The highlight of our winter holiday travel was a 10 day climbing trip to Mexico, and I’ll write another post about that shortly, but first: on the way down to Mexico, Becca and I stopped in Southern California for a few days for a little pre-Christmas family reunion. I was only there for three days, but managed to get out and take a few pictures along the way.
I flew in to LAX and rented a car to catch the rest of the family near Palm Springs. After battling my way through LA traffic, I had scarce time before it got dark, but I wanted to catch the sunset, so I bounced my rental up the Black Mountain road and hiked the short distance to the fire lookout tower to enjoy a surreal view down towards San Gorgonio Pass and into the Inland Empire, with twinkling lights and sprawling highways.
The San Gabriel Mountains and the lights of Riverside County from Black Mountain at dusk.
The two days later we went with the extended family to Joshua Tree National Park to do a mixture of strolling, a quick bouldering session, and then a little bit of astrophotography - everyone had a grand time.
Joshua trees in the afternoon light
Granite boulders and Joshua trees at sunset
Joshua trees silhouetted at dusk
The winter Milky Way over some Joshua Trees
Finally, on our last day in California, I snuck out under the cover of darkness and drove back to the park to catch the sunrise before returning to collect Becca and catch our flight to Mexico.
Sunrise on some Cholla Cactus
Cholla Cactus in the morning light
Cholla Cactus in the the morning light