Boy researching our upcoming Olympic National Park map was such a drag :)

It has been a damp one but sometimes it gives you views like this :)

Our newest map!  I had to make this map in a slightly different style than usual.  Traditionally the maps I draw highlight the watershed, but since this is Southern California and there isn't much water around, I focused more on other defining features in the park such as the nature found in the park (butterflies and endemic plant species) and the iconic human created structures like the zoo and observatory.  Enjoy!

This week I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to eastern Oregon and stay at the Jennings Hotel.  I came to the Jennings to work on a new chart of the Wallowa Mountain Range.  I find that my maps tend to really work when I have a connection to the place.  My residency at the Jennings was a perfect spot to form that connection.  It sits in the town of Joseph which is at the foot of Chief Joseph Mountain in the Wallowa River Valley.  The mountains are towering and beautiful and the valley is vast and dotted with impeccably maintained cattle ranches.  Each room at the Jennings was designed by a different person but all contain the owners/creators minimalist rustic style.  And to boot the Jennings has an impressive little library where I found books about the natural history and geography of the Wallowa mountains. A side note, I've never experienced a hotel that smelled as good. 

It was quiet when I visited Joseph in winter.  The perfect getaway to reset and work.  It was my fist time away from the kids and it was so strange being by myself.  But good.

I'm so thankful to my husband for holding down the homefront and enabling me to make this trip.

Here are some photos from my time there.