Lassen Volcanic National Park – 9.7.15 – Lassen, CA

It had been almost 20 years since I had been into the park. And even then, we went 2 miles in and turned around. This time though, I got to be able to drive through the entire park and it was amazing. If you remember back in December (here), my boyfriend and I only made it a little ways in because the snow had the park closed down.

I was beyond excited that it was a gorgeous day to go visit. It was an impromptu trip, so we weren’t prepared to go hiking at all. It was more of a get-out-and-snap-photos type of trip. But it was the best. Matthew and I had made a pact that we would visit every national park that there is in our lifetime. This was the first one to cross off our list! We went into the museum and store at the Loomis Ranger Station, where we picked up a patch and a passport book for the national parks. Stamped it and now it’s onto the next!

Hiking with the Pups – 5.23.15 – Tahoe National Forest, CA

A year ago, I would’ve been exploring the lovely state of Iowa. This year, I kept it close to home. Matt was home for the weekend and we needed to take the dogs out for a run/walk. He wanted to take me to a little river he walked a few times with the dogs before.

Valentine’s Day Fishing – 2.14.15 – Frenchman’s Lake, CA

Wow, it’s been a hot minute since I last posted about an adventure (more like three months)! I’ve been slacking majorly in the blogging and adventure departments. I haven’t had as many adventures as I would have liked to so far this year, but hopefully that’s about to change.

Half Moon Bay – 1.10.15 – California

Finally, another adventure! This one I was really excited about. I was going down for the weekend to pre-celebrate my birthday with my boyfriend. He was working down in the Bay Area, so I made the trek on a Friday to go see him. We didn’t know what we were going to do that weekend, so it made me even more excited. The drive was smooth sailing… until Berkeley. Traffic. An hour sitting in traffic wasn’t my idea of a good start, until I got to the hotel and the sunset made it all worth it.

Burney Falls – 12.26.14 – California

After leaving Lassen, we headed up Highway 44 towards our turnoff to Susanville. Matt asked me, “Want to go to Burney Falls? We have the time.” “Umm, I don’t want to get home too late because of the dogs. But I think…” “Screw it. We’re going.” And off we went up Highway 89.

On the drive, it was pretty neat to see all of the burn area from recent wildfires and how much land it covered. They saved so many homes from danger. It even crossed the road and threatened some homes on that side. I wish I had taken pictures of it, but I didn’t think of it until just now.