A very belated vlog of my summer 2017 trips!

I went to Joshua Tree for a weekend in August 2017 to celebrate one of my best friend's 25th birthday. It was a great trip with some hiking, spa time, cooking and fun times all around.
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​We rented a big house in Airbnb that had a cool dome house in the backyard. Being one of two people there who were ridin solo (aka no S.O coming with) I jumped at the chance to sleep outdoors under the stars, and wake up to the sunrise. 

Seeing as I'm writing this two and a half years later....I don't remember the names of the trails that we went on but there were lots of cool rocks and trees! Can't miss it :D

After a day in the sun full of hiking, we treated ourselves to an evening at a hot spring spa!

I flew to NYC in July 2017 for a work project and stayed the weekend to visit a friend. It had been exactly 10 years since I was last in NYC. I chose a less-than-ideal time of year to go - the muggiest, most humid month of July. Still, it was great to experience the city as an adult and take in so many new sights and smells -- some reminding me of why I don't want to live there! Here is a very belated post outlining some of my travel.
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I was based out of Brooklyn my whole trip and it felt a lot like Oakland in the sense that the city wasn't far away, but I could have a little more breathing space. There was a rich culture present in the city including in the up and coming Williamsburg neighborhood where I had brunch one day - vegan Chik'n and Waffles!

I mostly came here for the banana pudding at Magnolia Bakery, procured seconds before a torrential summer downpour that had my friend and I taking refuge in a park until it passed. Worth every second! We went to a "secret" bar above a Five Guys for a beer and some people watching.

Walking through downtown and along the high line was one of my favorite things. I LOVE the immersion of nature and buildings and feel like more cities really need to work on this. London does a great job, and luckily San Francisco is starting to expand some smaller parks within the city. 

I visited a friend in Seattle in July 2017 - here are some of the highlights!
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This hike was STUNNING. The switchbacks and super rocky terrain definitely made it challenging technically, but boy was it worth it. At the top of the mountain the final switchback took us around a row of trees and I was shellshocked to see the other side was covered in SNOW! I didn't have the right shoes to really trek down the snow covered hill to the lake's edge, but I was pretty happy with the views from where I was!

I stayed in Capitol Hill which is a super hipster, trendy neighborhood with lots of great restaurants and plenty of weird ice cream shops with flavors like "Mahogany cabin" and "Charcoal earl grey" (all delicious by the way). Public Market was great with lots of chances to eat more ice cream and other weird snacks.