California Trip

On Saturday my friend and I flew to Los Angeles and then drove up to Valencia to visit Six Flags Magic Mountain. Even though it was easily 100 degrees in the blazing sun and we got stuck on a rollercoaster for 20 minutes after the sun went down, the day was fun and memorable. We waited an hour to two hours for each of the big rides and they were thrilling but, we probably had the most fun on silly little rides like the Scrambler and bumper cars. We also had fun on the trolly that took us back to our car, the driver was being silly and making us laugh.

On Sunday we drove to Beverly Hills, up and down Rodeo Drive. Then to Hollywood and saw the Hollywood sign. Then to the Venice Beach area where I got to go into the Pacific ocean for the first time! I wasn't planning on going all the way in, just wading. But the water felt so nice that I couldn't resist and plunged in fully dressed. Hopping waves (and getting knocked over by waves) I felt like a little kid again, it was a blast. But I had to fly home in my pajamas! At least I was comfy on the plane. Enjoy the pics!


Mt Rainier from the plane


Sculpture Garden in Beverly Hills





They have cool trees in Beverly Hills


Me on Rodeo Drive


As seen through the smoggy haze


Sweet grafiti art near LA




Me going into the water


Me coming out


Me wet and wiped


Me soaked and sandy

I swear, sand got EVERYWHERE

Well, that's about it. I look forward to more fun trips this year, hopefully.

Nada

I've got nothing to share from my relaxing, quiet, and all-around lazy weekend. But here's a photo I took on May 3rd (happens to be my late Grandpa Shorty's birthday)



I think he would like living here, he loved nature too.

Last Weekend

Hi there, I just realized that the weekend is almost upon us (thank the good Lord above) and I have yet to post photos from last weekend. Get with it Angela!

So I took a hike Saturday morning at Mt. Rainier. And although it was cut short because I wasn't feeling well, I still saw a bunch of wildlife. Unfortunately I had my old camera with me and that was problematic because 1. I sorta forgot how to use it and 2. it wasn't working properly. So that's my excuse for the lack of quality photos!

So I got up at 3:30am this time and headed out. It seems the earlier I get up the more wildlife I see. This time I got to see a bear! My second time seeing a black bear near the Sunrise area but thankfully I was in my car this time. I saw him off to the right side of the road, digging and foraging for food. I scrambled to get the camera from the backseat and got a few shots off before he bolted, but the flash went off so they were horrible (and the flash probably scared him off too). It was fully light out, the darkness in these photos is just due to plain old poor camera work! lol


Yes, this is a bear. I swear. See...

Bear.

I actually had several opportunities to get great shots that morning and if I were a better photographer with a better camera it could have been amazing. I saw one of the world's smallest hummingbirds. I know this because I remember seeing a Richard Attenborough nature special on birds that talked about the hummingbirds at Rainier. It was red and about the size of a large bug. In fact, I've seen much larger bugs. And as it buzzed from flower to flower at lightening speed it sounded just like a large bug. In fact, I remember hearing that sound on previous ocassions and thinking it was a bug. Nope, it's a tiny bird. Very cool. Because of it's coloring I'm guessing it was a Rufous Hummingbird (thanks Google). Of course, a great photographer would have gotten a photo but I guess I'm content to be a lazy, underachieving photographer :)

Moving along, I also kept seeing a much larger bird alongside the road. Some type of grouse? I saw tons of them. It seemed everywhere I looked I saw some kind of wildlife that morning.


Grouse. Apparently a Blue Grouse (thanks again Google)

As soon as I got on the trail I saw a Black Tail Deer, appears to be a young buck.

And he posed for me, how thoughtful of him.

Deer.

The Subalpine Lupine was in full bloom

Flowers.

And that's it. It was a very short hike, I probably only walked a mile total. So you see, you don't even need to be that adventurous to see cool things at Mt. Rainier. You just need to be willing to wake up at the buttcrack of dawn :)

I don't even remember what I did Sunday but there's no photos to share so it must not have been too exciting.

Hopefully I'll have more photos to post after this weekend too. Til then!

My 4th of July Weekend

Earlier in the week, Wed. or Thurs. I went for a walk with a friend at Flaming Geyser State Park. He took these two photos with my camera.





It was a nice walk.

Friday. July 3rd
I woke up late but still drove up to Mt. Rainier. I got there around noon and it was super crowded. I wasn't expecting my favorite trail (Silver Forest Trail) to be hikeable yet, but it totally was - so of course I went for it. I didn't have my backpack or proper gear with me but I still managed to hike 3 or 4 miles, eating snow to rehydrate, lol. Here are a few pics I snapped that day.





The flowers above look and smell like lilacs. Cool.









See the bee? (above) This could have been an awesome photo if I were a better photographer with a better camera.





Heh, this is a cute look for me dontcha think? (I especially like the big stain on my shirt.) I was determined to avoid a farmers tan but the sunburn on my arms still kills!





Snow. Yum.











Saturday, July 4th
I woke up quite early and headed back to Mt. Rainier (it's an illness, what can I say!) At least I was prepared to hike this time.



(above) This photo was taken inside the National Park at 6:15am. At 6:30 I saw 4 huge bull elk cross the road while I was driving. My camera was on the tripod in the backseat (nearly impossible to retrieve without exiting the car) so I didn't get a picture. You'll have to take my word for it, they were gorgeous creatures and very, very big!

Short vid of 360 mountain views near Sunrise:




I finally took the Sour Dough Ridge Trail (the one I was trying to find when I discovered Silver Forest last year). I made it approx. 1 mile uphill before turning around. I thought it wise since I only slept 3 1/2 hours the night before, I was still nursing my sunburn like a baby, and I had things to do later on. But my goal now is to go back and finish the trail. Uphill is hard.













View of Mt. Adams from the ridge.





(above) Looking ahead. I say again, uphill is hard.



(above) I turned around to see how far I'd come.

View from a cliff on the ridge:


Obviously this trail offers much better views than Silver Forest because of its elevation.

















(above) Nature's grafiti.



And that be it for Mt. Rainier. I went home and took a nap, then headed to my friends' BBQ - very fun. Then saw some fireworks with another friend last night.

Today my sunburn hurts more than ever, I might just take it easy. Tomorrow it's back to work. Now that summer has finally arrived in the mountains I'll probably have pics to post every weekend again :) Catchya next time!