Somewhere on the side of the road in Palmdale, California

I’m usually the sort of person that loves chatting up strangers in the airport (or the grocery line etc.), but after 45 minutes spent next to a particularly friendly fellow filmmaker, I was admittedly more than ready for a nice silent flight home.

Aside from daydreaming about my window seat and the ability to plug in my headphones and relax, there was just one thought bouncing through my sleepy little head.

Okay, maybe two.

1. Of course it’s expensive to live here.
2. When can I live here?

Over my four day stay in California, I had the best burrito of my life, the plumpest blueberries I’ve ever tasted, the most wonderful weather forecast I’ve ever known, and the scenery, mountain after mountain after mountain, just couldn’t be beat.

It makes sense that there would be a premium on living in paradise.

One day, when I’m making ‘California money’, I’ll come back and buy a little house in the desert just like this one.

My California trip was chiefly a work trip.

Flown out to grab content for a NASA mission called QUESST, I took advantage of the upcoming long weekend to turn my two-day work trip into a long weekend exploring California.

While most of my time was spent happily behind my camera grabbing content at the NASA event, then photographing Hipcamp listings out in Joshua Tree, there were plenty of opportunities to explore, too.

Out in Palmdale I had the misfortune of staying at the Rose