Pinnacles National Park - April 2014

Elisabeth and I took and adventure to Pinnacles National Park. Interestingly enough, it's a very recent national park. It was a national monument, but it was signed in to park status in just 2013. It's a great place to visit for hiking and it provides a lot of inspiration for one to practice rock climbing. With all of the available rocks and space, the rock face challenges you to climb it. What have you got to lose?

I went for the volcanic structures and ancient geological leftovers, but I ended up with amazement at the amount of wildlife available to a hiker. There were tons of birds (even turkeys!), lizards, snakes, squirrels, and more. It is spring time, so wildflowers are to be expected.

Enough talk. Here's some photos; I hope you enjoy them!

We saw this pine cone within the first 100 feet of our hike. I think my exact words were, "SWEET BABY RAY'S LOOK AT THAT PINECONE."
Elisabeth added for size reference. Sorry, I didn't have any bananas for scale.

Here's a pretty cool black and white photo of the above pine cone. They are a great inspiration for drawing, in my opinion. Also, dragons.

Here's a wonderful yellow flower that was growing between some fallen branches. 

Here's an Elisabeth that was growing between some fallen rocks.

We actually made two trips to Pinnacles, hence the change of clothing. This was from the second trip. I think the fact that we made two trips is a testament to the attraction of the park.

Rocks are just so natural and rocky.

The view of the reservoir after crawling through some caves and climbing some stairs.

She knows she's so damned adorable.

I love swallowtail butterflies. I've had some obsession with them ever since I was a kid.

I also like lizards. I am practically a herpetologist! 

Up-close shot of a horned lizard. Definitely inspiration for original dragon stories.
They look so prehistoric. They do not show fear when approached - this one actually took a run at Elisabeth when she got too close!

This lizard's scales scream, "Go ahead, eat me. See how long you live after that."

Here's a rock photo in the middle of wildlife photographs. Why didn't I put it up by the other rock photos? BECAUSE FUCK YOU BLOGGER BLOG EDITOR. JESUS I just wanted to move my photos, what the hell! No, I don't want to attach to images to each other. Why the fuck would I want to hook them together? I even downloaded your stupid ass Chrome browser for this shit! GAWD!

I'm done venting. Fuck you Blogger.

This bird was hassling us for our food crumbs. He knows what's up.

Kuh-kaw!

Califlora et Califauna

The real title of this post should be, "Various ways that I abuse the shit out of f/1.8 on my 50mm lens." I love this new lens though. If you're ever wondering, "Should I buy myself a 50mm f/1.8 lens for my amateur photography kit?", then answer is, "Yes".

These photos are from around the Monterey Museum of Art. We took a trip to check out the photographs of local artists, and I felt it was appropriate to take some photos myself. 

Theme for this post: Deb from the TV series Dexter.

Motherfuckin' bugs in the mud down here! Fuck!
It looks like the duck has wheels on his bootyfeathers.

Bobbing for waterbugs - best done in pairs. How adorable!

Get Honey,
Pollinate Flowers
Bitches.

This flower pretty much kicks ass.

Jesus, this picture makes me feel sick. Someone should take my camera away from me.

Trim this mothahfuckin' tree! Kuh-kaw!

Blurry takeoff photo. Bastard bird was trying to elude me!

I stuck my hand out and this damselfly landed on it. It was so cool! Well, I thought it was cool.

This goose was ready to kick our asses - it hissed at me when I tried to take his photo.
BRING IT GOOSE! I'LL MESS YOU UP!

BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS N SHIT! DAMN THEIR SO LOVELY AND PROBABLY SMELL NICE!

TINY DAMNED FLOWERS ARE BADASS!

So yeah, maybe my captions are really more Mr. Torgue rather than Deb from Dexter. Does it really matter? No. Enjoy some photographs. I enjoy sharing them.

Toodles, melon farmers!

Point Lobos and Carmel Beach

Hello! I took some more photos of Point Lobos, but this time there's less splashing and more overcast skies. It was still nice and warm, but I had to actually wear a sweatshirt the entire time. I know, life sucks and then you die. I had to wear a sweatshirt in February. Poor me. :(

We also went to Carmel (before Point Lobos, but the pictures are after Point Lobos. They aren't chronological, sheesh, let up on me!) and spent some time on the beach. It's a very dog friendly beach, and it was great to see everyone out there with their animal friends too.

As you can tell, the trip started as a mushroom and disease hunt! Elisabeth and I sure are fun. We look for decay, rot, bacteria, and viruses everywhere we go.

Some disease kickin' this plant's ass.

This one was really neat because it appears to have holes burned through it.

Mycelia! We moved a fallen log expecting to find mycelia, and look, we found it! This is the part of fungus that you normally don't see. When it's ready to form spores, it typically forms a fruiting body (the mushroom / cap.) It does look like cobwebs, and it's probably in the ground underneath you everywhere you go. Mycelia will invade your body when you're dead. =^) Unless you're cremated...OH WAIT, It'll still eat you! 

Fruiting bodies of the above mycelia! It's like a beautiful flower that eats dead organic material instead of sunlight.
Mushrooms and fungus are so cool. Especially when they are this photogenic.

More mushrooms - these all popped up after the nice rain storms that we had recently.

This one was especially cool, in my opinion. It's a large dead mushroom that was once growing on a live tree. But, unfortunately, the mushroom seemed to have died...and is now being consumed by another type of mold! It appears to be an Aspergillus of some sort. (I don't have tools to identify this sort of stuff.)

Nifty little spider, seen here collecting dew. I wonder if spiders drink / eat the water off their webs? I've never thought about that before now.

Some sweet chromatic shells that we found on the beach. I might have nicked 'em after this photo. Maybe I didn't. You have no evidence!

Some living creatures on a rock at Point Lobos' "Hidden Beach". I am not sure what they are. There's a mussel in the middle, and they kind of look barnacle-ish, but I'm not convinced. #fuckifIknow
They're kinda creepy...and Lovecraftian...

Kuh-kaw, bitches! Try to splash me now!
There were lots of raptors out hunting.

Elisabeth under siege by the ocean spray and the wind. Hint: her hair lost the fight. :(

A California Poppy! My mom has this in Pocatello, they remind me of home. Odd that the California Poppy reminds me of Idaho.

Cute deer. What, I am not a writer, I can't come up with captions for everything...

You know how I feel about splash photos.
The sea was actually green here! We had to do some dangerous rock climbing to get in to this position - I slipped and almost took a rocky landing to the face.

"Excuse me sir, do you have a moment to hear the word of SPLISH SPLASH BEIATCH!"
What a tasteless caption. I'll leave it.

All these poor people being consumed by the mist. I can feel "Silent Hill: Carmel" rolling in off the ocean. Skinless dogs, I'm coming for you!

Sad girls por vida.
(She's not really sad, she's in wet toes ecstasy.)

Elisabeth cannot resist putting her feet in the ocean. Whenever we get near the water, she starts breathing heavily and her eyes dilate...she looks at me and slowly asks, "Can I..."
*heavy breathing*
"...put my feet..."
*heavy breathing intensifies*
"IN THE OCEAN?"

She never stops to consider how difficult it is to put on socks after your feet are soaked. Plus, sand on the feet. It's a miserable cycle; you try to wash off the sand in the water, but then more sand sticks to your feet as you move away from the water.
I just wear boots and make this face when she asks me to join her:

Photos from the city of Monterey, California. (December 2013 / January 2014)

I've been truly enjoying winter in California. I don't have to deal with snow, icy roads, or wet ankles. The best part about the winter here is that I can still see flowers blossoming everywhere. Of course, the leaves have fallen off some of the trees and there are some wintering plants, but for the most part, a lot of things are still green. Elisabeth and I went out over one weekend to Monterey, California to snap some photos and enjoy our weekend.

I hope you like the flowers!

Technically not a flower.
The duck has made a disturbance in the reflection.  Pray he does not disturb it further.
(Maybe also technically not a duck...)

Transparent red leaved plant. I don't know how best to describe this plant, but it grows tall and has a woody stem. The leaves at the end of the branch turns a very nice red color.

A shrub similar to the red one above, but it was purple. I'm going to work on finding out what kind of plants these were, and maybe I'll get back to you.

Roses are red,
Violets are blue;
But this rose is pink...
So how about...forget it.

Foxglove! It'll kill your ass dead!
(Or give you a mild case of nausea.)

Some variety of Fuchsia. They are such an exquisite flower. I like this picture because it's like some alien flower plant approaching to land. 

Some sort of Daisy. Probably Daisydaisy Adair variety. No, you don't think so? Ok, I tried. Whatever.

I'm not sure what this is. It looks similar to the purple flower below, but I thought they were both Fuchsias from a distance. When I come in closer for a photograph, it turns out that they are not.

Life and death, good and bad, living and dead...all of that cliche garbage in one photograph.

Purple flowers are a theme in Monterey, I guess. I've seen this one before in Idaho, but I don't recall the name of the plant. 

"Chomp"
This flower is often mistaken for the common koi fish. They seem to take a lot of water, so you don't want to let this one dry out if you bring one home.

Elisabeth's go-to awesomeface. D'aww!

Look at that fool with the hair! And the nose! Who has a nose like that?
What am I doing in this picture? Three options.
1:Fighting miniature ninjas in my hair.
2: Just ran in to a large invisible spider web.
3: No clue, it's just obvious that I have a problem.