A Weekend in Joshua Tree

Image | March 31, 2018March 31, 2018 | Tammy Fong

It’s been a minute since I last visited Joshua Tree for more than a few hours. Early March, a couple of friends and I headed out to Joshua Tree to celebrate our friend’s birthday. Since there were going to be more than 10 of us, we opted for an Airbnb–it was just to manage.

We headed out Friday night around 8:30 pm and arrived around 11:00 pm, it’s about a 2 hour drive east from the greater LA area and during that time, there may be some minor traffic, fyi!

We didn’t plan too much and just decided to go with the flow this weekend. There is quite a lot to do if you’re planning for only a weekend; 2-3 hikes is definitely do-able!

On Saturday, we woke up and did a big group breakfast and set out for a hike around 1:00 pm. We did 1 easy hike, Arch Rock, and ended with sunset at Keys View around 5:30 pm, which is highly recommended!

Later that evening, we stayed in and watched a movie on Netflix and had a big delicious group dinner, consisting of steak, galbi ribs, a cheeseboard, and fruits!

On Sunday morning, everybody left at their own pace and while everyone left for home, Brandon and I went back to Joshua Tree to do the Barker Dam hike. It’s a 1 mile loop, flat ground and super easy. I’ve done this hike previously but did not see any water at the dam so this time, I wanted to see it. While on the hike, we saw some climbers and watched them for a bit (kind of made us both miss climbing!)

Joshua Tree is a fairly small national park and even though there are quite a few hikes available, you can definitely accomplish a lot in a weekend trip so if you’re thinking about visiting, just do it!

Check out my photos from the trip, hope ya’ll enjoyed! 🙂

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Death Valley National Park

March 13, 2017May 3, 2017 | Tammy Fong

I finally visited Death Valley National Park this past Saturday after wanting to for a while and I was not disappointed. There’s something about deserts that just really fascinates me. Brandon and I decided to do a day trip and even though we left LA really late (around 10:00 AM), we were still able to see quite a few things! We arrived at the park around 2:45 PM and our first stop was Dante’s View. To get here, you’ll pass by Mesquite Dunes (we didn’t stop because it was going north and we were going south). Once there, it’s a quick, very short hike, (really just a walk up hill) to the view. Dante’s View gives you a view of the valley from over 5000 ft up.

We spent about 30 minutes here and then continued our way down to Badwater Basin. On the way, we drove past Artist’s Palette, The Natural Bridge and The Golden Canyons. We didn’t stop because it was nearing sunset (about 5:00 PM) and we wanted to see the basin before it got dark. The Badwater Basin is the lowest point in North America and it’s approximately 282 meters below sea level! It was so cool just standing in the basin and looking up at the canyons and mountains on both sides and admiring it all. Up on the canyons (where Dante’s View is), they had put a sign that indicated where sea level starts and seeing how high up it was was just amazing! It was a bit hazy that day so Telescope Peak wasn’t very clear but the sunset from the basin was still beautiful!

Just some quick tips if you’re planning on visiting:

Take the 15 fwy up to Bakers and enter the park through highway 127 through Shoshone (this is the shorter way). You’ll hit Badwater Basin first by going this way and make your way up to Furnace Creek Visitor Center.
Bring lots of water and snacks (there wasn’t that many stops for snacks as the park is HUGE)
Make sure you have enough gas. We were leaving the park from Badwater Basin and exiting through highway 127 to Bakers and we were down to our last hundred something mile range (I was slightly nervous we weren’t going to make it but we did, yay!) Plus, gas can get really expensive in the park (this is partially because gas prices have been going up regardless, haha).

Here are some photos from the trip, hope you enjoy!

TTFN!

3 Days in Portland

February 22, 2017May 3, 2017 | Tammy Fong

The Pacific Northwest Pt. 2, Winter 2017 Edition

So, I’ve been back from my trip for a little over 2 weeks now but was extremely busy getting back into the groove of work and so I’ve been slacking on editing photos. Luckily, I had some down time last week so I was able to edit a few photos to share!

Portland in the winter is just extremely wet haha I’ll just share in a short summary of what we did by day so if anyone is ever interested in visiting Portland on the weekend, it’s totally doable!

Saturday

We woke up around 9am (we were supposed to wake up at 5 and drive up to Vancouver, Canada for the morning but we were too tired) and headed out around 10:30am for Seattle, Washington. Our first stop was Mt. Rainier National Park, yay! We had allotted 3 hours for Mt. Rainier but we didn’t account for the amount of snow and the fact that we needed to put on chains so we did not leave Mt. Rainier until 3:30-4:00pm. I gotta say though, it was worth it. Seeing falling snow for the first time was absolutely magical. We were planning on seeing the Narada Falls but there was so much snow, we couldn’t find the trail so we just admired the snow and had a mini snowball fight. We also stopped off and visited the visitor center to get our cancellation for our national park passport.

Afterwards, we continued our drive up to Seattle. It was another 2-hours but it wasn’t too bad. We had wanted to visit the Space Needle and the Pike Place but it was dark already so we opted for the REI Headquarters and dinner with my friend Michael. After my visit to the REI HQ last summer, I knew I had to take Brandon. It was such a cool place and I knew he’d love it. We ended up spending about an hour there and met up at The Patio Thai Cuisine for dinner. Afterwards, we stopped by Victrola Coffee for a little pick-me-up for the long ride home.

Sunday

On Sunday, we had originally planned to visit Bend and Crater Lake National Park but unfortunately, due to weather and time, we didn’t think we had enough time so we settled for just Bend. I had signed us up to take a tour of Deschutes Brewery so we set out for Bend. We didn’t get there until after 4pm because again, we didn’t think we needed chains but of course, we did, so we had to look around to find a merchant that would rent it to us. On the way, Brandon saw these 2 bridges and because he knows I love bridges, we stopped and admired the view and of course took a few photos! Fast forward, we finally made it to Bend and made it in time for our tour. They started off our tour with a sample flight and to my surprise, I actually liked a few of their beers! I can’t remember the names so I can’t recommend any right now but I definitely recommend taking the tour. It’s free and the staff was so friendly and accommodating. After the tour, we went down to the Deschutes public bar and had dinner and tried some of their house beers. I thought their food was just ALRIGHT, it definitely looks better in pictures. After dinner, we didn’t know what else to do because everything around us was already closed with Bend being a small town, so we just headed back to our Airbnb early.

Monday

Our last day in Portland was extremely busy! We had so many activities packed and for once the entire weekend, we woke up on time (somewhat). We were planning on getting The Screen Door for breakfast and then head to Rowena Crest, Multnomah Falls and explore Downtown Portland, all before our flight at 5:30pm.

Anyways, so we ordered The Screen Door to-go and ate it quickly in the car before heading to Rowena Crest. We decided to do Rowena Crest last minute the night before because we had both seen photos of it and thought it was beautiful so why not! It was closer than we thought and we figured we could stop by Multnomah Falls on the way to Downtown. So, we got to Rowena Crest and ugh, the drive up those canyons were so much fun.

Next, we headed to Multnomah Falls and I was hoping it would be frozen but no, oh well! It was still beautiful and we met the cutest, most hyper golden retriever named (Miko, Meeko? Idk) but anyways, we just took in the beauty that is Multnomah Falls and continued on our way to Downtown Portland!

We didn’t get to spend much time in Downtown Portland but with whatever time we had, we spent it at REI, of course! Haha, while at REI, we found out our flight got delayed so we thought we could take our time but that probably wasn’t a good decision.. Anyways, after REI, we went to go grab dinner to-go at Grassa and basically rushed it to the airport because we were about to miss our flight. Long story short, we made it but we nearly missed it by THIS much. The entire flight was waiting for us and they had almost closed the gate but luckily, they waited. Once we boarded, I immediately started laughing but Brandon didn’t find it funny yet, heh!

Hope you enjoyed my little recap of our trip! We had approximately 3 days and although we didn’t get to visit Mt. Hood, we got quite a lot done so if you’re ever planning on visiting Portland (and Seattle) for the weekend, you can do a lot! Here are some more photos from the trip, enjoy!

TTFN!

The Pacific North West

February 3, 2017May 3, 2017 | Tammy Fong

Last summer, I visited Portland, OR during my birthday week and absolutely loved it! The amount of bridges in that city satisfied my love for bridges and I finally got to see the beautiful Multnomah Falls in real life and it was better than I could have imagined it. We also did a short day trip up to Seattle, WA and got to explore Pike Place and a bit of downtown. We did some hikes and saw Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens, and a few other mountains, and can’t forget the beautiful Crater Lake in Crater Lake National Park. Overall, it was an amazing trip, which is why I just had to share that I am beyond excited to be going back this weekend! This time, it’ll be in the snow and rain (boo!) but it will be my first time experiencing falling snow so I’m excited for that and I’ll be traveling with Brandon so I’m even more excited as this will be our first trip together.

Anyway, here’s a few photos from my trip last summer; I can’t wait to shoot more and share new photos!