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explore everywhere

Sometimes I go places, this is where you can read about my adventures. Road trips, cemeteries, abandoned places – they’re all here.

Ballarat, CA

by Kaylah Stroup July 23, 2015

Fish Rocks, Salt Wells Canyon, CA

Cell phone service in the desert is hit or miss. I either had all my bars or nothing but while I did have service I was browsing Roadside America for spots to hit. That’s how we found Ballarat. Formerly a supply point for the mines nearby, Ballarat is now a ghost town. In it’s heyday it was home to nearly 500 people. It had 7 saloons, a jail, a school, a handful of hotels and more. There isn’t much left anymore, just a few rusted out all cars, shells of buildings, and a cemetery.

I was a bit nervous to visit since it’s a little ways off the main road. I was worried it would be home to someone who might be offended by our visit. A sign near the entrance of the town read as follows…

“this is a free zone take any kind of photos you want. camp party make movies etc no harm. nobody cares feel free. learn nothen setting in your car the friendly zone welcome to ballarat ghost town…”

After seeing that I felt free to roam…

The thing I was most excited about in Ballarat was the cemetery. I’d been on the lookout for an old desert cemetery since the last trip and we had yet to stumble across one. I saw photos of this one on Roadside America and that was actually one of the biggest reasons I wanted to visit. This one was smaller than I had been hoping for but still so awesome. It had such a gorgeous view and it was just a world of difference from the cemeteries we have here. And this headstone?! Get out! Easily one of the most interesting I’ve ever seen in person.

We didn’t stay too long in Ballarat, it was hot and we were both anxious to get into the national park but it was definitely a great stop.
xoxo

You can find more posts from our road trip under the “travel” tag.

road trip photo album // chatbooks review

by Kaylah Stroup July 22, 2015

One of my goals for this last road trip, and really any future trips, was to get my photos printed. Apart from film, which I always get prints made from, I never get photos printed. Everything is stored on external hard drives. For a person who collects so much that almost seems funny. I treasure the few photo albums I do have and definitely want to have more tangible photos.

As soon as I got through editing all my photos I got started making this book. I didn’t want it to be something I kept pushing back and would eventually forget to do. Chatbooks was my first choice for a book since they had sent me one a while back featuring my instagram photos. I liked that it was fairly small, and looked super nice for the price. Their books are only $6 and they have free shipping PLUS you can use the
code “theda146” to get your first book when you subscribe to your Instagram Series.

I initially had a bit of an issue uploading my photos so I tried out a few other sites that make photo books. The thing was they get expensive quick, and they can take a lot of work. I loved that with Chatbooks you just upload your photos, and that’s it! They’re printed in order. (You are able to rearrange them if you’d like but in the instance you want them printed in the order you took them that’s the default, which perfectly for vacation!) You can add captions if you’d like but it’s not necessary. I reached out via twitter with my uploading issue, they responded quickly that I should try another browser. I downloaded Safari and wouldn’t you know it, that solved the issue. I added a few captions, chose my cover, ordered, and a few days later it showed up!

I LOVE it so much. It’s seriously so nice to be able to flip through my photos instead of just having them on the computer. I’ve actually been considering going back through 2014’s road trip photos and having those printed as well. A little Jeff + Kaylah road trip photo album series! How cute!

Other than the little bit of trouble uploading that was easily remedied by using a different browser this was seriously so painless to make. I basically have no excuse whatsoever to not get photos printed. Chatbooks, you rule!
xoxo

PS. Don’t forget if you use
code “theda146” you can get your first book free when you subscribe to your Instagram Series.

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San Francisco to Yosemite

by Kaylah Stroup July 20, 2015

After the tide pools Jeff and I made our way up to San Francisco. We hadn’t scheduled much time in our agenda for the city, it was basically just meant to be a stopping point for our journey along the coast. I wanted to see two things in San Francisco – Camera Obscura and the Golden Gate Bridge. So, first stop – Camera Obscura! It sadly wasn’t open but I was happy to see it nonetheless. This has been on my to-find list for so long. I’ve been seeing photos of it pop up from time to time for years but never really knew anything about it, let alone where in the world it was. I realized right before the trip it was in San Francisco so I super giddy about finally seeing it.

From the Camera Obscura you can see the Sutro Bath ruins. It had popped up on Roadside America when I was browsing the area but it didn’t seem that interesting considering we only had a few hours at most in the city. Being right beside it, and in the fog was another story though. We had to go check it out.

The Sutro Baths opened in 1896 and at the time it was the largest indoor swimming facility. There were slides, springboards and even a high dive. There were six saltwater pools and one fresh water pool. It eventually closed due to not being profitable. Shortly that in 1966, a fire destroyed the building while it was in the process of being demolished. (Arson for insurance money!) Now the land surrounding it is part of the Golden Gate Recreational Area which is way cool because you’re able to explore the ruins. This website sums it up perfectly “It’s allowed to be harrowing and wild in a time and place where shampoos carry warnings and most interesting things are cordoned off for your protection. Here’s the playground for those who love crumbling stone clubhouses, jutting pipe monkeybars, stairways that lead you off cliffs and shifting sandboxes that get swallowed by surf.” It’s really surprising to me that you’re allowed to explore the ruins but you best believe, I’m all about it. I wish there were more places like this.

Beside the ruins is a cliff-side tunnel which I thought was terrifying. I’m sure some local is reading this and laughing but that water was rough, it was dark, and I thought the ground felt smushy. I was afraid somehow I was going to end up in the water. I don’t know, it was just really strange experience. I’m pretty fearless when it comes to most things but that tunnel freaked me out. It’s fun to be afraid sometimes, if that makes sense. I was happy to get out of the tunnel but I enjoyed the rush of being in there.

Next we headed to the Golden Gate Bridge which I didn’t actually get to see because of the fog. Whomp whomp whomp. We drove over it, I shot this picture, and we called it day. I have never in my life seen fog SO thick. We had assumed the sun set but after getting outside of the city we got to watch it actually set. It was really strange to watch it get dark, then an hour or so later watch it get dark all over again.

We drove into the night toward our next stop, Yosemite National Park. We got there in the middle of the night. I had a really bad stomach ache. Jeff said he had some tums or something in his suitcase so we pulled over on the top of a mountain to get it. I’m all bundled up in my seat when Jeff calls from outside “You have to come see this!” The stars, you guys, THE STARS. It was just the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my entire life. I’m literally teary eyed right now thinking about it. We got out our cameras and hung out on the side of the road trying to capture the view. I didn’t get anything close to representing how amazing it was but Jeff shot this gorgeous photo. I could have stayed there and watched the stars forever. That actually might be one of my favorite memories of the trip. Just being barefoot on the side of a mountain looking up at the stars with Jeff. They were something else!

We finally headed back down the mountain to find a spot to sleep for a few hours before making our way into the park. It was another rough night of not being able to find somewhere suitable to sleep. I remember groggily searching “how to sleep in your car” for tips because we just couldn’t find somewhere that felt safe enough to snooze at. Rough night or not all was well because the next morning I sat on the rock wall below and put on my make-up, and got gussied up for the day ahead. Talk about a great view!

Yosemite was gorgeous but a bit crowded for my tastes. I was also crabby I didn’t have my bike because everyone there was on a bike. But I ate a killer sandwich, got some pressed pennies, and took photos that I love with the man I love.
xoxo

You can find more posts from our road trip under the “travel” tag.

Asilomar State Beach – tide pools

by Kaylah Stroup July 14, 2015

The one thing I was REALLY excited about along the coast was visiting tide pools. I feel like I know quite a bit about mammals, I can identify the vast majority of things that live on land but the ocean is another story. It’s a mystery to me, and for that reason I am beyond intrigued by it. I’m not landlocked in Ohio. I’m less than a mile from Lake Erie, but like I’ve mentioned more than a few times we don’t have cool things living in the lake. We have some fish, I guess, but in all the time I spend wandering the beaches I really just find trash. So tide pools were my priority on this trip!

I did a bit of research on tides and the best places to go along the coast; one name I kept seeing listed was Asilomar State Beach. As luck would have it the timing worked out so that we’d be pretty close to there around low tide.

I couldn’t get out of the car, and down to the water to rip my shoes off fast enough. We were in what I thought was the perfect spot to find things. It was rocky, and the tide was low but it was actually too low. Everything that I was finding wasn’t covered by water and really just looked kind of gross. It was exciting but a little bit of a let down since I had hyped tide pooling up so much in my mind. I thought it would be this activity I would just go crazy for and instead I was just like “Oh, that’s cool but it looks disgusting…” I poked around trying to find these vibrant, lively looking anemones that I thought the area would be full of but eventually gave up deciding maybe tide pooling isn’t as easy as photos make it look and it wouldn’t be something I’d get to experience on this trip.

We eventually got back in the car, and moved on down the road a bit hoping for better luck. Jeff could tell I was bumming and was insisting we keep on looking despite the fact I was just ready to get to our next destination. I was disappointed (read – crabby) that everything I was finding was either dead, wouldn’t let me near it, or like at the last spot, gross looking because it wasn’t under water. I was shooting the little dude above when Jeff shouted “Kaylah! Get over here!” I was all “Don’t yell me! Gosh!” I walked over to where he was to spot this insanely beautiful starfish. I let out my squeal of approval to which Jeff gloated “Is it okay I yelled at you about that?!”

This was my very fist time seeing a starfish in the wild, not in an aquarium, and excuse me if I sound dramatic but it was magical. It’s so crazy that that’s a real living thing. Nature is wild, y’all! From there things picked up. The starfish was definitely the highlight but I also finally found some anemones who were actually under water and they were every bit as beautiful as I had imagined.

The tide came in a lot quicker than I had hoped and it was time for us to move on so I didn’t get to spend as much time as I wanted checking out the tide pools. Moral of the story here I guess is that tide pooling is all about timing but when you get it right the reward is so great!

This really, truly sparked a love! I’m already researching hot spots to check out along the Washington and Oregon coast (hopefully we’ll get there sometime in the next year or so). I am dying to get back and immerse myself in this world of critters I know so very little about. I feel like I just got this tiny taste of what’s like and I want to learn so much more.
xoxo

You can find more posts from our road trip under the “travel” tag.

Pacific Coast Highway : Part 2

by Kaylah Stroup July 9, 2015

Remember how I said at first I wasn’t super impressed by the coast? That’s because the whole time I was waiting on stuff like this. This what I pictured the Pacific Coast Highway to be. Cliffs, bridges, tight winding roads and fog that just wouldn’t quit. I guess I’d only really seen photos of this stuff but I can understand why. It’s nearly impossible to take a bad photo of something so beautiful.

I’m not even sure what to say about these photos or this point in our trip other than I know for a fact we did not spend enough time here. I mean we definitely spent our fair share of time soaking in the sights, both completely in awe. We didn’t do much poking around or driving off the main highway, which I definitely regret now. I’ve been hearing all sorts of recommendations and seeing photos from places we were so close to but didn’t see. It hurtssss!

Before the trip I decided to not do much research on the Pacific Coast Highway. To be honest, it was insanely overwhelming. The majority of the time the things other people consider a priority aren’t the same as mine, and I figured it’d be a lot like the desert where we could just drive and find things. Clearly we found a fair share of spots to stop and take photos but I know we missed so many amazing little beaches, and hidden gems. In retrospect it would have been better for us to have planned more time to spend on the coast, and to have done more research on must see spots. Regardless, I still had an amazing time. It’s so crazy to think that just a day’s drive away is Death Valley where I experienced the hottest temperatures of my life (more on this another day!) The PCH feels like another world. The fog only added to the mysteriousness of this place. I’ve never been anywhere so beautiful.

After traveling it I can see why the Pacific Coast Highway is such a popular road trip for people to take. I definitely want to do it again someday, there’s still so much left to discover!
xoxo

You can find more posts from our road trip under the “travel” tag.

Pacific Coast Highway : Part 1

by Kaylah Stroup July 6, 2015

After Morro Bay we continued up the Pacific Coast Highway. The further we got, the more I fell in love. Is it okay to admit that I wasn’t impressed with the coast until this point? Because I wasn’t. Maybe we just weren’t hitting the right spots, or maybe it just differed so much from my expectations that I wasn’t into it. This stop though, at William Randolph Hearst Memorial Beach, won my heart. The temperature was cool, it was foggy out, and the water was the most beautiful color. I could have stayed here for days.

A short drive up the road from there is Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Rookery. We saw signs for it, and it was on Roadside America but I was not prepared. I assumed there was a chance we might see some elephant seals there. I didn’t realize the beach would just be covered in them. I have never seen in elephant seal in person so needless to say I was captivated. These puppies are maaaaassive. Males can grow 14-16 feet in length and be 3000-5000 pounds. They’re also very loud, and very smelly. Totally worth the stank to see these beasts cuddled up on the beach together. I loved watching them. I ooooh-ed and awww-ed as they played and just about lost my mind over how cute they were when they used their silly little flippers to flip sand on themselves. (You can spot one doing that in the second photo down. Right in front of the flowers.)

The elephant seals were really awesome but the squirrels at this stop stole my heart. I noticed them as soon as we got out of the car. I was excited to get a nice close shot of one of them with my 100mm lens. Then all of a sudden one of these little cuties runs right up to me. There were signs not to feed the wildlife but I figured picking something off the ground that someone else had already tried giving them as a way to lure them in was a nice little loophole I could use and not feel guilty.

As I’m squatting there, trying to photograph and love on squirrels, an older couple comes up to me inquiring where the elephant seals were. In the middle of their sentence a squirrel just jumps into my lap. I immediately started looking at the squirrel, looking at them, looking at the squirrel, looking at them – trying to get these people to notice. They either noticed and didn’t think it was interesting or they somehow did not see this incredible thing happen. As soon as they walked away I managed to get Jeff’s attention and he snapped a really cute shot of this squirrel sitting on my lap. I got one too, you can see it here! As soon as the squirrel hopped down I burst into tears. Yes, literally. I’m an emotional person, whatever. It made my day. Shoot, it made my month. I’m still over the moon. My sister-in-law was asking me about the trip and what my favorite part was. Without even thinking I blurted out “SQUIRRELS!” Haha. California, I love your squirrels. Even if I didn’t fall stupid in love with the state I would come back just for the squirrels.

We made a stop just down the road from the elephant seal rookery to shoot the fog on the road. I feel like the above photo of our rental car might be a little out of place in the post of cute animals, and the ocean but you gotta admit, it’s a pretty sweet shot. I’m not sure why but I was so fond of that little car.
xoxo

You can find more posts from our road trip under the “travel” tag.

Morro Bay

by Kaylah Stroup June 30, 2015

After Salvation Mountain, day two of our road trip wasn’t shaping up to be too great with both Jeff and I super tired. He’s a bear when he’s tired, and I’m the actual worst when I’m hungry. Basically we were a dream team on day two. Not! A hotel wasn’t in the plans for a few more days but we needed it. We sat down at Starbucks after scarfing down In-N-Out (because duh!) and decided to head to Morro Bay for the night. It was only a few hours away, and we figured it would be a great place to rest up.

Aaaand we were totally correct! Our hotel was right by the beach, I could even see Morro rock from the window. We ordered a pizza and relaxed while waiting for the sun to get a little bit lower in the sky. While we ate I browsed instagram photos tagged “morro bay”, “morro rock”, and anything else I could think of that would show me photos of nearby things. I found a few photos featuring jellyfish (which I later learned are velella). I was super excited. I was hoping to find one on the beach. We really don’t have anything interesting living in Lake Erie, unless you believe in Bessie, so even dead finding something like a jellyfish is so neat to me.

We walked to the beach a little bit later and there they were. Hundreds (thousands?!) of velella! Jeff’s comment was “Well, here you go!” The first thing out of my mouth was “Grosssss!” But I’m not going to lie, it was pretty cool and I was darn excited. They were impossible not to step on. I tried avoiding them the longest time but eventually gave up after seeing barefoot surfers, and joggers just walking on them like it was no big deal.

Even more exciting than tons of velella? Sand dollars! I have never actually found one myself. I own a few but I have no idea where they came from. I was walking the beach when I spotted one. It was whole but broken on the underside. I was pumped though! A few more feet and I found another. This one was perfect. Then it was just one after another, they were everywhere. I even found a live one complete with a barnacle buddy.

We watched the sun set for what felt like days. Sunsets here, I swear, only last a few minutes. The sky is beautiful but only for a very short amount of time. I feel like we watched the sunset on this beach for so much longer than I’ve ever experienced in my life – and it just kept getting prettier. Then it got foggy. Are you kidding me!? Y’all know how much I love fog.

So quick recap here – velella, sand dollars, prettiest sunset I’ve ever seen, surfers, mountains, and fog. Basically, it was heaven. Have you ever seen one of those silly commercials for California with Arnold Schwarzenegger saying how fun the state is? This should be in one.

Morro Bay, you are pure magic. One night was not enough. I definitely would love to go back and explore the area again someday. If it were possible, I would seriously fly out there RIGHT NOW.
xoxo

You can find more posts from our road trip under the “travel” tag.

Salvation Mountain

by Kaylah Stroup June 29, 2015

The first night of the trip was rough. We had planned to sleep in the car the majority of the nights like we did without any problems on the last trip. Our first night it got late quick. All of a sudden we’re both incredibly exhausted with nowhere to pull over and sleep. We ended up sleeping half the night in the car outside of a gas station then in the middle of the night we drove an hour away to a rest stop where we finished off the night.

We awoke before the sun came up, and headed to Salvation Mountain, everyone’s favorite spot in the desert, to catch it at sun rise. I had seen so many photos of Salvation Mountain. It’s been featured in a few movies, numerous places across the internet, and of course everyone and their mother has instagrammed it. On our last trip we were actually extremely close but I didn’t really consider it a priority because of the popularity of the spot. This trip I really wanted to see it.

We arrived just as the first morning light was beginning to show in the sky. My first impression was that it was much smaller than I had pictured but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a sight to behold. It was awesome to basically watch this colorful mountain appear right in front of us as it got brighter and brighter outside.

One of my favorite things about Salvation Mountain, other than the fact it’s a giant colorful thing in the desert, is that there were cats. Lots of cats. Okay, not tons of them or anything but I saw at least four. The photo above is on the inside and all along the branches in there the cats we jumping around, cleaning themselves, and observing us. As much as I don’t love seeing cats outside, especially in this heat I was ecstatic to see them. What an awesome playground for them!

We were the only people there for a little while until a group of rowdy teenage boys pulled up and decided they needed to climb all over everything. It was a great way to start the day. I’m really glad we stopped.
xoxo

You can find more posts from our road trip under the “travel” tag.

Salton Sea of the Midwest – Revisited

by Kaylah Stroup June 16, 2015

Twice in the past few months I’ve shared photos from the place Jeff and I have dubbed the Salton Sea of the Midwest. (See here + here) On Memorial Day a big group of us headed out to catch this place at sunrise…except we were running late. Typical. Regardless, the lighting was still beautiful and even more than taking photos I enjoyed spending time with my friends. There were a few times I put my camera down, forgetting to take photos just to laugh, and tell stories. It’s a rare occasion any more that the majority of us get out together so I found myself just trying to soak it all up.

Okay, so taking photos was still absolutely awesome. I was blown away by how green this place was. Our first visit was at the very end of winter. There was still some snow on the ground and obviously nothing was growing. This time the amount of growth actually made the place seem even more abandoned than when everything was dead. Vines covered the insides of trailers, crawling their way across couches and out of windows. Toward the end of the road there were even some trailers so completely overgrown with trees, and other plants if you weren’t specifically looking for them you could easily miss them.

The ever important groupshot.

Two other things to note about this adventure;
1. I have never seen more bugs in my life than on this small abandoned stretch. Seriously, just like a swarm of tiny little annoying bugs. Every spider web was just covered in them. Walking down the road was bad enough but as soon as you ventured off the path and into the tall weeds you had better have your mouth shut and be prepared to get assaulted. Bugs. everywhere.
2. It smelled. BAD. I know I’ve read a lot of articles about how bad the Salton Sea stinks (just one more thing this place has in common with it) but I honestly don’t recall it really being that bad. This place, on the other hand, was just rank. As soon as you thought you were getting used to it the stench would hit you again.

Grossness aside, it was a most excellent time, and I even picked myself a beautiful little bouquet to take home.

There were plans of bringing a grill, cooking some food, and hanging out a while but the early morning rush resulted in a grill being brought but no food. We ended up staying just long enough to shoot some pictures. Maybe another time…
xoxo

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