Design Prompt 16: August

Before moving to Northeast Los Angeles nearly seven years ago, I don’t think I had the slightest idea that I’d be a day trip away from so many natural wonders. I knew about the big nature events like the splendor of Yosemite. I’d heard of the desert and the Joshua Trees, and of course, the beauty of the Pacific Ocean and the wild cliffs of Big Sur. So in our first year of living in California, I wanted to see it all. So our first November in California, we packed up our 14-year-old dog and drove up to Yosemite National Park before the first snowfall and camped on the west side of the park. I remember it being my first “fire season,” and the camper next to us left his fire going all night. I didn’t sleep a wink, thinking that we’d all be on the news for accidentally burning Yosemite down to the ground.

The next day, we wove our way through Yosemite Valley, up to Tuolumne Meadows, and ended up on the east side of the park, hours away from our campsite. As the magic goes when following your whim on trips, we decided not to retrace our steps and instead continue east out of the park, which led us to US Highway 395. Oh my. All one has to say is “the 395,” and those who know, know. Somehow, on one magical highway, there are so many natural wonders that I’m still confused how it still feels so undiscovered. Thank goodness! Driving down the 395 you’ll find Mt. Whitney, the tallest mountain in the contiguous US. Mono Lake, a one-million-year-old lake that's one of the planet's most critical bird migration sites, with these super-interesting spindly columns of white limestone rising out of the water. You roll into The Alabama Hills that make you wonder if you’ve accidentally teleported to Mars. And then if that’s not enough, the world’s oldest tree (4,858 years old!), Methuselah lives off the highway in the ancient bristlecone pine forest! I could keep going on and on.

Mono LakeThe Alabama Hills and Mt. Whitney in the Background

So this summer, I headed back up Hwy 395 to…