Books and Backpacks

 All in all, our vacation was a wonderful experience and I loved having so much time with my boyfriend since we'd been so busy with both of us being in school for the past couple of days. All of our hikes and travelling to the ocean were probably my highlights. However, I don't think I'd go back. While the weather was preferable to the -30 degrees back home, it wasn't as warm as I would've liked. I spent a large part of the trip in big sweaters and cozy sweatpants as the temperature hovered around 15 degrees. I remember a few years ago, when we were in Kelowna, we had one plus 40 day. That was one of the best days of my little human-lizard-hybrid life.  I also felt that there wasn't much to actually do in Palm Springs. So many of our days were spent inside watching movies or reading, which aren't bad in and of themselves. However, when I go on vacation if I'm reading, I'd like to be doing it while suntanning on a beach, soaking in the sun we Canadian...

  After Boxing day, we began our second and last week in Palm Springs. Well, what we intended to be our last week. On Monday, we went on a hike to Ladder Canyon. At Ladder Canyon, there are two different hiking trails-- one longer loop, through the mountains, and one shorter loop inside of it. The easier of the two was, surprisingly, the longer one. The longer one's trail is a sandy trail, with a steady incline, that takes about 3 hours to finish, pretty similar to the above image. The one on the inside is what puts the "ladder" in Ladder Canyon.  While we hiked the first, longer trail for about 1.5 hours before turning around, the second hike we only got about 30 minutes into before having to turn around. The second hike became almost impossible to continue by the 3rd ladder we came to. The first couple ladders were fairly easy to navigate, but the third ladder came about a foot short from the edge of the next rock up, and about halfway up it, you felt as though you were...

     In the first of our two weeks in Palm Springs, we spent more time outside than we had in the past two months back home. Day one of our trip was... Chaotic, to say the least. The night before we left we went to bed by 9 to wake up at 4:00am the next morning, and at the airport for 5:15 am. However, while we went to bed nice and early, there was very little sleep for us. We nearly immediately fell asleep, but, by midnight both of us had re-awoken. We tried to get back to sleep.... And tried... And tried. By 3:00 am, both of us had given up on our dreams of a good night's sleep and just started getting ready, and rapidly consuming caffeine. Eventually, we got to the airport, through security and customs, and were stopping for another coffee and breakfast at the airport's Starbucks.  Once we were on the plane, Carl immediately fell asleep. Awaking about 15 minutes later, asking "have we taken off yet?", completely missing the city lights twinkling far below us. Afte...

     For our 5th Christmas-versary, my boyfriend and I did something a bit different from previous Christmases-- we travelled across the continent, away from the harsh Canadian winters and towards the balmy Californian climate. Since we turned 18 (and were allowed by our parents to travel together), we've spent most of our Christmas vacations away from home. In 2019, we brought in the New Year in Phoenix, Arizona. Where we hiked the mountains in Sedona and rode camels at the Phoenix zoo... The next year, in 2020, we jetted around the West coast. Making stops in Rosalind, BC to hike some more... And another stop in Seattle to bring in the New Year shopping... Then came 2021, where everything was locked down, and COVID-19 had left us in a place where we weren't even allowed to have Christmas dinner together at each other's house. So we got stuck in the Canadian cold and barely had a Christmas at all. But that only left us more motivated this Christmas. My boyfriend was in s...