California was graced with heavy wind and pouring rain this winter season. As a result, higher elevations were blanketed in white powdery snow that made many local hikes ripe for a beautiful snow day. The landscape went from dried rocky terrain to a muddy and slippery hazard before becoming a…

I grew up in a small dairy-farming town in California’s Central Valley. The Redwoods sits to the north, and the Sierra Nevada mountains are nestled close to the east. …

I drove through the winding narrow back roads that stretched across farmland and oil fields. There were brief moments of tall evergreen trees congregating near the mouth of the central section of the Sierra Nevada mountain range that bore more and more weight from the heavy dusting of white winter…

I made it a task to go outside and hike somewhere, no matter where I was, what I was doing, or how I was feeling. …

“Okay, I’m going to that woman in the center of the room. You should wait for her too,” my friend said. She smiled and pointed to a middle-aged woman with dark brunette hair. “You’re supposed to tip them at the counter after you get your reading.” I looked over at…

“Five!” I hear a distant cheer emanating from the television sitting across the room. My eyes open to catch a screen scattered with a few faces half-covered in brightly-colored and sequin-filled masks. “Four, three, two, one!” I spot the enormous glittery sphere descend from the top of a pole in…

It was under cover of darkness just before the twinkling growing light from early dawn when I decided to grab my nylon bag filled with hiking necessities and headed out my front door. I tossed the sack of supplies into the passenger seat of my car, which let out a…

An organized chaos of chemical explosions has erupted around you in less time than it takes for you to blink an eye. …

My heart races as a rush of panic washes over me like a flooded stream after a torrential downpour. I feel the sharp inhalation of limited breath as it shoots in and out of my nostrils as though it was a frigid beverage traveling through a straw with a wide…