Dream Destination: China, pt. 1

My wildest dreams came true in the summer of 2017, when I got the incredible opportunity to travel to China for an archaeological field school.  The trip was by far one of the best experiences of my life.  In my five weeks in China, I took over 3,300 photos (!), so narrowing them for blogging purposes has been quite an undertaking.  Needless to say, I will be breaking up the trip into parts.  The first part, this post, will cover my first week in the wonderful land of China.

Cast Stone: Great Basin and Capitol Reef

The Great Basin is a mountain-rich ecoregion in the western United States comprising Nevada, half of Utah, and portions of surrounding states.  The wide variation in elevation throughout the area creates a breadth of biodiverse ecosystems, including mountain highlands, forests, and deserts.

For the third and final leg of our summer 2016 roadtrip through northern Arizona and up into southern Utah, my mom and I travelled to the easternmost tip of central Nevada, then back through central Utah, to explore the Great Basin for ourselves.

Coral Climbs: Grand Staircase-Escalante and Cedar Breaks

Utah is a vast, exciting playground, full of rocks to climb, sun-baked sand, and rich, tangible evidence of past inhabitants.

My mom and I made our return to Utah two years after our spectacular journey through Bryce and Zion in the summer of 2014.

This post is a continuation of our summer 2016 road trip through the Southwest.

Corazón feliz: Cancún

Mexico is a land of vast deserts, dense jungles, pristine beaches, and rich history.  Bordered by the Pacific Ocean on one side and the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea on the other, Mexico spans over 760,000 square miles of land in the southern portion of North America.

Cancún is situated in the southeastern tip of Mexico.  About 90 miles from the westernmost point of Cuba, Cancún marks the transitional location between the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean.  The famed beaches of Cancún display the western Caribbean Ocean in all of its divine, blue beauty.

In keeping with the tradition of Cancún being regarded as the classic college student spring break destination, my friend from high school and I reunited for a spring break below the border.

Grand Remnants: Grand Canyon and Petrified Forest

Canyons, craters, and fossils can provide viewers of the present a peak into the distant past.  Hundreds of millions of years can be preserved through the transformative geologic processes that have given rise to some of the most astounding natural wonders of the world.

My mom and I have an ever-apparent affinity for desertous canyons.  The opportunity to witness firsthand the products of the incredible works of wind, water, and rock in their most beautiful natural environments compelled us to once again head east.  Gravitating toward the rich red dirt of the American Southwest, the two of us headed out on a three-state roadtrip through Arizona, Utah, and Nevada in July of 2016.

The first region we explored was Northern Arizona.

Colossal Cacti: Saguaro and Organ Pipe

The desert is an ecosystem that thrives on paradoxes.  Characterized by dry, arid conditions offset by ground-shattering flash flood storms, extreme temperature fluctuations from day to night, and relatively few resources to sustain life, a desert is a generally hostile environment for the suprisingly rich, biodiverse specific makeup of its inhabitants. 

I have been fascinated by the desert for as long as I can remember.  My experiences in the desert began with visits to my grandmother, who lived in Palm Desert for most of my life.  I have very fond memories of drives through the wind energy windmills out to see her.  In the fifth grade, I went to Joshua Tree National Park on a camping trip with my elementary school class.  We scrambled over boulders and stargazed at the starriest night skies I had ever seen.  I was awed by the fact that this incredible environment was less than a few hours away from my foothill home.  As I learned more and more about the desertous regions that surrounded me, I became compelled to explore.

My mom and I road tripped through the Sonoran Desert of Southern Arizona in the summer of 2015. 

This post is a continuation of the trip documented in "Rock Wonderlands: Caves and Chiricahua."

Rock Wonderlands: Caves and Chiricahua

Rocks, my namesake and my inspiration, are a part of who I am.  Nothing quite epitomizes stability and strength like a rock.  Forming over millions to billions of years, change in the geological realm occurs at a tremendously slow rate relative to the human experience of life.  As a consequence, from our perspective, rocks can seem like generally unchanging entities.  This phenomenon provides the basis for my love of rocks - they are constant fixtures in our transient world, permanence amidst impermanence.  I have always wanted to be like a rock, both for others and for myself.  I want to embody the strength and balance of that which is steady.

In the summer of 2015, my mother and I embarked on a ten-day road trip through Southern Arizona.  Headed for the clouds, we were thrilled to explore this desert-rich ecoregion.

The inspiration for this trip really came from my mom and I seeing a photo of Chiricahua National Monument.  We were completely awe-stricken just from the photograph, and we knew that we had to go east and see it for ourselves.  

We set out for Southeastern Arizona at the end of June.

Red Dirt: Bryce and Zion

I have always been drawn to mountains.  A child of the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in Southern California, being near mountains simply feels natural to me.  In my eyes, mountains are essentially synonymous with home.

My love for exploration and adventure has always been present, but my range of travel was pretty limited until recently.  In the last few years, I have ventured out of my home state for some of the first times in my life.  Here, I will recount these times.  I hope that the images I share convey even a glimpse of the sheer wonder and magnificence of the tremendous landscapes I have been lucky enough to witness firsthand.

All of the photos I post were taken by me or my adventure-mates unless otherwise noted.

Let's begin...

I start my story with one of the first trips that pops into my mind when I think of the word, "adventure": a five day road trip my mom and I took from Southern California to Southwestern Utah in the summer of 2014.