I’ve been watching the show Big Little Lies on Hulu, and it had me missing (read: pining, obsessively longing, constantly reminiscing in daydreams) our time spent in California winter 2018-2019. It’s so extreme how last winter we were exploring the US on a travel trailer, each day bringing a new backyard. Deserts, mountains, forests, the ocean. And this past winter, the entire world facing it’s first pandemic, sheltering in place in a tiny one bedroom apartment in Appleton, WI. I’ve had a few long quarantined days to look back at it all and relive it, it really was the most magical place – California. And truthfully, it’s made its way to the forefront of my mind every single day since we left it. I understand now that there’s a reason so many songs are written about this piece of our country, and I am 100% part of the cliche “someday I’ll head out west to live in California” bandwagon. I just feel it in my heart that I will inevitably live here (or live part time here) someday, someway, in this lifetime.

When you think of Cali, your mind probably pictures the beaches, palm trees, and surfers. Beautiful villas perched on coastal cliffs, like The OC, Malibu, or Monterey, overlooking the bluffs and beaches blow. Or you think of beautiful people doing interesting things, the celebrities, the LA vibe…Hollywood glam. So many films are set out there, being so close to LA – the film making capitol of the world and we found that with all that, it attracts some of the world’s most interesting and artistic people.

But there’s so much more here. So much more to the Cali nature. You can literally have it all when in California. The mountains, the desert, the forest, and the sea. On the northern coast you have coastal bluffs, sea rock formations, Giant redwood trees, crisp and clear air. Wine countries in Napa Valley, Santa Barbara, and Malibu. And pristine aqua waters of Lake Tahoe. National Parks like Yosemite and Sequoia/Kings Canyon, Death Valley, and Joshua Tree. Heading in the southern region you’ve got the desert.  Desolate, vast, and the undeniable feeling of being “free.”

Already having done the Northern region, this southern desert region is where Alex and I decided to spend majority of our time on our new home on wheels. The weather is a comfortable 70 degrees here in the southern part in December and January. And to my pleasant surprise, it’s not all flat and dry. In the desert, there are plenty of mountains that cast purple and blue hazy shadows, and I found myself admiring them while driving into Joshua Tree National Park and *soaking* in the desert hot springs once we made our way back to camp. In the Palm Springs region alone there are a three national parks/preserves for desert lovers, Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Park located near the Mojave Desert (a beautiful drive from Palm Springs to Vegas that I highly recommend). Driving through the Joshua tree, exploring the eerie abandoned Salton Sea and witnessing the darkest skies + brightest stars I ever knew were even imaginable. The coyotes howling in the distance. It was easy to fall madly in love with the desert, so different than everything we were used to back home in Wisconsin.

Southern California desert has this unexplainable charm, and it’s funny that this engagement session with Janelle & Brian that I’m about to share (also featured on “Southern California Bride”) was our very beginning point of our entire 6 month sabbatical out to the southwest. Before we even KNEW all it’s magic. We had just completed a grueling two-week-long trek getting from Wisconsin to California, slowly hauling our home on wheels behind us (which was, by the way, the same size as our Suburban. We averaged about 50 miles an hour at BEST on the highway). We were about to live under 150 square feet for the next 6 months and we picked Palm Desert, CA (a beautiful quiet, clean, suburb of the busier and well known Palm Springs) as our first two-week stationary stop and where we would be meeting up with Janelle & Brian for our upcoming J-tree photo session. Also if you were wondering (you probably weren’t) that our Suburban was the only Suburban we came across in the entire Palm Springs area. 😛

Upon arrival to this shiny new area of Palm Springs, California we realized right away we weren’t in Wisconsin anymore, and had actually stationed ourselves smack into the Hollywood getaways for celebrities (who are looking to get out of LA hustle bustle for the weekend). Our first errand was a trip to Home Depot so we could continue making progress on our home-on-wheels (which we didn’t quite complete it’s remodel before our trip). I was dazzled by every single female worker, not sure if we were part of a movie set or if people actually just get themselves glammed up this way everyday! I had never seen such perfect makeup and eyebrows. Let alone on every woman. And why were they all so gorgeous? Like SO gorgeous. I instantly felt like a homeless, dirty, vagabond. Oh wait, I was.

We stayed in this Palm Springs area for 3 weeks, mostly keeping to ourselves at our RV park we were bunkering down, making small talk with the RV folk and passerbys as they admired our “vintage” camper. Really it’s a 2018 but it’s modeled to look like a 50’s Holiday House so everyone wanted to take a peek at our unique looking rig and ask about it. It’s funny how at the RV parks we stood out like sore thumbs. Shiny vintage trailer. Young couple not in retirement yet amongst a bunch of 50-70 year olds who were. And although sometimes we wished we could just “blend in” it did make for some company along our trip and some interesting encounters (like the old man who had welcomed himself into our trailer at 10:30 at night wanting a tour).

On the flip side, anytime we left our campground and went into the “real world” of civilization in Palm Springs, California I felt completely blended in (or perhaps standing out in a not-so-good way!) I never knew if the person I was walking by was actually famous or just looked they were. I also wondered what people thought of me, make-up less, dressed in $2 flip flops and TJ max leggings and some old Tshirt, unshowered. I usually don’t care at all what people think about me, but I found myself feeling suddenly insecure about my outer shell. My inner best friend had to remind me “Hey, your purpose right now? Is solely to enjoy yourself. Just keep  doing you, showerless and all. And remember, you’re on a personal sabbatical out west. You’re technically glorified CAMPING for the next 6 months, you are gaining experiences and knowledge and growth and memories that will be invaluable until the day you die. They will never see you again, you are on your own journey. Here, you can be whoever you want.” The feeling that I could be whoever I wanted, dress however comfortable I wanted, without fear of people I know judging me. Not afraid of who I might run into at Walgreens if I didn’t shower that day. I decided not to care about a lot of things on this trip from here on out. And it was the most freeing feeling.

Yes – California is filled with fascinating people with wildly different priorities from the midwest. And while Alex disagrees strongly with their materialistic behaviors, I found them to add to the overall California charm and sense of wonder. No two-month stay in California would be complete for me without at least one trip to LA and running into at least one celebrity. The day before Christmas, we arrived in LA (also the day we ended up getting stranded and broken DOWN  in LA – but that’s another story for another time). Before the breakdown I will not be acknowledging here, we headed to Larchmont Village, a little suburb area of LA. A friend of mine who used to live 0ut here gave me this tip when I asked “where is the surest place to run into a celebrity?” It’s a quiet street with some boutiques, amazing vegan brunch restaurants, and there happened to be a farmers market going on. A place for celebrities to do their everyday things, away from the touristy areas of Hollywood boulevard and paparazzi.

We were there a total of on hour (maybe less) and ran into 3 (THREE) celebrities circling these two blocks. First, the Property Brothers & their wives and children (we walked out of brunch at the same time, their restaurant happened to be the one next to ours!!). Alex had to embarassingly remind me to stop jumping up and down like an idiot while frantically whispering OMG THE PROPERTY BROTHERS blurbbablurbb sdklgjdsl PICK MY CHIN OFF THE FLOOR akdskgjlsd WUT” We also walked by Jillian Jacobs – from a few quirky shows and movies we’ve watched, and last but not least my favorite celebrity encounter/ LOL moment – Chris Kattan walking straight into Alex’s belly in a Rite Aid pharmacy, too busy with his head down into his phone to notice where he was walking. Yes he is THAT short in real life (okay if you’re like who the heck is Chris Kattan – anyone remember the movie Night at the Roxbury with Will Ferrell, or the good ole SNL days like this “more cowbell” skit?) I grew up watching him on my clunky TV in the early 2000s and I might be the most excited person ever to have run into Chris Kattan. WHO is Chris Kattan? Well now you know.

I had no idea how much I would end up falling for California. But I did know before arriving that I was absolutely mystified by images I’d seen of the Joshua Tree. It seemed they were popping up everywhere on my instagram feed (problems of following too many travel photography accounts?), and calling me to come out and see them myself. The way these trees wind and tangle in its own self and twist certain ways. Each one unique. It was the top place on my bucket list of places to shoot in my lifetime, and with perfect timing in life, Janelle & Brian who knew I was planning a long trip out west, contacted me to do their Cali engagement session while they’d be vacationing there. Guess which place we chose? 🙂

We really couldn’t go wrong anywhere in the massive Joshua Tree National Park, but we decided to spend most of our time near the northern entrance where the Joshua Tree and the big rock boulders were most prominent. I only wish we had more time, as an hour and a half session just doesn’t do this place justice. I’m pretty sure we shot til our cameras (and our ISO levels) couldn’t take it anymore. The cool thing about this engagement session was Janelle & Brian are another Wisconsin wedding photography husband/wife duo who I was SO excited to finally meet after months of talking back and forth. We had wanted to meet up for headswaps but the timing never worked out with our schedules back in Wisco. And we both thought it was so funny it took going all the way out to California to finally meet face-to-face! To this day we still stay in contact almost on a weekly basis – a lot of times when I’m booked I’ll refer the couple to Janelle and vise versa, and it’s also been so nice having someone to always talk shop and bounce ideas or just vent to during stressful times such as these new times we are finding ourselves living in just a year later.

The quarantining and sheltering-in-place restrictions is also a huge reason I find myself longing more and more for the days where we had this total freedom. I never thought the freedom to travel or to roam could be taken away, that the National and State parks across the country would be shut down and considered unsafe. That there would be any reason at all for me not being able to travel or to roam other than my own will and motivation. Quite the opposite world we are living in now, but I’m thankful for this new realization. I will never take our travels for granted, ever again.

The morning of the session, Janelle & I had so much fun getting our makeup done and showing eachother our dress selections for our photoshoot swap! We hopped in the suburban us 4 and Janelle and I talked all things travel + photography. I don’t think Alex and Brian could keep up with us – we were so excited to finally meet LOL I don’t think there was a single moment of silence our entire afternoon. We had both scoped out this massive park separately, the couple days prior for our own pleasure and to prepare for our session. But it was still just as magical driving through the second time, this time each having company to share the enjoyment. What pictures can’t show, is how the trees look as you’re driving through. They almost appear as if they are dancing for you, each one a different shape and twisting and turning in fast forward motion. Kind of like they are waving to you and welcoming you into their world (ohhh also, there’s probably a reason Jim Morrison spent a lot of time here back in the day to get inspiration for his poetry and songs) Pick a good album, roll all your windows down, and enjoy this whimsical scene straight from a Dr. Suess book. OR climb the jumbo rocks and find a good view for a picnic.

While the main focus was Janelle & Brian’s engagement session, Janelle was also able to give Alex and I some beautiful pictures of us, and perhaps my favorite place on all the EARTH 🙂 These ended up being our only nice pictures of us two taken on our whole 6 month trip and I’ll always be able look back to this day with a smile. Finally meeting this amazing couple. Driving through the park & popping out of our cars a million times with each new turn and cool view (it was all a cool view). Their incredible energy and similar life goals/interests as us, and how how they were in the midst of planning a destination wedding in Iceland – where we are heading *hopefully* as our first Overseas trip. There’s so much we have in common with Janelle & Brian and I’ll always cherish this day two photographer husband/wife teams from Wisco met up and explored this neck of the woods!

Fun Fact: Joshua Tree only grow here in the Southwest, and Jerusalem. They have to be at the perffffect elevation and temp, otherwise they don’t reproduce. With temperatures rising, they predict Joshua Tree won’t be around in a few generations…which literally breaks my heart. Go see them and tell me I’m not the only one who thinks this place is pure magic.

WELL, this was supposed to be a brief summary about an engagement session we shot at Joshua Tree, but I see that I can’t help myself when it comes to California. There’s just so much to say I could write an entire book describing everything we saw and felt and experienced in our two months here. Maybe someday I will. But for the purpose of this blog post, I’ll end it here. And if you ever need a place to go and see a lot of diverse landscape in one trip, seriously let it be California. You may not have time to see it all in one trip but you have enough at your disposal to make any trip to California worthwhile. Joshua Tree to the towering Redwood Trees , the rocky coasts and bluffs, Malibu, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, Mojave.

“Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air…” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Thank you for reading if you’ve made it this far!

PS: For more travel inspo and our road trip out west – I’ve put our entire (condensed) year-in-review HERE 🙂