WILD, FREE AND 23

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If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you were probably bombarded with photos of Arizona and Utah the first week of January alongside the hashtag #wildfreeand23. Last year I kicked off my birthday week by visiting Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon for the first time. This year, I wanted something a little further away, but equally as majestic. Our original plan was to make our way to White Sands, New Mexico, but unfortunately a week before the trip a couple of my friends were unable to make it. Because of this, the journey rerouted to Lake Powell, Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon and Joshua Tree. At 8am on January 4th, my road trip side-kick, Jayne, and I left Santa Barbara in search of a new adventure in the currently snowy wonderland of Lake Powell.

Let me preface this story by adding that before our drive to Arizona, I had never been in a snowy habitat before. I like to say, “I’ve never seen real snow,” only because the snow I have seen has been in the Mountains of Santa Barbara when I was a child, and let’s be honest, that snow is nothing compared to what I saw in Lake Powell.

It took us 12 hours to get to Lake Powell from Santa Barbara, so by the time we neared our hotel, night was upon us. That evening a full moon filled the sky with so much light that when we looked out the car window, we could see the passing landscape perfectly. While we weaved in between the Arizona and Utah borders, it took us a moment to realize we were completely surrounded by beautiful white snow. Miles and miles of snow, cascading over trees and mountains as far as the eye could see. I swear I almost crashed the car because I was so excited, and I couldn’t contain my energy while driving so I decided that pulling over on the side of the road was completely necessary.

At the risk of revealing to all of you that I’m a total spazz, I will openly say that once we pulled over, I got out of the car and ran around in the snow like a little kid. I was jumping around and throwing it in the air as my fingers turned numb from the cold. I could not believe how beautiful the snow looked in the full moon! I vividly remember it sparking from the moonlight, just like there were bits of glitter thrown into the ice. Since glitter is my favorite thing in the world, I immediately fell in love with snow.

The rest of our trip was equally as full of adventure and beauty. I’ve categorized my favorite shots from our time away by location, in hopes to feed some inspiration to some of the other wanderlusting souls out there! A special shout out goes to Novella Royale and Arnhem Clothing for my road trip swag.