I moved to California for a job transfer back in 2016.
Of all the observations I made about daily life in the Bay Area that were strikingly different from my native Oklahoma, two things seemed to stand out:

01: Everyone calls highways "freeways" (I hate this)
02: There's actually like...uh...NATURE here? Like real hills (!) and weird looking plants (!!) and an ocean (!!!).

The natural beauty of California quickly enamored me. Soon I was spending most of my weekends hiking through nearby state parks and wildlife areas. Occasionally going on road trips up the coast to Oregon or down into the Sierras. I even bought a Subaru!! When I go, I go hard, y'all.

Each place I went inspired a type of joy that was simple, but powerful. I decided to start capturing my explorations, which became the photos here.