American Beauty

While living in LA is not my favorite, I've realized that there is so much beauty on the West Coast that I did not know existed. This weekend I drove with a friend just 120 miles outside Los Angeles to Joshua Tree National Park. It is a breath-taking and spectacular site. Just this thought has given me a renewed desire to see more of my country of birth and that I do not have to fly over oceans and mountains to different continents to find the natural wonders that make me so clear-headed, happy and appreciative of life.

We spent the day amongst the Joshua Trees. Encountered a few blue-bellied black lizards that loved me a little too much. We had a picnic under the tree of life and a siesta under a stone shelter. Wandered over to Keys View to see the San Andreas Fault line and the leftover pollution from the city settle into a white misty haze in the Coachella Valley. The San Jacinto Mountain Peak was glimmering with faint snow caps in the distance.

A day in the desert has left me refreshed and relaxed and that feeling will have to hold me steady through the last three weeks of my graduate degree.