Jamaica

I had the wonderful opportunity to go with my parents to Jamaica over MLK weekend in January and it was SO BEAUTIFUL there. We stayed at this awesome all-inclusive resort and didn't feel the need to leave for one second. We hung out at the pool, went for walks, got a massage, went out paddle boarding, ate at all kinds of different restaurants, and drank lots of cocktails. It was a wonderful weekend.

A view of the pool. I think it was the biggest pool I've ever seen

Dinner at an indian food restaurant

The hotel felt open and grand - everything was beautiful

Cocktails with mom!

The beach was limited, but it was pretty nonetheless 

One of the many pools around the premises 

Little white dot in the middle is a sailboat :) 

The water was a beautiful crystal blue 

Some more cocktails. They gave me a few extras... 

Sunset view from our balcony

Lots of love for my dad <3

Tiny gecko we caught on the balcony 

A different perspective and only *one side* of the massive pool. 

Paddleboards! Our first time and it was a lot of fun! I would definitely go back to this resort! 

Joshua Tree and San Diego

We did this trip over New Years last year. We started off in Joshua Tree National Park and we saw lots and lots of Joshua trees. 

The official tree

It was a lot of dessert

We did some hiking and driving around in the park and we got to this look out. 

We had to work a little for this picture. It was at the top of a nice path, but it was cold and crowded. 

Very interesting cactus plants - the desert changes as you go through the park so you see all sorts of different varieties if you have a keen eye

Just one day in Joshua Tree - but it was enough to cover the whole park. 

First day in San Diego - walking around and seeing the ocean

Some people get WAY too close to the seals - they are wild animals with big teeth! 

This is a hike along the northern part of the city. You can see in pictures below the erosion that happens when it rains. 

Redwoods up north

I realized that I am almost a year behind in my blog posts. Clearly this is not my forte. Here are a bunch of blog posts for your enjoyment and vicarious travels.

Last Thanksgiving Jeremy and I took a long trip up north to visit the Redwood National Forest up by Eureka. On the way up, we drove along the "Avenue of the Giants"  and saw some amazingly huge Redwood trees. I can't get the formatting right, so you will just have to deal with some funky alignment.

This particular tree shows a few interesting facts about history. It is call the "Immortal Tree" because someone tried to chop it down, hence the axe. The fish shows the height to which the water in a flood several years back reach. In the picture below you will see the creek that rose over 20 feet to get up to that fish. 

And we weren't necessarily in a valley, so this mean that there was A LOT of water everywhere for this tree to be so far under water. 

This is Fern Gulch - the walls were made of ferns! 

This was my FAVORITE part of the trip. We happened to be at Fort Bragg over the King tide, which caused some HUGE waves. It was SO pretty! 

A little perspective - see the red dot on the right. That is an adult person! BIG WAVES!! 

On our way back home, we stopped over at a small park and we found a very interesting tree there - an albino redwood tree. How can that be, you may ask? 

Redwood trees grow from the same root system. Many times you will see them in a ring around where the "parent" tree has lived and died a long time ago, but the young trees remain. This particular albino tree can not complete the process of photosynthesis because it doesn't have the chlorophyl (hence why it is white) in its cells. It is basically a leech that pulls nutrients from the root systems of the parent and sibling trees so that it can survive. Crazy, huh?! 

 Stay tuned! I hope to get more caught up this week - we will see :)