Once or twice, sometimes three times a year I break away from the normal patterns of work life to go somewhere remote. Somewhere where the phone won't work, there is no email and I can spend some time in awe of the landscape. The trip usually involves some level of physical effort to reach. And if I'm lucky, I get to enjoy it in the company of long-time friends or my wife and sometimes my children.

Living in California, it's not hard to find a place removed from the freeways and urban sprawl within a few hours drive. These are images from those places.