In the desert

Where do I even start with this update?
In March, I went hiking at Laguna Coast Wilderness Park, not a desert, but one of my favorite hiking places.


I wanted to do one of those legs dangling off the cliff type pictures, but got scared of the height.


The ocean in the far distance. We never reached the end of the trail because we were limited on time. Still, we hiked for 3 hours.


Squirrel!

Back in Texas,

it's raspa time, AKA shaved ice!


This little shaved ice shop is so awesome. There are so many flavors (even pickle flavor) and I like their Mexican decor.


A local cactus, Echinocereus coccineus. These are common, but this one was really large. If only I had something to compare the size to!


McDonald Observatory. They host these programs called "star parties" and they really exceeded my expectations. It's a pretty long drive out to the middle of nowhere, but it was worth it I'd say. We saw Jupiter that night and I wish that I could have taken a picture!

Outfit shot #34?

headband, tassel necklace: handmade
blouse: taobao
vest, dress: thrifted
boots: cathy jean

There are too many weeds in the backyard and those Acacia behind the fence are your enemies!

An assortment of food

We went to Soju Belly for a friend's birthday. Depending on the type of soju you had, it came in fruits/with fruit cups.

Someone was bold enough to take a bite out of the apple after it was filled with soju. That was a bad idea because the apple had soaked up most of the alcohol taste.

Finally, a visit to Coffee Code! I keep hearing about this place. It was after a morning hike and I was craving for sweets as usual after a workout, hah!

Ahhhh this strawberry expresso was so good! I hope it wasn't just because of my sweets craving. I wish it was located closer to my house! I would totally become a regular just for this.


The presentation is truly nice. Just a random note, I hate kiwis (Maybe I didn't notice on the menu that it came with it).


Vegan chocolates after our meal at Au Lac. You're supposed to dip it in the sauce which was a tad bit spicy.
Entree wise, I really love this place! They make really good vegan replacements for meaty Vietnamese dishes.

Hmm I forgot the name of this place, but it was Italian.

The most garlic filled dish I've ever had! The sauce is pure olive oil and garlic and I choose mushrooms as the topping. Don't ask me how my breath was afterwards and the next day too.

Carlsbad Caverns once again

I made the trip to Carlsbad, NM again since my boyfriend likes caves but has not visited this place. The town itself is dull, but you're there for the national parks anyway. Guadeloupe National Park is about a 15min drive from Carlsbad too so you can hike in the mountains and then hike inside a cave all in the same day... if you're fit enough to do it!

The steep entrance. There were very few people there that day which was a large contrast to when I first went. It was a free admissions day so it was so packed.

I might add, visit during large Spring/Summer so you can see the bats fly out of the cave during the evening. They weren't here during this time of year.




I took so many pictures trying to capture the reflection of the sign on the water. It says "Mirror Lake (and in Spanish)". There was water dropping from the ceiling into this water pool so it kept creating ripples.

On the drive home.


It's hard to imagine that this whole area used to be underwater!