Will Rogers State Park, or using my crappy camera phone.

Today's blog post is brought to you by my crappy camera phone! I was hoping that the images would be a little more focused and interesting, but oh well!

Will Rogers park evokes so many memories for me... my sister and I went there as small children and it felt so large and wild to me. Last Sunday when I went, it seemed so closed, so constricted, so manicured -- much like how I used to be. Not wild at all. Still beautiful however.

There weren't very many images of my own I could post on here because they were *that* bad... but I promise to 1) never forget my camera/charge my batter every time and b) not regale you with overly crappy photos (although, I really don't think I'm that spectacular of a photographer).

As this is a work in progress, the definition of the kind of park I can post about will be a little loose. For instance, I recently went to Pacific Park in Santa Monica -- so that counts, right? (Photos coming soon.) At any rate, the above photos are the only two I felt were worth sharing. The sign, of course, which will from now on, be posted for every entry (if there is a sign to be posted) and the only interesting photo that came from the set of crappy camera phone shots. The ropes pictured above are Will Rogers' ACTUAL ropes! I snuck touching one --- so cool! I am not nearly as educated about Will Rogers as I'd like to be, but from what I understand, he was a pretty extraordinary person.

Anyway, lesson learned = bring real camera next time.

Joshua Tree

So Joshua Tree, as I previously did not know, is divided by a line between two deserts. On the west side of the park, lies the Mojave Desert (which is where all of the famous rock formations and Joshua Trees are.) As soon as you enter from the 29 Palms/Yucca Valley side (which is where most people enter from) you start to see these unbelivably beautiful rock formations. The aformentioned rock formations are lined with Joshua Trees, other various cacti and multitudes of flora/fauna. I couldn't take a picture of everything I wanted to unfortunately, but here are a few favorites.

I love this photo because it has such beautiful light and it really reminded me of something you'd see in a Tim Burton movie. Never has there been a more "magic" hour than in Joshua Tree right before sunset. We were really, really lucky to have gotten there when we did!

Another example of incredible rock formations! I wish I could properly convey the magnitude and actual human: rock scale in the photos I took, but just trust me, they were HUGE and attracted so many rock climbers!

I don't think I'll ever tire of the beauty of these trees. I thought they were cousins of the palm tree, but I was dead wrong! The Joshua Tree is a cousin/hybrid of the pine tree. They were "discovered" and "named" by Mormon settlers in the 1800s. According to wikipedia, the trees were named Joshua because they looked like objects in prayer with their arms raised up to God. I can definitely see that! They're pretty spectacular up close and I definitely felt the presence of something while in the park, even if it was just my own calm settling within me.

Another gorgeous example of cacti in Joshua Tree! These were everywhere, especially in the Mojave Desert side of the park. (The other side of the park, which I neglected to mention, is the Colorado Desert. One can witness a stark difference in landscape, temperature, animals and plant life in the two deserts. It's almost like entering a different country!)

This was a beautiful rainbow cloud -- how did this happen?! There was no rain as far as the eyes of my companion and me could see and I honestly have no idea how this phenomenon occurred. Any guesses? (Seriously, I don't know!)

Burnt Joshua Trees -- still gorgeous to me. I've always been fond and felt a connection with natural decay, anything dilapidated and spooky/scary. These burnt Joshua Trees were just so incredible looking to me.

Anyway, that's it for now, I hope to post more photos from the trip later as well as a few anecdotes regarding this, my first in my National Parks Project.

Welcome!

Welcome to my adventure blog!

So, the purpose of this blog is simple. I've set out to see all the National Parks in the country. In my life, I have seen: The Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Arches, Sequoia/Kings Canyon, Joshua Tree, Redwoods and from what I can remember, Haleakala. I don't know how often this will be updated or how often I'll be able to go, but I hope that this will be a great place to catalog my attempts at photography in aforementioned, record thoughts and ideas regarding my experience with very beginners-level outdoorsy stuff and maybe be a link dump as far as other ideas and whatnot are concerned. I also hope that this space will serve as a place for me to catalog other visits to state parks, national reserves, national forests, city/county parks, nature hikes, and anything else I want basically, etc.

The idea for this came about while driving around in Joshua Tree a few weeks ago while visiting the park for the first time. During aforementioned drive, taking in the ethereal beauty of Joshua Tree a thought occurred to me ... "this is what I want to do for the rest of my life." Perhaps it was the pleasant company, or the newly found freedom I'd had from the last previous disastrous relationship in my life, or just the astounding scenery around me, but I was so moved and really, for the first time, felt the presence of something greater in the universe in the my surroundings. Coming on the heels of this "a-ha!" moment, I thought that this project, daunting as it seems, was something I'd like to dedicate my life to. Although I've been to quite a few parks before, in my project, I need to visit every single one again, this time with the project in mind in order to accomplish my goal. I know it's not new, original, thoughtful, or perhaps all that interesting to most people, but it's for me, and it's the first instance in my life that I am doing something absolutely and entirely for myself. It's about time!

What are conditions of the project then?

1) To post about it here with at least one photo.

2) Get a bumper sticker from the park and put it either on my car or in my sticker book.

3) To take as many photos as possible!

4) Take at least one nature walk while at the park.

So I hope to see you along my travels! I can't commit to updating x times a month, but what I can commit to is to at least check in more than once in a while to let you know how I'm doing on my journey.