Tunnel View, Yosemite National Park, CA

Third time's the charm! We had been to Yosemite twice now (you can check out our photos here, here, & here!), but we had yet to see the falls with actual water because of California's drought. Since it was a long weekend, we decided to give Yosemite another shot because we had just had a huge storm - it had even got Yosemite evacuated for a while. Plus, who can resist the winter wonderland and snow-covered mountains?

"Isn't it going to be cold?" everyone asked.
"Not compared to the negative degrees we camped through last year in Arizona and Utah," we constantly replied.

As our new winter break tradition (in our efforts to combat high flight prices while still using vacation time to adventure somewhere new), we decided to take a road trip through the desert landscapes of California and Nevada. With our gear packed and our handy Pulse remote in hand, we caught the sunrises, sunsets, and cloudy days in between, while exploring my newfound love for couples photography and his newfound hobby for videography. Everyone always asks us, "Do you just have a third wheel photographer with you everywhere you go?" Nope - just our Pulse remote that allows us to not only take photos from our phone, but also set timelapses...long exposures...and more! So with our car piled high with equipment, we drove down for a week to take in that Southern California sunshine.

When your photographer gets sick and you already have the bouquet made and outfits ready...you make do with a tripod and remote! We had scheduled for a photo session with one of our favorite photographers - who happened to be in the Bay Area this week - and unfortunately had a fall through. But I couldn't bear to waste the beautiful bouquet that I designed, so instead, we woke up at 5 in the morning, drove up to SF, and shot in the (freezing cold) San Francisco Presidio. Loved the sunrise light - we definitely lost the magic once day began to break - but managed to capture some great shots with our Pulse remote!

For Black Friday again this year, we decided to #OptOutside to Castle Rock State Park! Only 40 minutes away from home, we headed out just in time to catch the sunset.

On the Road to Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park, CA

With our national park annual pass in hand expiring in October, we knew we had to make a trip back to Yosemite. We had a good idea of what we wanted to shoot this time, having already traversed many of the main Yosemite photography spots. So this time, we went out to find unique views of this treasured park! With our new Pulse - which allowed us to remotely control our camera from our tripod - in hand and our new Sigma 35mm f/1.4 lens, we were super excited to share these photos!

Bluffs Trail, Montana De Oro State Park, Los Osos, CA

Friday rolls around, and we have yet to have a plan for the weekend. As a firm believer in not wasting precious weekends, I spontaneously suggested going to SLO. I had never been there, and knew there were quite a few photography spots, so off we left at 4 AM in the morning on Saturday to catch the sunrise!

Since it was such a last minute trip, we had to backtrack a few times and changed our plans here and there (including driving around to 3 different campgrounds!) We eventually found last minute camping sites at El Chorro Regional Park, which luckily was also only $25. No great views, but convenient last minute place to just sleep for the night.

Shark Fin Cove, Davenport, CA

We saw these beautiful Milky Way photos of Davenport and were amazed that you could see the stars so well not too far from San Jose, so had to make a trip out there! So we drove down through the Santa Cruz mountains, wandered around downtown, and then staked out our spot until the sun set. You really can see the stars out there!

The View from Our Airbnb in Cortez Hill

This Labor Day weekend, we decided to road trip with our friends to spend a weekend in San Diego! I had not been in the city since I was little, and Keith had never been at all. So we packed our bags and headed down I-5 at 4 AM in the morning.

Day 1: San Jose to San Diego

• Drive (quite a few hours) down I-5
• Stop at Garden Grove and eat Taiwanese crispy pork belly baos at Baos Hog
• Enjoy nitrogen ice cream in egg puff cones at Cauldron Ice Cream
• Take a quick break and then head out to Balboa Park

Day 2: San Diego to La Jolla

• Drink coffee at The Coffee & Tea Collective
• Dig into the scotch egg and unexpected flavor combinations at Nomad Donuts
• Shop at Pigment and other stores in North Park
• Eat seafood tacos at Blue Water Seafood Market and Grill
• Jump up and down the Spruce Street Suspension Bridge
• Enjoy 32 mini ice cream cones at Hammond's
• Adventure around (but not too much) the Salk Institute of Biological Studies
• Photograph the waves crashing against Scripps Pier
• Take out (not dine in) at Phil's BBQ

​Day 3: San Diego to San Jose

• Satisfy your hunger with a large bowl at Pho 79
• Share a drink with a friend with split cups at Snow Monster

House on the Road to Mount Tamalpais

As many of you Bay Area natives may already know, San Francisco's classic fog is well known as Karl the Fog - he's even got his own Instagram handle. We had wanted to adventure up past SF to Marin County for a while, since we still haven't completely explored that area yet. So after a (somewhat) quick breakfast (with Acme bread and coffee with a delicious raspberry chocolate tint) at the farmer's market back home, we headed up north to track down Karl.

The house above was one of our favorite treasures as we drove up the windy roads to the mountain. We saw it on the way up as Lynn admired all the beautiful houses, each built to complement the majestic trees and moody weather. We actually caught this photo on the drive down (after making a U-turn and missing it the second time) because we just couldn't resist capturing the juxtaposition of trees.