Bodega Harbor

Last weekend's kayak around Bodega Bay and Harbor was one of the most wildlife-packed paddles we've been on. We didn't expect to see too much wildlife with the fishing boats coming in and out of the harbor with a negative tide, but there were harbor seals and sea lions everywhere (one sea lion almost seemed to be following us!), large schools of fish, more pelicans that you could shake a stick at, cormorants, the obligatory gulls, crabs, clams, and my personal favorites, three leopard sharks and a whole TON of stingrays. Yep, that's right-- sharks and rays, out in the wild, swimming 4 inches beneath our boats! The sharks were about 2 feet long, and the rays had wingspans up to 2.5 feet-- big ones!

The water in the bay was like glass in the early morning and the reflections were fantastic.


One of the marinas in the harbor has a pier that you can walk out onto for fishing and wildlife viewing.


Have a great Fourth of July!

Bodega Head Sunset

Bodega is a small town on the northern California coast with some great protected and open coast kayaking and tasty fresh seafood restaurants. The town itself sits on the inland side of a natural harbor off a southwest facing bay. We headed up there last weekend for some paddling around Bodega as well as in the nearby Russian River. One evening we headed up to Bodega Head, the high point on the peninsula that forms the harbor, to see the sun set over the ocean (always stunning!).


More shots from kayaking around the harbor and bay to come later this week!

Arnie - Pet Portraits

Arnie (named after golfing great Arnold Palmer) lives with my in-laws-to-be and his brother Jack (named after Jack Nicklaus, of course!). While visiting last weekend, I managed to get in a short portrait session with Arnie. He wasn't too fond of the camera at first, but warmed up to it after a few minutes.

Naperville, IL

My in-laws-to-be recently moved to Naperville, IL (near Chicago), a town voted one of the best places to live in the US. We flew out for a visit this last weekend and checked out the downtown area-- lots of cute shops and restaurants as well as all the big essentials and a couple of art and food festivals.


More photos to come from the weekend, including pet photos, later this week!

Mount Diablo State Park

Saturday we decided to go out for what we fondly call a "Diablo Death March." Basically, we head up to Mount Diablo State Park, and go out for a looooong hike with lots of vertical. It's a nice, cleansing sort of experience. This last one was especially awesome in that we finally managed to connect the five summits-- Twin Peaks, Eagle Peak, Mount Diablo, North Peak and Mount Olympus-- for a butt-kicking 16 mile round-trip, with somewhere in the ballpark of one mile of vertical climbing.

Mount Diablo State Park is a pretty unique place in it's own right. Located in the East Bay, Mount Diablo and friends stand alone in the middle of the Tri-Valley. Because of it's isolation, there are many species of plants and animals that live only on Mount Diablo. Parts of the land are literally turned upside-down, and fossils of ancient marine life, mastadons and saber-toothed cats have been found here. It's also held sacred by the California Miwok people.

Flowers

Each year, my totally awesome grandma sends me flowers on my birthday (she lives in Michigan, and I'm half a continent away in California), so, naturally, I have a great time photographing the blooms! Here's this year's crop....


Thanks, Grandma! :)