Kings Canyon National Park

Over the last weekend, I went on a camping trip with my family. My brother, who lives rather far away from me now that I am in LA, also attended for one night. I was so pleased and excited about him being there, that I woke up at around 5:30 AM, while he was still asleep, built a fire and grilled a steak, a pound of bacon and four eggs to share. The whole thing took about an hour and a half, including the time to get the fire to the right level. I have no pictures of that, but it was one of my favorite parts of the trip.

I also did a bit of trout fishing along the South Fork Kings River, but only ended up catching a couple of small Rainbows, which I put back. I was hoping to catch a larger fish, because fresh trout is my favorite camping treat (forget s'mores).

The canyon was absolutely gorgeous - I had had no idea this park was so beautiful. I took more than my fair share of photos, and I'll put a few of my favorites below.

This fawn was bedded down beside a log along the path to Muir Rock, a huge rock especially suited for use as a diving point for river swimmers. 

I love this picture of the leaping scrub jay. Another lucky shot - I was trying to snap a picture of him on the edge of the log, but he had other plans. It turned out that they worked well for me, too.

Parts of the canyon wall had moss, which gave them a wonderful mosaic look.

I've made it one of my life goals to visit every national park in the United States. I can't wait to see what else I find!

Winter Road Trip - Northern California, Cont.

On the road trip I took all over Northern California, I shot a few rolls of film. These are some of my favorites. Oh, yeah. That girl on the log is me, so I didn't take that one. 

Winter Road Trip - Northern California

My boyfriend and I moved from Santa Cruz to Los Angeles in June of 2013, and we have been missing the Northern California wilderness. We decided to take a two-week vacation over the holidays to visit his family in Mill Valley and to spend New Year's in Yosemite with one of our best friends and her parents. I took the opportunity to practice photography; I learned in college on a Pentax K1000 film camera, and I am trying to master digital photography with my boyfriend's Canon Rebel XS.

The first trail we hiked on our trip was Coyote Ridge in Mill Valley.

We followed up with a walk along the boardwalk through Richardson Bay, where I admired the diversity of wildlife. 

We then drove to Yosemite to spend a few days over the New Year's holiday with our friend and her parents in a rented Yosemite West condo. We stopped on the way to visit with my brother and our podcast co-host in Manteca.

After Yosemite, we returned our friend home to Santa Cruz - I drove and it had so much fun. I love curvy mountain roads. We then traveled back to Mill Valley for a few more days and one incredible hike with my boyfriend's brother to Alamere Falls, one of the few tidefalls in the world.

When I went back to work for my final week before graduate school, my co-workers noted that I had been "revitalized." I think this was in response to me dropping the f-bomb every few sentences and making at least one crude reference to inter-generational love-making. Anyway, I think they're mostly right. This trip made me feel great, and I am so looking forward to my next road trip; perhaps Yellowstone?