For those of you who don’t already know, I’m an adventure enthusiast.
I mean hey, my Instagram tagline is “Inspired by adventure; fueled by curiosity.” I have a huge affinity for being outdoors & in the sun, many thanks to my active parents for that. It’ll be a little bit tougher for me to stay motivated now that I’m home in San Francisco & the weather is not as cooperative, but it’s nice to have a change of scenery.
Two of the biggest places on my San Diego sites bucket list 1) Anza Borrego State Park 2) the Salton Sea.
With a week left in SoCal I was pretty much out & about knocking food cravings off my list & getting those last Instagram snaps of places I love. But at last minute, Jackson & I decided to head east to go camping for a few days. We needed some time away from the city & life for a bit. It was strange not having reception or wifi everywhere we went, but it was such a good refresher.
Since it’s still winter season for most outdoor activities, the temperatures can drop pretty low at night in the desert (the winds can also pick up a bit). Hence we decided to car camp inside of Shamu (my Toyota Prius) instead of renting a tent.
I must say we had to get creative in figuring out how to sleep comfortably (& flat) while keeping all our items inside of the car since we didn’t have any safe place for outside storage. We wanted to save some money like most post-graduate college students do, so we camped out at primitive campgrounds –meaning no showers, tables, overhead cover or flushing toilets (even one site without toilets). California state parks are beautiful, but we learned from a few seasoned campers that they’re not always the cheapest places to visit. However, I still would highly recommend to anyone who asks that they should most definitely visit them if possible.
Heading east we stopped at Anza Borrego park first, stayed the night in Ocotillo Wells then moved inland towards the Salton Sea. If you don’t know much about the Salton Sea man is there a sad but quite interesting story behind it. A man-made accident forcing many to abandon their homes & relocate, this lake is now thriving with 400 million Tilapia fish. During the summer when the water is warmer & fish are more content with living, they open the lake up for all-you-can-catch fishing to help keep population levels down. However, there are many other times during the year where the fish don’t quite survive the cold temperatures or don’t have enough to eat. This is when they begin to wash up along the shorelines, rotting until some of the hundreds of birds come to feed on them. The Salton Sea is also one of the largest inland bird sanctuaries.
On our way home, we also stopped by the mysterious sculptural art piece, Salvation Mountain. Molded & painted by artist, Leonard Knight, his “mountain” is formed of barrels hay, tons of clay & gallons of paint. It’s something you have to visit in person to really get a feel for. A part of me wishes I wrote this blog post a bit sooner, as Knight recently passed away last week (not that he would probably have ever seen this post). His folk art masterpiece will live on as it previously has been through donations of paint.
You can read up a lot more here on the Salton Sea or visit the amazingly nice campgrounds located on the northeast side of the Salton Sea Recreation Area.
Anyways, enough chatter — here are some snaps with a mix of DSLR shots, 35mm film prints & of course, iPhoneography 🙂
As always keep an eye out for more #latergram posts I didn’t blog on my Instagram: @cyeetheworld.
Adventure onwards & cheers!
