Big Sur

  

























Two weeks ago, lovely Anna and Mike came to visit, making them our first official East Coast visitors! They stayed with us in LA for two nights before we all headed up the coast to Big Sur.
We stayed in a house just off the PCH that was perched right on the edge of a cliff. We couldn't see another person or house for miles.

    























We opened wine at 3 pm, watched the most incredible sunsets, lived off of steak and lobster, and fell asleep each night to the sound of barking seals.

Hicksville

Ahh, Hicksville.

A hipsterific trailer park, grown-up summer camp, and secret desert retreat all rolled into one glorious sun-soaked acre. Tim & I *sort of* wanted to go camping(read: we wanted s'mores and stars but also running water and AC), so after some pretty specific google searches, we discovered Hicksville, Joshua Tree.  There is no address; directions are e-mailed 24 hours before you arrive, and the check-in/tour focuses mainly on how to operate the vintage jukebox and boozy vending machine.

After arriving and settling into our alien themed Airstream (yes, it does include an extraterrestrial communication center thank-you-very-much), we immediately changed into our bathing suits and began exploring the grounds. We found a miniature library (seriously, you have to crawl in, but it's surprisingly well stocked for a 6x6x6 foot cabin), an archery range (a bucket of arrows and bows on the front porch of said library), a ping pong room that opens up to the dessert(complete with a black-and-white photo booth), and of course, a hot tub on the roof.

We never changed out of our bathing suits, and spent the next two days perfecting our archery skills, figuring out how to make cinnamon rolls over an open fire, and staring at the stars from the rooftop hot tub. 

Backstage at MidWinter

Last month, I flew to Atlanta for 26.5 hours to surprise my gorgeous sister (above), Charlotte, at her MidWinter Concert. I got pre-approved permission from Charlotte's dance instructors (formerly known as my dance instructors) to shoot backstage before and during the show. 

Also, the show included the sweetest father/daughter dance, choreographed by mine and Charlotte's first dance teacher ever. Sort of my Dad and Charlotte were the stars.

I had to leave at Intermission to catch my return-flight to LA, but on the way out, I caught a few extra (blurry) pictures from the front of the stage. 

The Grand Onion

Two nights before we left Charleston, we went out to dinner with Tim's parents. His step-father and I killed a bottle of Pinot and tried to name every movie on the Top 100 Films of All Time, but Tim's mother was more focused and gave us a beautiful extra large atlas of the United States. When she gave it to us, she strongly suggested we actually look at it instead of just blindly driving and hoping we'd come across cool things (how do Mothers know everything before we do it?). Admittedly, we didn't take a peek in the atlas until we reached Georgia, and it wasn't until Alabama that we realized we would be passing through the Grand Canyon. We were beyond-words-excited by the time we were in Mississippi, and by Arkansas, Tim had taken to calling our destination "The Grand Onion" for reasons unknown (but let's be honest-it feels REALLY good to say those words out loud).

                                                                    




















Due to some really impressive last-minute internet hotel shopping, Tim got us reservations inside the Grand Canyon National Park. We arrived when it was dark, but we could smell the canyon air for miles around.  In the morning, we got up early and spent hours walking along the Southern Rim. Gorgeous.

Don't worry, there's more to this story than "my husband and I visited the Grand Onion and I took some mediocre-at-best pictures."

Oh, yes, there is more.

If any of you have ever been the victim of my Leica, you'll know it makes a really satisfying "chuh-KINK" sound when the shutter closes. People LOVE it. Animals maybe not so much. On the path that wound back to the parking lot, Tim and I wandered around a corner and suddenly found ourselves within 5 yards of an EIGHT FOOT TALL FEMALE ELK. I, of course, sprung into "chuh-KINK" action and began snapping as many pictures as I could because when am I ever going to see an elk again without a gate between us?! I moved closer and closer (but still within tolerable distance) until I heard Tim shout several expletives and yelled "WHAT are you doing?! Get away from it!" I looked down at my preview-screen and realized that the elk had begun running at me, and was now a mere 12-16 inches away from my face. Here are the REAL shots I got on my camera.

I froze. And I realized that I was about 8 feet away from the canyon rim. I also realized that I had exactly one chance to move laterally away from the elk. I jumped to the side and into Tim's arms just as the elk took another 4 steps that would have almost certainly involved nudging me closer to the abyss. Tim lead a mother and her baby around the elk-attacking area while I collected myself and reviewed my pictures. When Tim got back, he politely inquired if I thought putting myself in harm's way was worth the blurry shot of the running elk.

UM YES.

Farmer's Market, Santa Fe

On the fourth day of our cross-country excursion, Tim and I found ourselves in beautiful Santa Fe. This one-of-a-kind city is 7,000 feet up in the air and bursting at the seams with artists, outdoor gear, green chilies, and more turquoise than you've ever seen in your entire life...COMBINED. We decided to linger an extra day and night and woke up on Saturday morning to the most idyllic South Western farmer's market, complete with real breakfast burritos, ristras, cowboys, and musical saw bands.

Bee City

Tim and I stumbled across Bee City about 6 months ago when he had to shoot a feature on honey for The Local Palate. You can find their products (including some REALLY EFFECTIVE bee pollen!)in Earth Fare on James Island and Whole Foods in Mt. Pleasant. It's a tiny cement block building in Cottageville, SC and you can NOT get to it without getting lost at least twice. The actual city of bees (population 1,000,000) is just four hives back in the forest and you can't actually go visit them (unless you're the art director of a Charleston-based food magazine like this guy). But you can feast on grilled cheese and fried chicken at the front of the building, and buy yourself ANY size container of honey imaginable at the gift shop in the back. THE BEST PART OF BEE CITY, however, has not one thing to do with feasting OR honey; it's a petting zoo that has been set up behind the restaurant/gift shop. You don't even know it's there when you go to visit Bee City! It's just a crazy llama-and-lemur bonus. We packed up Josh & Helen for our SC Saturday Adventure (Part 2) and spent three hours getting sticky with honey sticks and cotton candy while petting the bunnies, monkeys, and coatimundis (do NOT pet the coatimundis). Josh took some REALLY HANDSOME pictures and Helen laughed for a full five minutes after bolting, terrified, from the "Bee Crazy Fun House".

Francis Beidler Forest 

On Saturday, Josh and Helen (parents of the most AMAZING design company Fuzzco)hopped in the car with me and Tim and headed out to the swamps. Tim drove, Josh directed, and Helen had about 6 lollipops during the 45 minutes drive West. We played around in the gift shop (including a nerve-wracking experience with an aptly named Swamp Feelie Box) before setting out on the 2 mile boardwalk that meanders throughout the old-growth forest. 

Nature Sighting Totals


Squirrels: 12
Baby Deer:1
Gators:1
Snakes:1
Bugs: 100
Bugs that Helen tried to touch: 97

After, we discarded our adventure gear (Starbucks cups) we went straight to the original Duke's BBQ in Ridgeville and veritably gorged ourselves on fried chicken, hush-puppies, and some glorious concoction called a Corn Popper.

Much love to Helen and Josh and Tim for making my Saturday SC Adventure come true.

(LA) Brea Tar Pits

Tim and I were in Los Angeles last week exploring our new territory. We rode around town in a white convertible, made friends with the locals, took giant hikes in Griffith Park, and *think* we sealed the deal on a little blue house in Los Feliz. But the BEST part of the trip was this visit to the La Brea Tar Pit Museum. It's an entire building dedicated to explaining and exploring the bubbling pool of asphalt in the middle of downtown L.A. I spent the better part of the day experimenting with my new Leica (formerly known as Tim's old Leica).

Also, MUCH THANKS to Tim & Hailey for the blog assist!