Grand Canyon, Arizona

It's hard to believe that this was my first trip to the grand canyon considering many people have been going there their entire childhood. I definitely learned that it's so famous for a reason. Simply gargantuously  gorgeous. 
This was our last stop on our road trip, so it was a bitter sweet kind of experience. The last night Cayla, Andy, and I shared was under a full moon in a coverless tent. It was perfect. And cold. 
I had a trip of my lifetime and still can't stop talking about it today. I will never forget the endless adventures that I shared with two of my best friends ever. I love them both dearly.

And the sunrise before we packed our bags and went home to California:

Albuquerque Hot Air Balloon Festival

Hot air balloons are so wondrously magical. Get 600 of them together in one place and your instantly in a fairy tale. 

Riding a hot air balloon has always been one of my dreams. Unfortunately, I didn't get to splurge on a $180 dollar ride this time. Looks like i'll just have to keep imagining what its like up there in the big blue sky at sunrise. 

We woke up twice at 4am to watch all of these air born beauties simultaneously take flight. It was freaking breath taking. It really was the best show off earth.

At night, they can't take flight. So instead they all inflate at once and glow with fire. Imagine standing in the middle of a massive field that overlooks Albuquerque where hundreds of balloons simultaneously twinkling at sunset. 

White Sands, New Mexico

Going to the White Sands National Park was definitely one of the things I most looked forward to when first envisioning our road trip. We couldn't stop there on our way to the south because of my diseased mono infected body... however we made a very intense detour on our way back home to ensure that this happened. When we first arrived, Cayla and I were so thrilled that this adventure was finally going to happen. We were going to go sledding on some sand dunes, paint ourselves bright colors, and go back country backpacking where there was no other humans to be found. The gypsum was bright white, it was a stunningly clear day, and nothing was going to bring me down. 

The ranger warned us that there were high winds taking place out in the desert, but as soon as we would arrive the dunes would protect us. She was wrong. Very wrong. 

On the way there, I felt like I was Indiana Jones. The winds were so intense (35mph) while we were hiking up and down massive sand dunes; our feet would sink with every step. The one mile we had to walk felt like 15 since the wind was working against us. We couldn't hear each other let alone see each other because of those demon winds. As soon as we arrived the sand was stinging our skin. So... we decided to pitch our tent to get a break from it all. Then we very quickly realized that that little 30 dollar tent from K-mart gave us no break at all, but in fact rained sand from holy hell into our tent and into every crevice of our bodies. It was only 4pm. The winds were supposed to get stronger. We had a long night ahead of us. 

We decided to pack up about 15 minutes later, only to come up with the slogan "pussies stay warm". 

This was probably the most epic failure of a trip we ever had. Although it has turned out to be one of my favorite stories. 

Carlsbad Caves, New Mexico

Low lighting conditions + no tripod = horrible problem. I ended up taking most of these photos along the railings of the caves. Most of my photos didn't come out. I've learned this lessons far too many times, you'd think I'd change my ways by now...

I also wish that these photographs even remotely represented the massive size of these phenomenal caves. They feel as though your in some epic sci fi movie located in outer space. Sometimes nature just has a way of making you feel outta this world. 

Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta was the farthest point we made on our 6,300 mile adventure. It was definitely a trip worth having even just to see the aquarium itself. The city was way cooler than expected; I'd never really heard much about Georgia, being a self-centered Californian and all. But it was definitely happenin'. 

The Georgia Aquarium is in fact the largest aquarium in the world and we scored free tickets. This place gave me an entirely different impression of jelly fish than Alabama did. Here, I could stare at them for hours, fearless. 

Children always appreciate the beauty of marine life in the most wondrous of ways. 

Oh yea, and the parks were pretty beautiful too...