Road Trip to Banff, Alberta

I am so fortunate to have such awesome, talented assistants who also share the same passion for outdoor exploring and epic adventures that I do. So that when we book a wedding in the middle of nowhere Idaho (Bonners Ferry), we make a little road trip adventure out of it for good measure... throw a little camping, hiking, and boating in there - WORTH IT.
I'll never turn down a road trip, especially if it involves driving through the gorge.

Ellie is my full-time assistant this year and I absolutely adore her. She has a sweet, quiet, kinder spirit but is such a badass undercover. She shows up with all of the camping gear and all of the outdoor skills. Katelyn has been with me for a couple of years working part time, and she is always full of joy and can rap any song you ask her to. I can always count on her to show up with good vibes all around, every time.

We drove a straight 12 hours from Portland, OR to Banff National Park in Alberta, BC with  stopping only a handful of times for potty breaks and snacks. Go us! Our jaws literally dropped as we turned around the first corner and witnessed the majestic mountains, as we approached Banff National Park on the last home stretch. But the sun was setting, and we were trying to avoid setting up camp in the pitch black, so we only stopped for a few photo opportunities and opted for just a few photos out the window as we trekked on.

We spent 2.5 days hiking around and exploring the National Park, making sure to see all of the good spots. Peyto Lake, Two Jack Lake, Lake Louise, Lake Moraine, The Historic Cave and Basin, and the Upper Hot Springs were some of our classic favorites, just to name a few. We also had a lovely rooftop dinner, enjoyed some beers in a downtown dive on a rainy afternoon, and enjoyed making coffee and eggs in the morning once we finally got our mini camping stove working back at our Two Jack Lake camp site.

Our 3rd day, we packed up and drove another 5 hours to Bonners Ferry, Idaho. We filmed a lovely backyard wedding all day the following day and stayed in the cutest, little, small town, family owned lodge (Log Inn at Bonners Ferry) for 2 nights. Seriously the cutest. I would go back to middle of no where, Bonners Ferry, Idaho, again just so I could stay there again. So, so darling. Shout out Katelyn, too, for keeping us fit on our trip and giving us personal workouts in our little lodge room.

Since neither of my girls had ever spent time in one of my favorite places on Earth, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, I saved a day to pit-stop and explore the town on our way back home. We made friends with some kind gentleman with a boat, and gave Ellie her first time (ever in her life) experience on a boat. There were a lot of firsts on this trip :) We shopped downtown that evening, had a fabulous dinner, and went back to what we thought was going to be another lodge hotel, but found out we were basically back to camping in our "glorified camping" 2 bunk hut situation. It was actually so cute that I didn't care. It even had an adorable little porch swing. No complaints.

We saw so many beautiful places and had so many different experiences in a matter of only 5 days. After spending 120 hours straight with you girls, and at least 30 hours of those being in a car with you, I can honestly say I still love you both dearly ;) 
Katelyn and Ellie, Thank you for always doing stellar work for me, but more importantly, for always be willing and excited to enjoy life with me.

Until next time Banff... we love you.

Oahu

Oh Hawaii, i love you.

All the places that I go, I typically imagine myself living there... and say to myself, "I could totally live here." But this time, I actually looked at some real estate. I grew up going on several family vacations to the different islands of Hawaii, but going there as an adult by myself this time, was a little different. I felt like I belonged ;)

It started with Steph asking if I wanted to go to Hawaii to help film her best friend's proposal. Dangerous question... if it's between October and April, and you ask me to go somewhere, I'm going. So of course we made a little vacay out of it and stayed in a Waikiki airbnb for 5 days. We met some fun locals on a catamaran that ended up taking us all around the island the next day. This, was actually one of my favorite days. Our new friend, Ikaika, drove us up and down the east side of the island, tailgating at his favorite beach spots, jumping off rocks, and ending the day with a treacherous, muddy hike up to the pillboxes, then jumping into the crystal clear, blue ocean at Lanikai beach afterwards. I floated on my back for a good 20 minutes in the warm ocean, with a little bit of rain falling, and I was in complete heaven. THAT was a perfect moment.

It basically only got better from there, as the day Steph and I were supposed to leave, we decided to ditch our flights and stay another day. One thing I'm getting REALLY really good at, is traveling somewhere and staying way past the original itinerary. We moved on to the Marriott Waikiki and soaked up more sun all day and had one more Lava Flow at our favorite barefoot bar, Dukes.

Once again, I couldn't leave. So when Steph left for the airport the next day, I rented a car and booked another 4 days at an airbnb outside of Waikiki, away from the hustle and bustle. First of all, cutest airbnb EVER! It really is the cutest studio cottage in paradise, and I can not rave enough about how perfect it is for a solo getaway. I arrived to a sweet note from Shawna, the owner, telling me she had all sorts of stuff for me to use during my stay (snorkel gear, beach chairs, bikes, etc) and letting me know there was a brand new outdoor shower in the back of the studio just for me, too ;) HEAVEN!

The next day, I actually got to meet Shawna and her sweet kiddos that live on the property as well, and she convinced me even more that I need to live in Hawaii. Such a sweet, awesome, laid-back, hang-loose type little family with cute, tan, barefoot babies. Serious family goals.

I took a day to drive around the island, made some friends up at North Shore, shared some delicious grilled shrimp tacos with them, and watched a perfect sunset at a "secret beach" that they showed me, to end that day.

My friend from home, Kyle, showed up a few days later, since his parents live in Lanikai, and we frolicked around some more, ate at some yummy restaurants, watched more sunsets, and spent way too many hours at Moose McGillycuddy's on a Tuesday night. 

The day I actually decided I should probably come home was a sad one. So I made the most out of the minimal hours that I had left, got up at 4:30am for a sunrise hike, took the longest outdoor shower possible, and headed home. During the longest outdoor shower possible,  I reflected on how truly blessed I feel. Blessed to have a job that I not only LOVE, but that gives me so much free time to do other things that I love, like travel. And extend my trips. And meet such interesting, awesome people. And spend enough time in Hawaii to know my way around the island without GPS. And float on my back in the ocean for as long as I want without worrying about what's next. And crack a beer at the top of an epic hike because it's a Monday. 

And to think, so many times in the last 5 years, my life could have gone a multitude of different directions. I am so happy and thankful to be HERE, in this season of life I'm living right now. Life is so, so good. Thank you outdoor shower for letting me reflect on all of that.

 Hawaii, I'll be back for you sooner than you think :)

Butcher Jones

I just got back from spending 2 weeks in Arizona when I thought I was going for 6 days, and had the absolute time of my life. It was a much needed couple weeks in some sunshine. In my extra week, I got last minute Eric Church tickets with my friend Jon, went to a few more spring training games, got to see one of my college besties Nichole and her family, and had the opportunity to meet a new friend, Annabelle.

I have a dear friend, Tenielle, whom I've known since grade school. She text me while in Arizona and mentioned that she reached out to her college friend, Annabelle, who lives in AZ and told her I'd be in town. Annabelle is also a photographer, as well as a very sweet girl - and I'm thankful that our mutual friend Tenielle thought to even randomly connect us from 3 states away! 

Meeting Annabelle was a complete treat. She is incredibly kind and endearing, with such a wonderful story and testimony for the Lord. We spent an hour driving out to explore the Butcher Jones area in the Tonto National Forest and got to share several stories. Unfortunately, our goal of capturing sunset was diminished by the cloud coverage, but we still explored beautiful areas and took some awesome photos, and of course photographers on an adventure always have to take a few portraits of each other ;)

Detours // Joshua Tree National Park

Some people wonder how I travel so often... and the answer is no, I am not made of money. I am a small business owner, and I'm extremely lucky to do what I love to make a living, but no I am not ,by any means, made of money. I am however, lucky enough to have a mother who has worked for Delta airlines for 20 years and the benefits are wonderful :)
 

The benefits are wonderful budget-wise, but flying stand-by has gotten more and more difficult over the years. Often times, I'll be stranded in a city for several hours, sometimes several days, just trying to get to another city. Often times, I'll be stranded in an airport for 24 hours or more. And often times, I'll get fed up with the hours in the airport and just fly somewhere other than my original destination. I'm thankful my schedule allows me the flexibility for this type of travel.

I'm spending the week in Arizona this week, maybe next week also. Yesterday, I got up at 4am to get on the Salt Lake City flight out of Portland to make sure I got there in order to try to make at least one Phoenix flight that day out of SLC. Chances were looking slim to none come 3pm, so I hopped on a Palm Springs flight instead. 

Arriving into Palm Springs and having to rent a car to drive the 4.5 hours to Phoenix, most would be frustrated. I, too, would normally be frustrated. However, I've come to realize in the last few years that frustration does not result in anything good. It results in more frustration, tiredness, stress, bad attitudes, and that, in turn, effects the people around you. The term "when life hands you lemons, make lemonade" has really come into play for me lately. Everything happens for a reason, God gave me a little "me" time before hitting AZ with friends and visiting family, and I couldn't have been more thankful.

I rented the cutest car that I've never even heard of (I'm not a car person)... I was urged by a friend to rent a convertible and let my hair down, but I'm cheap so rented the latter and just rolled my windows down instead... felt just as happy ;) Anyways, what came of the Palm Springs-Joshua Tree detour was nothing short of fantastic. I met the sweetest old man on the plane, whom showed me around Palm Springs a bit when we landed, I took my time on the road to AZ, discovered some wonderful new music, stopped in Joshua Tree and got a little lost wandering around taking photos of plants and the beauty that surrounded me, and caught a sunset in the middle of no where all by myself. I didn't have any cell service most of the time, and truly didn't have any worry in the world of timeline, schedule, itinerary, anything. It was all a true breath of fresh air, and then I made it to my final destination of Phoenix by 11pm. Between 4am and 11pm, I had a damn good day. Come to find out, it was the first day of spring, and I'm so glad I got to spend it the way I did!
 

The first day of spring 2017 I learned that some of life's greatest adventures are actually detours. I actually didn't think I would blog about this (thought I was taking photos for myself), but I woke up today feeling truly blessed for my unexpected detour yesterday and had to share. Here's to detours. And here are my photos from Joshua Tree National Park... it is so beautiful, I can't wait to go back and explore for more than an hour!

Bahamas

I've never been on a cruise, never really had any desire to go on a cruise... but this Bahamas cruise was one for the books, and one of my 2017 highlights so far; even though it was supposed to be a cruise elsewhere....

In my Uncle Cory's prime 30's, he was full of spontaneity, loved to travel, loved to ski, loved going out with his friends, loved enjoying so many things in life. Then, he was in a terrible car accident in 2001, was in a coma for 15 days, miraculously came back to us, but was left legally blind in addition to several other impairments for the rest of his life. As you can imagine, after that kind of trauma, things were never the same. Because of his impairments, he was unable to keep his job, in which he also took great pride in. For years, the only thing he has really been able to do and takes joy in now is rescuing rottweilers. Because he always has had 1 or 2 rottweilers in his home over the last 15 years, he really hasn't left his house and is always unavailable to go on any family vacations with us. However, sadly his last rottweiler passed away in the fall, but I took it as an opportunity to get Uncle Cory traveling again!

I said "Uncle Cory, let's go somewhere. I'll take you anywhere you want." He said Belize. I said, "we're going to Belize!" So, him and I, being the only ones with a flexible schedule and the rest of our family with normal jobs, we sought out options for a Belize vacation for the two of us. When it came down to it, it seemed to be that a cruise might be a good option, stopping in Belize, Cozumel Mexico, Roatan Islands, and Grand Cayman. We booked it and were excited for months leading up to it!

Out of 15 years that my uncle hasn't traveled, the one cruise that he books would of course get canceled. 2 Days before we were set to sail, we got an email from Carnival Cruiseline saying there were some ship maintenance issues, and our anticipated itinerary would be no more; since our ship was unable to go maximum speed. What they could do for us - A) Give us our money back and cover flight costs or B) Give us 50% off and still take us on a cruise, but only to the Bahamas to get the ship fixed, and give us 50% off of a future cruise as well.

I was so peeved, I couldn't believe the ONE cruise we perfectly planned because of the destinations, fluked on us 2 days before travel! I was already on my way to Denver to fly out with Uncle Cory when we received the news, so we sat in Denver for a day contemplating the options.. both of us irritated with the situation, and really leaning towards not going at all. Then, we ultimately decided to make lemonade out of lemons and just go for it. After all, neither of us had been to the Bahamas before, so that would be another check off the ole list... and being on a cruise, unlimited drinks, in the sun, surrounded by sea, we really couldn't complain... Plus I thought, we would be surrounded by such positive people, because the only people going on the cruise would be people doing the exact same thing we were: making lemonade out of lemons.

My first cruise experience was very unique. We pretty much sat at port in the Bahamas getting fixed for the majority of the time... but it was still SO wonderful! Warm sea breeze, lots of sun, lots of drinks, new friends, fun evenings, great shows, amazing food, Uncle Cory and I had a blast. Most people had to ask us two or three times, "Wait, he's your uncle? she's your niece? you guys are traveling together, just the two of you?" Hey - I highly recommend an Uncle-niece trip if you have an awesome uncle :)

Anyways, I took this week to really spend time with my Uncle and make sure he had a great time and I really didn't bring out my camera all that much. It was more about the relaxation and living in the moment. But, of course I took just a few pics, so enjoy the little bit of Bahamas that I did capture:

Honduras // Part 2 (La Coroza)

Welcome to La Coroza, Yoro, Honduras. A small village with little to nothing in tangible form, but the biggest hearts around. Humanity and Hope has brought in clean water for them, jobs, an education opportunity, and are currently working on providing bathrooms to every household too. I included a photo in this post of what they currently have, which is a little make-shift shack with a concrete hole in the ground. Click here to donate, as many of the donations are currently going towards this bathroom project.

La Coroza truly stole my heart and I cannot wait to go back to hug and laugh with all of them. I want to share my two favorite moments from this village though... which are the moment we arrived and the moment we left.

Our arrival: Our truck pulled up into the village early morning, so the kids were in school. It was the cutest thing to see all of their faces piled up at the door of their classroom peaking out as our truck pulled up, and it literally looked like ants in their pants, they were jumping up and down and couldn't contain their excitement (granted, many of us they hadn't even met before). When we got out of the truck, and made our physical appearance known to them, it was all they could do to not run over each other while sprinting full force and jumping all over us. The joy that these kids had just merely seeing us, I will never forget. One of my favorite images from the whole trip is one I got of the kids piling all over Riley (founder and President of H&H) and squeezing him like they were never going to let go. It was so sweet. Our arrival was definitely a moment to behold and the pure joy in their hearts truly made my own heart overflow.

Our departure: My other favorite moment was the last morning before we headed to the airport. Just Jaclyn, Ally, and I rode into La Coroza one last time with Darwin to bring donuts and orange juice to the men working in the fields. With the beautiful sunrise, and the gratitude that the men had for us bringing them some breakfast, it was the perfect ending to an amazing trip.

The eye clinic was also a huge success in La Coroza. They managed to get everyone in the villages' eyes checked the first day, so opened up the clinic to surrounding villages on the 2nd day. I'm pretty sure a whole village piled into the back of 1 truck... you'll see in the photos. They were all smiles though and you could tell they were so thankful to have this opportunity to literally, SEE. 

Other than the eye clinic, we also spent our time digging a trench in the plantain field, well... helping at least ;) The village men found it very entertaining how NOT labor-intensive our American men are, as they did more singing than digging. We also helped dig the holes in the ground for the new bathrooms. I came around the corner one time to see how they were doing with the digging of the hole at one particular home, to find a 5 year old with a machete chopping up coconuts for his friends to eat. I took plenty of pictures of that... because it's not every day you see a 5 year old so coordinated and comfortable with a machete!

We also ended our last evening in La Coroza with a church service. It's really neat that a local pastor and worship team come out every Thursday to this small village, donate their time, and bring the word of God straight to their little village. A few of us climbed the water tower during the worship service, and it was really a wonderful moment to have that aerial view of the village, and see that the whole village was empty and quiet except for at the worship service... all were worshiping. 

All of these moments I will hold in my heart forever. However, I am excited to go back again and again and bring more hope, inspire more faith, witness more miracles, and grow in the H&H Family. I am starting off the photos with a photo of our H&H team. It's crazy to see God works in small ways of simply just bringing a solid group together. Each one of us truly had our own unique skill-set to bring to the table, and we couldn't stop talking all week about how much of a dream team we were.... not to brag haha... it's just really cool to see God's hand in placing each one us on this particular trip at this specific time. I love each and every one of you and thank you for laying out your hearts and giving up your time to not only inspire the villages we serve, but to inspire me. Until next trip! ;)

Also, I encourage all of you who are reading this to do something. Come on a trip, donate, share our story.  As Riley recently said, "Everyone was created on purpose, and for a purpose. No one is an accident." So why invest any less than our best? Find out more by clicking here.
And give them a follow on instagram to keep up with what we are doing down there!

New York

"What are you doing next week? Do you want to go to NYC with me?" - Bryan
"Hmm.. I don't think I have any plans. Oh wait, it's my birthday, yeah no plans though" -Me

"Perfect so you're coming to NYC with me for your birthday?" -Bryan

Haha, YOLO. After all, I'd never been to the East Coast so figured I should probably experience it. Bryan's been my travel pal for the last few years and I'm thankful he invites me on the majority of his adventures with him and his friends (shout out Bryan, you da best)! Last year I was in Norway with him on my birthday, and this year - New York City with him, haha.

I've never considered myself a city girl, and that could not have been more validated on my first experience in New York. Don't get me wrong - I had SO much fun and it was a blast to experience NYC with good friends, but the whole lifestyle there... nope, just couldn't do it. I'm a country girl who believes that west coast is best coast whole-heartedly :)

However, NYC did treat me extremely well though. I got to frolick around the city and do touristy things with my dear friend Mark who came and met up with me from Jersey, celebrated my birthday with Bryan, Jon, and even my college bestie Christina who I haven't seen in years! We experienced 3 seasons in 3 days.. it was raining when I got there, 60 and sunny the next day, and then a winter blizzard the last day. Emily joined us for the last couple of days, and us 4 saw so many different things in a matter of a few days, and walked so many steps that I thought my feet were going to fall off. We got rad photos, took a ferry at sunset, ate marvelous food, and just had a wonderful spur-of-the-moment trip to NYC! Bryan, Jon, and Emily - too much fun with you guys, thanks for having me tag along, and can't wait for the next adventure ;)

Enjoy my photos from the big apple! Shout out and photo cred to Bryan and Jon for the couple photos of myself, as well. 

Jackson Hole Road-Trip

I'm lucky to have such rad and talented friends who get to travel and take photos for a living! Bryan did a campaign for Avis car rental (see his work at the end of this post) and invited Jake, Andrew, and myself to tag along to Jackson Hole, WY in pursuit of "winter adventure." I've been wanting to see the Grand Tetons for awhile now, so I was beyond excited for this road-trip! I originally just wanted to make a BTS video of the trip, but these guys always inspire me to try to get better at my landscape photography, so I put the filming on hold half way through the trip to focus on my photos... But I still got a couple fun pieces of footage to make this little 1 minute vid of our trip:

(NOTE: Andrew and Jake's videos are also randomly included throughout this blog post)

WY Road-Trip with @bdorts, @jakechams, @andrewtkearns SO.MUCH.FUN

We drove for 13 hours straight from Portland to Jackson Hole, with just a few stops for pics. Luckily we got into Jackson when we did; we were blessed with a stunning sunrise, sunset and an epic view of the Tetons for our first full day in the area. Our cabin was the cutest, coziest place to stay, too. If you go to Jackson Hole, WY, I highly recommend staying at Spring Creek Ranch

Vlog 126 - Tetons suckas. Excited for the next few days. Iceland Blogs: Day 1: http://www.andrewtkearns.com/blog/2016/10/23/iceland-day-1 Day 2: http://www.andrewtkearns.com/blog/2016/10/23/iceland-day-2 Day 3: http://www.andrewtkearns.com/blog/2016/10/23/iceland-day-3 People In This Vlog ----- Jake: https://www.instagram.com/jakechams/ Rachel: https://www.instagram.com/r_petey/ Bryan: https://www.instagram.com/bdorts/ IG/Snap/Tmbl/Twtr: @andrewtkearns

Like I said, we were fortunate to get into Jackson when we did because the following day was Jackson's first big snowfall of the season and the Tetons were not even visible with all of the snow. Although bummed the Tetons were not visible and all of the national park roads were closed, we still spent the day exploring around Jackson and found some wildlife as well as awesome historic houses on Old Morman Row. I finally got my pic under the Jackson antlers too, thank youuuuu Jake!

Winter Wonderland in Jackson Hole, Wyoming Little recap video of my time in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We experienced the first snow of the season and some crazy conditions.

Vlog 127 - Talk starts about 7 or 8mins in - Casey is the man, thank you for everything. People in This Vlog: ------- Jake: https://www.instagram.com/jakechams/ Bryan: https://www.instagram.com/bdorts/ Rachel: https://www.instagram.com/r_petey/ IG/Snap/Vine/Tmbl/Twtr: @andrewtkearns

Since the snow was supposed to continue in Jackson for the next few days, we decided to leave and find other places to explore for the rest of the week. We attempted to drive the 4ish hours to Salt Lake City, but with the winter storm we got caught in, it took us the entire day (10 hours) to get to our SLC airbnb, only to find out that the exit off of the pass, to our airbnb cabin, was covered in 3 feet of snow and totally inaccessible. So we went into town, met up with the great @samuelelkins (i tried hard not to be a fan girl), and planned our next day's adventure. Check out Andrew's vlog of our 10 hour drive in the winter storm, the funniest guy helped us with our car mid-way through our drive and he was quite the character!

Vlog 128 - Beep Beep Skrrt Skrrt now I'm Driving. People in This Vlog: -------- Jake: https://www.instagram.com/jakechams/ Bryan: https://www.instagram.com/bdorts/ Rachel: https://www.instagram.com/r_petey/ Sam: https://www.instagram.com/samuelelkins/ IG/Snap/Tmbl/Twtr: @andrewtkearns

You have to check out the Alvord Hot Springs in the Alvord Desert (Southern Oregon) if you haven't already. It is literally in the middle of no where but so beautiful! Andrew spent hours in the hot springs while the rest of us drove out to the middle of the desert and were definitely the only ones for a 100 mile radius. We got out there just in time for sunset too, made a fire, took some pics, then joined Andrew back in the hot springs before heading to Bend for the evening.

Recap video from my time in the Alvord Desert with some great friends. This place was something to remember.

Vlog 129 - Loooong drive day, but Hal provided some entertainment, as well as enjoying some stellar Hot Springs. People in this Vlog: Jake: https://www.instagram.com/jakechams/ Bryan: https://www.instagram.com/bdorts/ Rachel: https://www.instagram.com/r_petey/ IG/Snap/Tmbl/Twtr: @andrewtkearns

Our last day, datboychad met up with us in Bend, OR and we went to check out a secret cave. Unfortunately, it was bat hibernation season and we didn't want to disrupt them (or kill them by invading their space), so we just frolicked around in the snowy forest outside of the cave. Such a fun day! These guys keep me entertained 24/7... watch Andrew's "don't fall in" video and you'll know why.

Vlog 130 - Started off with Breakfast in Bend with a few new friends then headed to the caves which didn't work out, then back home in time for friends giving People in This Vlog: -------- Jake: https://www.instagram.com/jakechams/ Bryan: https://www.instagram.com/bdorts/ Rachel: https://www.instagram.com/r_petey/ Ryan: https://www.instagram.com/ryan_field_/ Chad: https://www.instagram.com/datboychadnay/ IG/Snap/Tmbl/Twtr: @andrewtkearns

It was such an epic trip! Thankful for the beautiful places we explored and the priceless memories that we made. Check out some of Bryan's work he did for the Avis campaign below:

Yosemite

Usually I do all of my traveling during off-season but I had the opportunity this September to do a 5-day hiking/camping trip with a friend that I just couldn't pass up. Although it was 30 degrees and absolutely freezing at night, we had the most beautiful weather during the days for exploring! It was an epic adventure and truly a trip of a lifetime. I'll share a few favorite memories of the trip briefly here, but will then let the photos do most of the talking.

One of my favorite memories included waking up every morning and having coffee at Glacier Point. It quickly became our daily tradition, especially because the sunrise was so beautiful at that spot and there was hardly anybody ever there. ALL of the exploring and hiking we did was incredible. Although we didn't end up getting the lottery permit to do Half Dome this time, we found adventure in several other places. Some of my favorite spots include Taft Point, Ostrander Lake, Merced Grove, Vernal Falls, Glacier Point, and Cloud's Rest.

Cloud's Rest was by far the most difficult hike that I've ever done in my entire life. It was a 14.5 mile, strenuous hike and I never thought I was terrified of heights until I got to the top of Cloud's Rest. It sits at 9,926 feet (1k feet higher than Half Dome), and has phenomenal panoramic views.

Besides the breathtaking scenery, some other favorite memories also include bagging our day plans one day and helping a family that was stranded on the side of the road, randomly taking photos of a proposal at Taft Point and making good friends with them, and capturing an elopement another night also at Taft Point. We had such a great week in Yosemite and I feel so blessed with the people that we got to meet!

Between the people I met, getting to explore with my friend Gerry for a week straight, the personal records that I broke, the things that I learned, the laughs that made my tummy hurt, I think it's pretty safe to say that Yosemite is one of my happy places. Obsessed.

If you haven't seen the cool photo opportunities I randomly stumbled upon during my time in Yosemite, check them out there:
 

Alex and Kris' Proposal Story

Charley and Elle's Taft Point Elopement