We received a lot of advice about getting to Yosemite early, parking in one of the main lots and then taking the Shuttle, which takes you to just about every popular place, or you can hike from those popular places to where you want to be. This was our plan until my 14-year-old daughter sprained her ankle literally two days before our trip and ended up on crutches.  Our plans for hiking now had to be adjusted to Plan B: driving and parking as close to the sights as possible.

As our final trip of 2017, JD and I met up in Palm Springs...

I'm just a Chicago Gal experiencing the California Wildfires. First,it was the Sand Wildfire that began just weeks after we moved from Chicago to California. The Sand Wildfire was merely miles away from us.

It was another spontaneous trip to Joshua Tree, We decided in less than 12 hours that we would drive out on a hot August afternoon and watch the sunset. The magnificent mountains were the backdrop for the mysterious and magical Joshua Trees

The melted water travels across the desert, picking up dust and gravel and reaches the Flagstaff lava field and then falls. Ultimately it ends up in the Colorado River and Grand Canyon. It was beautiful to see so much flowing water and rainbows in the water too.