Showing posts with label travels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travels. Show all posts
Joshua Tree National Park, California, USA
3 Quick Hikes at Joshua Tree
The unexpected thing about Joshua Tree is it's size--it's actually bigger than the entire state of Rhode Island! So driving in and around the park takes up a surprising amount of time. But, a lot of the trails are short and easy--more "nature trails" rather than actual hikes, which allow you to experience a lot of the park's features without requiring a whole lot of time. We only had a few hours before it got dark so we only got to check out three trails, but I feel like we saw a lot--would definitely recommend these if you only have a half day to spend at the park.
Arch Rock is a short, not even half-mile there-and-back trail that mostly features a bunch of cool, prehistoric-looking rocks. Walking around here totally made me feel like I was on the set of The Flintstones or something. The trail starts at White Tank campground and the main feature is a cool, arch-shaped rock. I wasn't brave enough to climb onto it so here is a picture of my fiancé being a goof.
You can see chollas all over the park, but nowhere so magnificent at the Cholla Cactus Garden. The coolest time to see them is when the sun is lower in the sky, because it kind of illuminates them and gives them a nice glow. The trail isn't too exciting but it's a nice place to take some pictures. In the spring, you do have to worry about bees pollinating.
We actually walked around in circles before finding this place, and barely got there before it got dark. It's right off of the Wall Street Mill trail, so we parked at the Barker Dam lot. The instructions I found online on how to get there said it was only about a-tenth of the way into the trail, which is why I kept thinking we had passed it. But we had started on the trail from the paved parking lot. There's actually a dirt overfill lot that is much closer to the ruins. And if you start on the Wall Street Mill trail from that parking lot, you only have to walk a few minutes before seeing a trail off to the left that leads to the ruins. The trail is quite wide and well-traversed so you can't really miss it. And you can even see the ruins from the main trail. Not really sure what this building used to be (someone told us it was possibly an old dairy house), but the ruins are pretty cool!
Arch Rock
Arch Rock is a short, not even half-mile there-and-back trail that mostly features a bunch of cool, prehistoric-looking rocks. Walking around here totally made me feel like I was on the set of The Flintstones or something. The trail starts at White Tank campground and the main feature is a cool, arch-shaped rock. I wasn't brave enough to climb onto it so here is a picture of my fiancé being a goof.
Cholla Cactus Garden
You can see chollas all over the park, but nowhere so magnificent at the Cholla Cactus Garden. The coolest time to see them is when the sun is lower in the sky, because it kind of illuminates them and gives them a nice glow. The trail isn't too exciting but it's a nice place to take some pictures. In the spring, you do have to worry about bees pollinating.
Wall Street Mill - Wonderland of Rocks Ruins
We actually walked around in circles before finding this place, and barely got there before it got dark. It's right off of the Wall Street Mill trail, so we parked at the Barker Dam lot. The instructions I found online on how to get there said it was only about a-tenth of the way into the trail, which is why I kept thinking we had passed it. But we had started on the trail from the paved parking lot. There's actually a dirt overfill lot that is much closer to the ruins. And if you start on the Wall Street Mill trail from that parking lot, you only have to walk a few minutes before seeing a trail off to the left that leads to the ruins. The trail is quite wide and well-traversed so you can't really miss it. And you can even see the ruins from the main trail. Not really sure what this building used to be (someone told us it was possibly an old dairy house), but the ruins are pretty cool!
Joshua Tree, California, USA
Desert Vibes
Took another trip out to Joshua Tree recently, and the second visit was possibly even more magical than the first. LA is definitely lucky to be just a short two-hour drive from this special place. It often gets quite chilly during winter in the high desert, even snowing sometimes (still preferable to a desert summer in my opinion--except that the Milky Way is best viewed during the summer) but we were blessed with perfect, cool weather. We stayed in a cute little Airbnb cabin on rural land with jackrabbits and roadrunners and this glorious Joshua Tree right in front. At night we took advantage of the prime view of the stars and tried shooting some star trails!
Long cardigan, Sole Society (sold out). Denim camp shirt, Madewell (old). White tank top, Fabletics. Olive fedora, H&M. Black skinny jeans, Gap. El Paso ankle boot, Minnetonka.
London, UK
The Ultimate Afternoon Tea Experience in London
While in London last month, I had the pleasure of having afternoon tea at the Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon at Fortnum & Mason. I've always been a huge lover of afternoon tea, so the idea of having afternoon tea in England where the tradition originated had me excited enough to wanna spontaneously combust. If we were only going to have afternoon tea once in London, we had to do it right! So I researched all of the best and most famous places. Just kidding. My friend recommended Fortnum & Mason and I was like "OMG that sounds amazing!" and that was that.
I went with a group of friends, so some of us ordered the "Savoury Afternoon Tea" and some of us ordered the regular "Afternoon Tea" (which comes with sweets instead of savouries) so that we could try a bit of everything. The main thing to know about the afternoon tea at Fortnum & Mason, and the point that sold me on it, is that yes it is on the pricey side at £44-£48 a person, but it's essentially all-you-can-eat! Anything you like, you can ask them to bring more of. Furthermore, at the end of the meal, you get to choose a slice of cake from the cake carriage!
Fortnum & Mason has been selling tea for over three centuries, so instead of going with my usual standby choice of "English Breakfast" (although it was super tempting to actually have it in England for the first time), I decided to try the "Royal Blend." No regrets but they do allow you to switch tea blends if you so desire.
These are the savouries we got. I've seen pictures of some different ones on Yelp so maybe the menu changes seasonally. There's a wild mushroom puff with truffle, English asparagus wrapped in Parma ham, savoury choux with smoked salmon tartare, lobster and egg mayonnaise, and pea panna cotta with quail egg and cheese straw. The Savoury afternoon tea also comes with savoury scones; we got a cheddar cheese onion scone and a Portland crab scone. Surprisingly, those were pretty good, and I didn't mind the fishy spread that was served with them at all.
The tea sandwiches: smoked salmon, coronation chicken, cucumber and mint with creamcheese, honeyroast ham with mustard, and rare breed hen's egg salad. Honestly, I was a bit disappointed with the sandwiches as the fillings were so sparse and the bread was a bit stale. I was expecting tea sandwiches in England to blow me away, but I've definitely had much better in the States.
The presentation of the pea panna cotta with quail egg and cheese straw was so pretty, but the taste was overwhelmingly green and vegetably. Something to try once and never again in my opinion haha.
This is the regular afternoon tea, served with individual patisserie rather than savouries, and regular scones with clotted cream, lemon curd, and fruit preserves (not pictured).
I never think these types of little sweets are very tasty, but it's fun and interesting to try.
The cake carriage...we were so stuffed by this point that we didn't even all get a slice! We just shared a few instead:
Skaftafell, Iceland
Icelandic Adventure: Skaftafell to Vik
Svartifoss waterfall
So, after we left Jökulsárlón and Fjallsárlón, we made our way west on Ring Road (AKA Route 1) towards Vik, visiting some sights along the way. We had a pretty action-packed day (made even longer when we took a 2-hour detour for cheeseburgers), but that's how you make the most out of 21 hours of sunshine (well sunshine is a little bit of a misnomer--it's mostly cloudy with a chance of rainbows). Yes, Iceland is one of the few places on Earth that experiences midnight sun for some handful of weeks each summer! Assuming the sun does come out. The sun would basically set around midnight and then rise again around 3 am while we were there. In between, it would get dusky but never dark!
Jökulsárlón, Iceland
Icelandic Adventure: Jökulsárlón & Fjallsárlón
So I'm back from an epic adventure in Iceland (which I had concocted and dreamed about for over a year) and finally getting over jetlag. Still working on sorting through the thousands of photos that we took, but I'm definitely ready to start churning out regular blog posts again. I'll be peppering my regularly scheduled programming with Iceland posts over the next few weeks, so if it's something that interests you be sure to check back!
First off, we have Jökulsárlón, which is a glacier lagoon in Southeast Iceland, about a five-hour drive east of Reykjavik (the capital of Iceland). It's quite a famous and well-known spot, as movies have been filmed there (Tomb Raider, Die Another Day) and there are day tours you can book that from Reykjavik that will take you there during the summer months. We drove there ourselves, and getting there is quite easy, as it's right off of Route 1, the main highway that circles the entire country. I can't even tell you how awe-inspiring it is to catch the first glimpse of those milky blue icebergs floating in the water! We parked our car in one of the lots right before the bridge, as the one across the bridge looked quite packed. We mostly had the area west of the bridge all to ourselves, and it was very peaceful to watch the icebergs do their thing. If you stay there long enough you can see (and definitely hear) icebergs calve and melt, and it's pretty cool!Page, AZ, USA
Navajo Nation
A road trip to Page, Arizona to see the spectacular sights of Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend has long been on my bucket list. Unfortunately when we finally took the trip, the weather was not quite on our side, so the box remains partially unchecked for now. Since we only had a night to spend after staying a night in Vegas, we decided to stay at Shash Dine over one of the many generic Comfort Inn-type hotels available in Page. Shash Dine is unique glamping B&B located on a Navajo ranch just south of Page with no running water or electricity, and staying there was an experience in itself.
Chicago, IL, USA
Lincoln Park, Chicago
Tan long sleeved crop top, Missguided. Floral wrap skirt, Missguided (sold out). Chuck Taylor All-Stars, Converse. Fringed crossbody, Rebecca Minkoff.
Our last day in Chicago was spent exploring beautiful Lincoln Park, definitely one of the highlights of our trip. I actually wish we had more time to explore the park's many offerings, but we had an evening flight to catch and had to rush things a bit. We couldn't have asked for better weather as we walked around the gorgeous nature boardwalk which also had a great view of some skyscrapers to remind us that we were right in the heart of the city.
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