Salvation Mountain

Morninggg, hope everyone's all excited and ready for Christmas! I'm feeling quite unprepared this year to be honest. I really should go shopping this weekend.

It seems weird to still be getting holiday photos developed from September but I've just not had the extra cash to get them all done at once (hence lack of posts). I was pretty excited to get my photos from Salvation Mountain developed. It was one of the reasons I wanted to visit Palm Springs in the first place and it was definitely worth the one and half our drive into the middle of the desert. 

In case you don't know Salvation Mountain is an art installation built over a period of 40 years by the late Leonard Knight. The official website quotes "Salvation Mountain is Leonard Knight's tribute to God and his gift to the world with its simple yet powerful message: "God Is Love."

It really is a magical place and I'm so glad I got the chance to visit.

Paradise in Palm Springs

Hellooo, I didn't realize it had been so long since I last blogged, oops! Hope you all enjoyed my engagement story. I've had quite a few films developed since then and have really enjoyed looking back, even if it is slightly depressing with the cold English weather. So here's what we got up to next...

After 3 days in LA we fueled up on Donuts from the famous Randy's in LA and hit the road for a relatively short drive to Palm Springs. 

On the way into Palm Spring we stopped off at Cabazon Dinosaur, it's your typical American road side attraction. So obviously I made Dan stop there, I have to say the dinosaurs in the car park were much more interesting than the ones inside the actual Dino park. It was a fun little stop though.

We then headed to our hotel or as it came to be known Paradise! I've never fell in love with a hotel as much as I did with the Desert Riviera. It was AMAZINGGGGG. The moment we got there we were greeted with a cold beer and congratulated on our engagement with a bottle of champagne. It's only a small hotel, more like a fancy motel, with just ten rooms that all surround the pool. For the first few day's there was only me, Dan and two other couples. Most of the time we had the pool to ourselves, it was pure bliss!

There was a BBQ for the guests to use, a shared kitchen with lots of little treats, a jacuzzi and bikes to take out when ever you wanted. It was it's own little garden oasis and we really didn't want to leave.

We were just a short drive into main street Palm Springs where we found plenty of shops and places to eat. On Thursdays they have Villagefest where arts, crafts and food trucks line the street where we had the most amazing tri-tip sandwich with a side of mac n cheese, nom!

As well as days spent lazying by the pool we visited a local shopping mall that had some pretty impressive views.

We also spent a full day exploring Joshua Tree national park and visited Salvation Mountain. Both of these were holiday highlights and I have way to many photos to share in just one post so more on them soon :)

We spent four nights in Palm Springs altogether and both wish we could of stayed longer. It has to be one of the best places I've visited in the USA so far and I can't wait to go back!

Our LA engagement

Hellooo. Hope everyone's good! I've been so caught up in wedding planning since we've been back from our holiday that I've definitely been neglecting the old blog. Just incase you're wondering we are getting married next September and have our venue, caterer, registrar and photographer all booked! eeeep. No messing about it!

Since we've been back I'm slowly getting my films developed so thought it was about time I shared some. At the beginning of September we kicked our holiday off in LA. We were only there for three full days but we packed quite alot in. We chose to stay in this Apartment, booked through AirBnB. It was just a few blocks from the beach in Santa Monica and was a perfect base for just the two of us. There was even a resident cat that took a shine to Dan.

After a long flight we arrived late afternoon on the Friday and spent the rest of the day like two zombies trying to stay awake. We did manage to drag ourselves to the Abbott Kinney food truck festival, which happens the first Friday of every month. After much deliberation we decided on the Grilled cheese truck and had the cheesy mac and rib which was made up of macaroni cheese, pulled pork and caramelized onions. It was amazinggg!! After that though we were fit for nothing so headed back to our apartment for an early night.

Feeling much more refreshed Saturday morning we started the day with a mega breakfast of omelette and hash browns. Then making use of the bikes that came along with the apartment we went for ride along venice beach and up to Santa Monica Pier. Followed by an afternoon lying on the beach and stuffing our faces with in n out burger in the evening.

Sunday was the ultimate tourist day. We started off at Lake Hollywood Park which had really close up views of the Hollywood Sign. Just driving there was a treat, we had to go through the Hollywood Hills which meant lots of mega mansions I could only ever dream of living in.

After some photo ops there we tried to find our way to Mulholland Drive, we got abit lost and actually ended up at Universal Studios. So we though what the hell and spent a few hours in the park.

 

Eventually we did find out way to Mulholland Drive and stopped off at an amazing look out point. Then we headed to Beverly Hills for a drive around the fancy streets and a quick stop at the famous sign.

On out last day in LA we were up super early, so grabbed a tea from Starbucks and made our way to Venice Beach. It was so quiet and peaceful, just us and a few surfers.

That night as we were watching the sunset over Santa Monica I snapped the image below, when I turned around Dan was holding a box with the most beautiful ring I've ever seen. Of course I said yes! This photo will always take me back to that second of total surprise and happiness.

The rest of the night was spent with these super duper happy faces! :D

The following morning we headed to my new favourite place, Palm Springs. More on that next time :)

Images taken on various cameras including my Instax 210, Chinon, Kodak

Exciting news...

Well it's been quite a while since I last wrote on here, so hello!

I've been back from my holiday for almost 3 weeks now. We had the best time ever and to top it off......I GOT ENGAGED!!! Eeeeeeeeeeee

Dan asked me on the fourth night of our holiday right by Santa Monica Pier as the sun was setting. Awww who new he was so romantic! Of course I said yes and we spent the rest of the holiday in a lovely little bubble.

It really was an amazing trip, I came back with 17 films to get developed! Oops, could take a while to pay for now I'm saving for a wedding hehe. I'm sure I'll get round to sharing them on here eventually.

In the meantime here's a few holiday highlights (other than getting engaged of course) captured on my trusty Instax.....

Stopping off at Cabazon Dinosaur on our way to Palm Springs

Getting to see Salvation Mountain

 Climbing boulders in Joshua Tree

Climbing Angel's Landing in Zion. Possibly the hardest and best thing I've ever done

Seeing the Grand Canyon with my own little eyes

and to top it all off having my best friends turn up to surprise me in Las Vegas!!

So yeh it was the best holiday everrrrrr!