North Table Mountain

We arrived to find the pasture surrounding the highway and parking area blanketed in wildflowers. The parking lot was full, and cars were parked along the highway for what seemed to be miles. Hiked to Phantom Falls, passing over the top of Ravine Falls on the way. Flew the drone at Phantom Falls. On the way back, explored a trail that we eventually realized connected to Beatson Falls, which would have made for a longer trek than we had time for. We turned back, and returned by cutting through a trail down under Ravine Falls. Flew the drone again at Ravine Falls to try to photograph the poppies around the rock formations that had a striking resemblance to lava, but the photos did not do this justice. The amount and variety of wildflowers were stunning. Near sunset, the crowds had cleared and the cattle were grazing near the trail. Several bridal photoshoots were taking place during golden hour. The moon was big and bright.

Chico

The following day we explored downtown Chico. Having had our expectations set low, we were actually quite impressed with the downtown area. Several coffee shops, boutique clothing stores, and one particularly down-to-earth outdoor apparel shop lined the streets. Unfortunately we couldn’t try all of the coffee shops and restaurants, but hopefully we’ll be back. Picked up a couple pairs of shorts and a shirt from Mountain Sports and Claire stocked up at For Elyse. Had lunch at La Salles, but just missed the brunch mimosa flights… We’ll definitely be coming back again.