here (Wahweap Overlook).

The Sun Above

The Griffith Observatory is one of those places that I love visiting just for the scenery alone. Even the parking lot has breathtaking panoramas of the Hollywood sign and downtown Los Angeles. But the views get even better as you climb up the stairs to the roof!

I'd really like to stop by after sunset one of these days. It would be so much fun to spend an hour or two stargazing up on the observatory's roof. Plus there's nothing like seeing Los Angeles lit up at night. Although, it looks pretty great in the daytime too.

PS I tried my hand at making another video, but it's pretty short. Enjoy!