View Of The Viking

Sindre Johnsgaard

After visiting some friends in Texas first, we flew from Dallas to Los Angeles. We had already rented a car, so whenever we got there, the road trip could begin!

The first “trip” was made from Los Angeles to San Diego which is about a three hour drive.

I must say, San Diego really is one of the most beautiful cities I’ve seen. For all of you who are interested in photography, La Jolla is an absolute must. Scripps Pier was one of my favorite places to shoot throughout the entire trip. This can be found close to the University of California at San Diego campus. Windansea Beach was another cool place to shoot where there is a distinguishing landmark called “The Surf Shack” which makes for some good photos. Sunset Cliffs was a fun place to go exploring and shoot sunset pictures. After that day I definitely understood why it was called Sunset Cliffs. There was a lot of climbing that day, and very sadly one of my flip flops got lost while trying to climb from one place to another. So let’s take a moment to remember my dear flip flop.... One last place I would like to mention in San Diego is the famous Balboa Park. This park is gigantic and offers everything from museums, gardens, attractions, and other venues. This is a place that can entertain anyone from small kids who likes to run around and have fun, people interested photography, to people who just enjoy watching everything that is going on around them.

 Balboa park, Scripps Pier and Santa Monica Pier!

After four nights in San Diego, we were headed back to Los Angeles, but we all agreed that we had to make a pit stop at the world famous flower fields in Carlsbad, which is located just about 45 minutes from San Diego. I have never seen this many flowers at the same place before, and with every color you could imagine. Hours were spent there photographing, and if it wasn’t for the fact that they closed at 6 PM I would probably still be there.

Late that same night we arrived Los Angeles, and we stayed there for two nights. I’m sure most of you have heard of Santa Monica beach. This was of course of the first places we had to check out in California. I mean, what’s more iconic than the Ferris wheel and roller-coaster sitting atop Santa Monica Pier? The next day was spent in Malibu. Close to Malibu is Calabasas where the Kardashians live. Without mentioning any names, someone wanted to go there and see if they could spot the famous family, but this was luckily shut down very fast. However, we did get to see someone famous that day. After seeing some of my friend (@activitymonster on Instagram) awesome photos from El Matador Beach this was a place we had to check out. Luckily/unfortunately they were shooting a commercial at the time, so I didn’t get to shoot where I wanted to because they had closed down a lot of the beach. After walking around I heard some rumors that the world famous Hollywood Star Emma Stone was there. And what do you know, as we were about to leave Emma Stone walks by me in a morning robe. I was so perplex I didn’t even take a picture. For you food lovers, it’s this place called “Bui Sushi” who serves incredible food. Not only sushi, but also other dishes. Last few things about Los Angeles. Yes, we went to Rodeo Drive, and yes the traffic is as crazy as people tell you, but yes you still have to go. It’s Los Angeles!

Yosemite National Park is probably one of the most famous parks in the world. I had already been there once before, but I was definitely not against to go back when the rest of the group thought that this was a good idea. We then drove 4,5 hours from Los Angeles to a small place called Merced about an hour and a half from Yosemite. We stayed there for two nights because lodging can be quite difficult to find close to Yosemite. Instead of going on and on about Yosemite I’ll rather post some of my photos from there and if anyone has any questions about how to get there or which places you must see when at the park feel free to ask me.

“Only” 3,5 hours away from Yosemite, is San Francisco which was the next stop on our road trip. As a landscape photographer, I use Instagram a lot, and one of the things I had seen a lot on there, and I knew I wanted to see in real life was the Cypress Tree Tunnel. It’s basically a tunnel of Monterrey cypress trees located on the Point Reyes Peninsula located only 1,5 hours from San Francisco. Other notable things to see and do in San Francisco is Fisherman’s Wharf and if you have time, take the ferry out to Alcatraz Island, it’s a really cool experience.

Unfortunately, it was time to go back home soon.... We did have one more night though, and since the distance from San Francisco to Los Angeles is almost 7 hours, we decided that our last layover was going to be at the beautiful village of Solvang, Santa Barbara. We took the scenic route which was a little bit further, but it was worth it. There were two highlights on that drive. We found a little secluded place called Moss Beach, which was incredible. Oh, and I almost forgot. Suddenly we realized that the road was closed, so we had to drive up and across the mountains which was both scary and amazing at the same time. I have to admit that I’m just a little bit scared of heights, and it was pretty far down on both sides, but the stunning view at the top made it worth it. If you are taking this route I would recommend that you take into consideration that you might spend a few more hours than expected because there are so many places you just HAVE to stop! Such as Carmel, Pigeon Point Lighthouse and Big Sur. However, back to Solvang. What’s so cool about this place is that as you can probably hear, the name is derived from Denmark, and the village is also very influenced by its Scandinavian roots. One of the restaurants was named after HC. Andersen, the famous Danish writer. It even had some danish dishes.

After a wonderful evening in Solvang, it was time to head back to LAX the following day. The 10 day amazing road trip was over, and memories for life was made!