OUR STORY

Jellyfish are so beautiful 😊. . .
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We spent the past two days in Monterey and watched harbor seals, visited the aquarium 🦑🐟🐡, and ate some tasty food. Though we didn’t see it, we were told that the seals were giving birth to pups while we were there, so the pups we were seeing on the beach were less than a day old. The aquarium was a suggestion from my father, @fleetwoodbrad, and probably one of the best we’ve received our whole trip…thank you! The town had flowers everywhere throughout. This was probably one of the nicest coastal towns we have ever been to.
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On a side note, Philip went in the nicest porta potty that he’s ever used. It had a full size sink, a regular flushing toilet, and an air-condition inside. All-in-all, he was quite impressed with the quality of porta potties that Monterey had installed. The next day we were in the same area and the porta potty was gone, it turns out that this porta potty was for the actors who were shooting a scene for some HBO show nearby. . .

Loopy for lupin!

After rappelling through waterfalls the past couple weekends, we are feeling a bit like drowned river rats 💦🐀. We met up with our friend John to go canyoning in some class B and C canyons and had a blast 🙃!
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It was kind of odd having the roles reversed. . .Philip had taught John caving way back and here John is teaching Philip canyoning techniques, specifically rigging and rappelling through waterfall techniques.
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Here, Philip is rappelling in Eaton Canyon.

A kiddie pool of weaners (elephant seal pups being weaned by their moms). One evening we spend four hours walking along the beach 🏝 and watching these guys. They were so fascinating that we returned the next day to watch them some more!
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This pool of brackish water was particularly entertaining to watch. Seals move really slow on land and need to take quite a few breaks when moving from one spot to the next. The seals on the bank would watch the seals playing in the water 💦 and, after calculating the reward of migrating to the pool with the effort of doing so, would join them. These pools are a safe place for weaners to hone swimming skills.
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We also found some more flowers 🌸 and watched a beautiful sunset 🌅!

In the past week we’ve gone hiking, surfing, canyoning, swimming, caving, and elephant seal watching. . .all because we can situate ourselves to be where we want to adventure in our evenings!
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We’ve started finding small patches of poppies starting to bloom.

Psyched to be going on another international caving expedition. . .I can’t believe it has been three years since our China trip! We just bought plane ✈️ tickets today to go explore caves 🏔 in Montenegro 🇲🇪 this summer.
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Time to start repairing gear. . .

We made it to the California coast!
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Upon arriving to a new place, it’s always interesting to realize that you had a preconceived notion of what that place should be like and to realize that you were totally wrong. But, when you try to think back to that notion, you realize that you never had a clear visual in your head and that, that notion only consisted of a bunch of incomplete assumptions. The visual is more like how artificial intelligence would create a piece of artwork. . .a bunch of abstract components.
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The California coast turned out to be more beautiful than I had ever imagined and a lot less developed than I had thought. In the spring, the coast consists of green rolling hills, mountains, elephant seals, and clear blue water. I am happy to see that the state appears to be slowly acquiring the land for more people to enjoy!

In the mountains we go, where humanities sounds are silenced. Where all you hear is the wind howling, the birds singing, and your thoughts humming inside your head. Where suddenly, your troubles begin to feel more real because nature doesn’t care about your race, social status, or anything else, for that matter. It is a place where there are no shortcuts and to be rewarded, you must work for it.
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When you do return to society, you suddenly have a gained appreciation for all the basic things in life. You have a deeper love for the people in your life and simple creature comforts, such as a tasty meal or a shower to warm up in. All in all, you are just a happier, more patient person because you have learned that anything worth doing takes time, hard work, and perseverance. And, most importantly, you have learned to appreciate and be present in the moment. For life is just a series of moments and if you are only focused on the end goal, you miss out on life. . .
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These are the reasons we love the outdoors!

No flowers, yet, but we found some grassy rolling hills. We’ve never seen California so green, except for up in the Sierra. It is so beautiful!

Hiking on some of the red rock at Valley of Fire.
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The clouds 🌧 have been following us for quite a few days now. Hoping for some more flowers to start popping up 🌸🌻🌼!

We bagged a butte before hiking down to the river! Here’s the view from Escalante Butte overlooking the Grand Canyon. . .

Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like to have lived 1000 years ago or, even, 100 years ago. Would life have been: simpler? more centered around being in touch with nature? closely revolve around community? We invade other culture’s lives with what we think they “need”, when, really, they may have it all figured out.
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These days, we are so separated from the foods we eat, the water we drink, and everything else in nature, that we don’t know where the different cuts of meat are located on a cow, where our water is coming from, and we don’t think about what our quality of life, as a society, will look like in the future. We live in a time of abundance, which creates for a wasteful society. At the end of the day, it is not the planet we have to worry about, but our own happiness on it, which involves how we use the resources we are given. Once we are gone, the planet will keep rotating around the sun, with a small geologic layer of plastic indicating our existence. . . Is this how we want to be remembered?
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Backpacking this past weekend, with limited water and sources of fuel, reminded me of this wastefulness. When suddenly, every second extra that you ran the propane stove past the water boiling was a waste of fuel that couldn’t be replenished. Or, when you accidentally spilled some of the water and your next refill was at the bottom of the canyon, 5000ft below. While I like to think we aren’t too wasteful in the van, we certainly are more so than when we can’t just drive somewhere to refill our propane and water.

I could cross country through these grassy ponderosa pine forests indefinitely! 🌲

Feeling fortunate to see such beautiful places!

Biking to get places is so much fun! All of my most memorable day hikes involved a bike, whether it be to make a loop out of a hike by biking from trailhead to trailhead or just biking to the trailhead from the house. Philip and I often do this because we don’t have a second car to shuttle between trailheads, but it’s also just more efficient. . .you get to spend less time in a car and more time out adventuring. Often, this leads to biking on gravel back roads to avoid the busy paved ones, making it all the more fun!
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Hoping to get out and try bike-packing sometime soon. . .