A few months ago I went on a road trip with some friends to the Imperial Sand Dunes. Our main objective was to go sand sledding and stargazing but we also got to do some fun activities in La Jolla. There were 8 of us total and it was one of my favorite weekends away from my home in a long while 🙂 Here’s a look at some of the stuff we got up to!
Friday, April 17
12:30pm
I drove me and three of my friends from our neighborhood to the dunes. The drive took about 5 hours, the longest drive I’ve been on in my car since I got it in December 2025. We listened to a bunch of classical music, anime openings, World Cup* anthems, and the occasional country song. We barely dodged the Coachella traffic, thankfully, and stopped at a rest stop maybe an hour out from the dunes for some tacos and really clean bathrooms. It was my first time seeing slot machines in a gas station and I thought it was funny. I don’t really have a favorite snack so I got some snacks I’ve never tried before (and spoiler, didn’t even eat them lol). I got two carne asada tacos and two al pastor tacos which I did eat and very much enjoyed.
After we refueled our bodies and not the car (oops), we continued our drive to the dunes.
*This has, as of late, become incredibly important to me.
6:00pm
My car arrived at the dunes first and phew, those dunes were unlike anything I have ever seen in my life!! They were majestic and I was tickled to see such an immense, unbothered landscape.
We got out of the car, did our stretches, and got to work waxing the sleds before our adventures. I bought the sleds from Amazon over the course of a couple months and a month before our scheduled trip my friend and I went to go test them on some 10ft sand berms near us. We at first tried to go down them without any wax and it was pretty rough LOL. Thankfully I thought ahead and got some great wax from the one and only Dr. Dune alla Venomous Boards (incredible customer service btw) and with just a coat we were able to get down!! Fast forward to us now at the dunes, we were about to put them to the true test on 30ft+ slopes.
Side note – I love that these sleds live in the back of my car still. They’re a sweet (and a little sandy) reminder that you can do whatever you want with your life and your friends!
After waxing the boards and putting on our Sand Socks we set off from the parking lot to do some initial runs on a small dune close to the parking lot to get our bearings and be close enough for the other car to see us once they arrived.
It was one thing to see the sand dunes from the car and parking lot but to actually walk in it was something else. It was so… serene. The sand was the softest, cleanest sand I’ve ever experienced. And even though there were a couple of ATVs ripping it near enough for us to see them sometimes, I still found the ordeal of being out in the dunes very relaxing. Watching the wind pick up and blow streams of sand around was kind of like watching fish swim. Meditative, low sensory load, engaging but not overstimulating. It really was very special.
After we did a couple of intro runs on a small hill, we picked a bigger one to set as camp for the evening. Here’s my first sled down that big hill!
7:00pm
The second car arrived and the gang was finally all there! 😀 Here’s a video my friend took of us getting settled – he even captured some friends meeting for the first time hahaha.
Once everyone got acquainted and someone found the bottle opener, it was time to get down and start really sledding! Here are some more pics:
After a few normal, feet first runs, I was feeling bold and thought – why not go head first? Honestly, very dangerous! But also? Very fun 🙂
Thankfully no major injuries on our many runs however of course here’s a video of me wiping out because what am I gonna do, not post the funny thing?
Funny enough I was saying “fear fear fear” because I thought my friends were going to collide in front of me. WRONG!!!! And it was awesome hahaha I’m glad I got it on video.
And you know what’s EVEN FUNNIER?????? There is the spectator POV!!!
AND WHAT’S THE FUNNIEST??????????????? TWO!!!! SPECTATOR POVS HAHAHA.
I had a blast sledding down this big hill over and over – before, after, and during the wipeout 😀 The walk back up with the sled was a great workout too. We sled and sled right up until the sun started to go down.
8:00pm
As the sun was setting, I tried to suppress my laughter because of all the chaos going on in the background. My friend, explaining to the group that the sun we’re seeing is one of the two on Tatooine. Another friend, trying to take a video of the setting sun but instead accidentally pulling up an internal build of the game we work on, on their phone. Another friend exclaiming with another friend about something random and not safe for work. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately?) you can’t hear all of that in the video, and I do break in the end, but it’s just because I was overwhelmed with delight. I felt so much love and light in that moment. I was so pleased that of all the places and people on earth, I got to experience such an iconic sunset surrounded by so much silliness and joy.
Plus, I love sunsets. But I especially love sunrises. I think there is something very rare and beautiful to me about spending the start of a day with people but I know that’s harder to come by, especially for someone like me. That being said, I’ll happily experience a sunset with others whenever I can. It’s quite nice catching the end of the day with people too, and this one in particular was so pretty and unique.
After watching the sun go down, me and three others went on an adventure to a far out, big dune. I’m talking FAR. A proper trek. At least 2 or 3 big dunes away from our home camp big dune.
We were able to sled a couple of times before getting caught by the pitch black darkness on some 40ft+ dunes. Those videos didn’t turn out super well unfortunately but luckily this one of me and my friend racing downhill did! The commentary makes me laugh every time.
9:30pm
By the time we returned to camp, it was the perfect time to start setting up for some nighttime pics of the sky. Stargazing was phenomenal. Very relaxing and calm, plus the second layer of sand was warm once you wiggled a little into it. One of my favorite moments was laying down with my friend, belly up, using our arms as human tripods to get pictures of the sky. So silly, shouldn’t have worked, but honestly I got some pretty good pics! My other friend was smart and brought a tripod and a really nice phone to get quality pictures of the sky hahaha but since I don’t have access to those right now, here are my jank human tripod photos.
10:30pm
After a long day of driving and sledding I was pretty tired so I asked my friend to drive us to our AirBnb in La Jolla, about 2 hours away. He’s the only person other than me to drive my car so far and oh BOY does he drive FAST!!! I was floored and so was the gas pedal!!! Also you know how I decided not to get gas when we stopped for tacos earlier in the day? Yeah, ummm…
because we didn’t even have enough to get to our AirBnb so we had to stop with like 30 minutes of our drive left to go at midnight. T^T
It was pretty chaotic and also the closest I’ve ever gotten to a fully empty tank in a vehicle haha but against all sleepiness we made it safely to the AirBnb. Thank you to my friend who got us there in literal record time! As soon as we got in the house, everyone showered, and went to sleep.
The ladies got to share the kid’s room so I slept in a roomy bunk bed with my friend.
Saturday, April 18
8:00am
Me and two friends woke up early to get pastries for the household. We got a smattering of baked goods at Wayfarer Bread.
Although I love pastries, I definitely prefer a hot breakfast if I have the option and since I did have the option, I got a breakfast sandwich at Bird Rock Surf Shop nearby right after.
At this shop, they had a very eye-catching display of tinned fish so I also got a few to try! I learned I liked tinned fish during the pandemic and always perk up at the opportunity to try new brands. I got the tuna pâté, smoked sardines in olive oil, and the smoked salmon in extra virgin olive oil. The brand is José Gourmet.
9:30am
After purchasing my fish and sandwich, we walked a ways towards the water and found a little spot overlooking Bird Rock. We sat, ate, and chilled for a bit before going back to the house.
And yes, there was a non-bird on that rock!
12:00pm
Our first activity of the day with the whole group was kayaking! It was my first time ever and I looooved it! It was my favorite non-sledding/stars activity for sure 🙂
I loved being right on the surface of the water and moving around quickly and freely – though not as easily as expected because although I am right handed and my friend is left handed, I am left side dominant so we kept veering off to one side haha.
I also loved that I could take a break from paddling to enjoy the waves rocking the boat a little bit. Surprisingly, I didn’t get nauseated from the movements! I instead found them pretty comforting. Plopping my feet overboard, sandals and all, felt very good too. The sun was hot and the water was cool. It was so much fun!
Most of the time we spent paddling to and fro, near the caves and out in the open by the far buoys. Near the caves there was a bunch of seals and they definitely were the stars of the show for a lot of the kayakers.
In between chilling and chatting, max speed paddling for fun, and observing the various creatures (mostly seals and birds), my friend and I messed with our other friends a bit too. Once we’d position near enough to the other boat, one or both of us would ask “What’s your favorite kind of steak?” and before they even get a chance to answer (or, even funnier, when one of our friends actually started reciting a thoughtful and honest answer to the question), we’d ram into them and say “T-BONE”. Very funny. Did it three times. Would do it again. Also, of course engaged our friend in real conversation about their favorite steak afterwards hahaha.
Here’s a video of a pelican we saw chilling right after said earnest T-bone incident!
Also, my friend took this pic of me. It’s one of my favorite pictures of myself taken in recent years. 🙂
He also took this video me bodying the hell out of the kayak challenge (standing up on a kayak for 10 seconds). Shout out to my lower center of gravity! It is hard to see here but I was so excited when I stood up fully that I put my arms above my head like this: \o/
It was pretty difficult to use my phone out on the water since, you know, had to paddle LOL so I don’t have as many pics and videos to share for this but just know I had a fun time and I really would love to go kayaking again. Big highlight of the trip for me 😀
Here’s one last pic – a close up of the seals, bathing on the rock.
2:00pm
After a lovely morning of kayaking, we got lunch at a place called Barbarella.
Also, I think it’s funny to mention that I made another big miss steak of wearing my only shorts when we went kayaking and so, of course, I was soaked the second I got into the boat and thought hm… I can’t sit in the car like this. Cut to me after getting out of the boat, peeling my shorts off and just rocking my bathing suit at this restaurant while I hoped that my shorts would dry on the top of my friend’s car LOL.
Anyway, I got some yummy lemon ricotta pancakes and had a slice of my friends’ pizza. The food was tasty. A lot of folks had various mimosas with their meals but I opted for a couple of limoncello shots instead hehe so after lunch (yes my shorts were passably dry, yay!) my friend drove us to our next destination: Tide Pools!
3:30pm
We went to the La Jolla Tide Pools – my first time at a tide pool, surprisingly! Having grown up in the PNW, I did go clamming a few times as a kid so I’d say that was the closest experience to this, though this was way more fun and had the added bonus of not having to be up at 3am to enjoy the low tide lol.
I had so much fun wading in the water (though some of the rocks did hurt to step on haha) and looking for little creatures in the pools. I learned I don’t know how to pick shells without little baby hermit crabs already inhabiting them so I spent most of the time just walking around. Here’s a few of pics of what it looked like there plus a pic of my friend poking an anemone.
Of my favorite things at the tide pool to see, one of them is certainly this extremely circular tide pool. I was shocked at the symmetry. It seemed like a near perfect circle to me and I thought that was very, very cool. Nature is awesome!
My favorite creature at the pools was this little crab baby. They were blowing bubbles!
This was taken at a tide pool with at least 8 other little crabs, hiding, laying in wait for movement around the pools to cease before coming out. It was very fascinating – I stumbled upon this pool on accident. I was walking by and noticed in my periphery the little blobs near the edge of the pool rapidly disappearing. Only when I stopped did I realize it was a cast of crabs hanging out! I think I spent most of my time sitting at this pool, waiting for them all to emerge and do their little crab things in the sun.
Here are a few other pictures I managed to take in between wading around and waiting for the crabs to come out.
I had a great time out here in the tide pools! Loved all the forms of life everywhere, easy to observe and just hang out with for however long. Some folks were pretty tired after the tide pools so we made a quick pitstop at the AirBnb to drop folks off before continuing on our adventures.
At the house, my friend shared his collection of a bunch of awesome shells with the group. I chose a few for myself and now they live on my mantle in a cool, handmade cup that reminds me of ocean waves – the perfect home!
After everyone caught their breath a bit, we drove over to the Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve for an evening hike and rendezvous with more friends who also happened to have a day out in San Diego.
6:30pm
This was lovely. Not really a hike, more of a walk, but still nice. I was stunned by the striations in the faces of the cliffs, they were so distinct and looked very beautiful with the setting sun.
Partway through, I stopped to take a pic of this gorgeous flower. My phone thinks it’s a Field Bindweed but Google images seems to think it’s a Coast Morning Glory. Whatever it is, I think it’s one of the prettiest flowers I’ve happened to come across. I love the way the sunlight makes the petals look almost iridescent.
Since we arrived as the sun was setting, we didn’t get to stay out on the walk very long. It was brief but meaningful. I got a little emotional at the lookout.
8:30pm
After the walk, we had dinner at El Pescador Fish Market. I didn’t take a lot of pictures because I started to tire of holding my phone haha but the place was neat. Busy, but we were able to seat our whole party out on the back patio where I got cold for the first time!!! Something about the air was getting to me and my bones – I attribute it mostly to being hungry, now – but my teeth were chattering in a way they had never chattered before which was so ironic and kind of crazy because we were in a beach town. My friend grabbed a blanket for me from the car so I got to eat my oysters and fish tacos like I was a rich person dawned in fur (AKA the free blanket I got from a friend who got it from work) hahaha. By the end of dinner, I was no longer cold and instead rearing for a nice cold sweet treat!
9:20pm
After dinner, we bopped on over to Bobboi for said sweet treat. YUM! I got the Bacio (dark chocolate and Italian hazelnut) and the Stracciatella (Italian vanilla with chocolate chips) flavors. Delicious.
10:15pm
At the end of the night, after everyone’s round of showers, a few of us stayed up a little longer to play this betting game called Hot Streak. It’s a game where players make bets on the outcome of the race which is determined by a deck of cards that each player contributes to. It’s a well-designed game and pretty fun!
After one round of the game, I tapped out and crawled into my bunk bed and fell asleep.
Sunday, April 19
8:30am
Me and the same two friends from the previous morning set off again but this time went to Parakeet cafe to get some coffee before we walked over to Children’s Pool Beach to say hello to the sleepy harbor seals and their sleepier pups.
Before we get into the seals, check out these seagulls. We caught this weird seagull riding their homie around, a seagull nested in a rock, and also this super bold one that let me take a picture of it up close.
Like, look at this LOL. Funny birbs.
We walked out on the seawall and seal watched for like an hour. I loved watching these little logs do their thing with my friends. It was a great way to start our last day of the trip together.
My favorite things to see the seals do were to enter/emerge from the water because wow, how can they MOVE like that?? And also to see them do the banana pose… so cute…. ahhhhh!!
9:15am
After visiting the seals, I asked my friends if we could stop at another cafe called Brick & Bell across the street from the cafe we got coffee at in the morning before heading back to the house. It was very cute and had a real functioning bell on the outside! I got a yummy cinnamon roll and my friend got a seed pod like the ones in this Reddit post because the owner of the cafe asked him to take a low one down so it wouldn’t impale the customers and damage property LOL. Kind of gnarly, but cool souvenir!
11:30am
Our last activity all together in La Jolla was to eat some absolutely delicious tacos for lunch from a place called Taco Time Cantina. Fun fact, my favorite fast food place growing up is also called Taco Time – I only knew about it because there was one right next to my high school haha. They, tragically, only exist in the PNW where I’m from so the moment I moved to California, I had to learn to let go T^T I remember being so sad about it in college that I Tweeted them about it, asking them to think about expanding LOL. I haven’t had Taco Time in a few years now sadly. I am looking forward to a crisp burrito the next time I’m back in the PNW… mmm.
Anyway, back to the trip – the tacos from the Taco Time in La Jolla were incredible!! I shared the prime rib taco and the mushroom taco with my friend and they were sooo good I wish I had gotten one more. They also had quite the impressive salsa bar and the chips were tasty too. Would definitely come back here if ever I’m back in La Jolla, maybe the next time we go sledding again 🙂
After lunch, it was time for everyone to say goodbye and load back into their cars (either mine or the other) and make our way back home. The drive back was pretty long and I got pretty tired near the end of it but no matter how exhausted I possibly could’ve been, all of it was so worth it!
Epilogue
I had an amazing, amazing time playing with my friends outside and exploring a new place (to me) together. It was a weekend full of nothing but fun and activities – my ideal kind of weekend haha. I definitely want to do a trip like this again – in fact I feel like we kinda have to because the sleds do live in the back of my car now hahaha.
Even though it took me months to write this post, I’m so glad that I did because now I can look back on those memories and moments easily. That being said, even though it’s been some time since this trip, it was pretty easy to recap because it was just that meaningful to me. I mentioned it was my favorite weekend away from home in a long time because it really was so easy to coordinate and do things while we were there. I don’t usually go on trips, much less trips with a large group of people, but this opened my eyes to the possibilities of larger scale adventures with friends because everything went so smoothly. The weekend was over in a blink of an eye. It was so, so fun.
Big thank you to my friend for organizing all our of activities in La Jolla and for being the main driver on getting the gang together to go sand sledding and stargazing in the first place! ❤
Looking forward to our next trip :3
BONUS: Metadata
Something cool I made recently: https://gabby-eng.github.io/card-collector
- I made my own digital binder accessible through browser! This has been a project I have had in my back pocket for over a year but I finally found the time and motivation to make it a couple of weeks ago. I took it as an opportunity to learn how to use a new tool, Claude AI, for agentic coding – something they’ve been encouraging us to explore more at work. I’m looking forward to using this for our next Frank & Son trip as it will aid me nicely on my quest to collect all Togekiss, Yuka Morii, and Asako Ito cards.
- I’m working on something else exciting as well but I’ll post about it once I’ve completed it! I’ve been enjoying tinkering and making things again and I’m very happy about it.
Something I’m learning how to do: a pull-up!
- I’ve been working out everyday for the last 34+ days, all in the name of doing a pull-up (and okay, some in the name of a stronger back overall so I can do cooler pole tricks). I’m really proud of myself. I used to work out a lot, mostly in middle school through college, but really got derailed because of the pandemic, my eventual first cushy tech job, and lots of other life things. Anyway it didn’t take a lot of effort to get back into the routine. The hardest part was accepting that it would take time to build strength again because I’m nowhere near as strong as I used to be. Happy to say that now I can consistently get my nose above the bar. I think I can get it soon if I keep working hard 🙂
A song I’ve been listening to lately: “Fragments” from String Quartet No. 6, “Reflections” by Jeremy Crosmer (b.1987)
- A snippet of this performance was suggested on my shorts feed and I adore it. It sounds like hope, curiosity, and fun. It reminds me of spring, but the cello brings in notes of fall, too. Cello is so beautiful. If I didn’t have to take the bus to school when I started learning the violin, I would have asked to switch to cello. I hope to play music with people again some day. Part of why I like this video so much is that I see the musicians enjoying playing with each other too.
- I’ve been really enjoying playing music again. I only spend maybe 30 minutes a day practicing so it’s not as all encompassing as it used to be but I find a lot of fun in those 30 minutes. Funny pic from this last week – I hadn’t taped my violin yet but my new teacher thought it would be beneficial BUT the school ran out of tape (??) so we added stars to my neck instead hahaha. I think it’s very cute.
gossamer 