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Skunk Train – Mendocino County, CA

By on Mar 18, 2019 in Historical |

In August of 2017, I took a trip which included Safari West, the Skunk Train, Glass Beach and the Mendocino cliffs. This time I’ll share the Skunk Train. The good and the bad thing about keeping a blog is that I can compare my progress. This was taken not quite 2 years ago, but I can really tell that my eye has developed a lot since then. Not only that, but my technical skill is increasing as well. Makes me excited to see where I’ll be in the next couple of years! The historic Skunk Train is in Mendocino County, California in Redwoods country. It’s a logging train, historically speaking, and this area is still active logging country. On this same trip, I went to Glass Beach right over the hill from the Skunk Train, and turned out it was Paul Bunyan Days – a local celebration of loggers. Totally unplanned! While now the Skunk Train appears to be used primarily...

Houston Zoo – Houston, TX

By on Mar 17, 2019 in Biological |

I spent 3 weeks in Houston, TX on a business trip and went on a number of interesting zoological nerd adventures. Even better? I GOT A NEW CAMERA!!!! It’s a D750, so a nice upgrade from the D3000 I’ve been using for the last 10ish years. Still need to get lenses which allow me to take full advantage of the full-frame capacity, but in the meantime I can continue to have fun and learn. After spending far too much time on You-Tube looking up all the tips and tricks my brain could process, the very first place I went was the Houston Zoo. Overall, the Zoo was a good trip and well worth the time (and sore feet!). They have all kinds of animals but really their bird collection is outstanding. I just wish they weren’t all behind so many layers of wire. Trying to get good pictures of birds behind mesh was not easy!! This little House Sparrow wasn’t a resident of the zoo,...

Central Coast Aquarium – Avila Beach, CA

By on Feb 10, 2019 in Biological | 1 comment

I was looking through the events of a social meetup group and learned that there is an aquarium close by that I had never heard of. The event was called “Fins & Feathers: Exploring the connection between marine life and seabirds.” The guests of honor would be 2 pelicans from Willow Tree Wildlife. That sounded like such a great Nerd Adventure that of course I had to go!     The aquarium is an educational facility open to the public, aimed at creating a direct engagement between the learner and marine life so close by. It offers a number of programs and special events to help foster this.     One of the main touch tank rooms has this gorgeous mosaic mural. If you want to see the whole thing you can visit the Central Coast Aquarium in Avila Beach, CA from Tuesday through Sunday from 10 to 4. Only $8!   The aquarium has a number of touch-tanks which include a variety of...

Ostrich Land USA – Solvang, CA

By on Jul 22, 2018 in Biological |

It’s been too long since I did anything remotely adventure-like, so I decided to revisit a nearby fun place. I went to OstrichLand USA in Buellton/Solvang, CA. I went there last year with my parents and got tons of photos of all the baby ostriches running around, so I was hoping for the same this year. Alas, no baby ostriches and I lost all of the images that I previously took due to a hard drive crash. *sad panda* It was a cool-for-the-season July day at only 91 degrees, though in the direct sun it quickly started to feel a heck of a lot hotter than that! Fortunately, they are pretty much open from really early to dusk so if you wanted a cooler visit then I suggest either exreme of their lengthy hours but in the middle (when I went) will be much hotter. Smile! Not surprisely, considering the heat, most of the birds left their beaks open as a means of cooling down. Fortunately,...

Hitting the Dunes in Oceano, CA

By on Jun 9, 2018 in Geographic, Local Flare |

My family is very much a vehicle family. I’m weirdly proud that my mom was resourceful and rebellious enough that she earned some of her college money by street racing – in the 60s. Back when women could be either a teacher or a nurse. My dad can do just about anything mechanically and electrically, as can my brother. My brother has a restored Mustang he takes to local amateur races and he’s drag raced his car in high school. He also loves off-roading. I only got my mom’s lead foot and love of driving. My idea of car repair begins with “Daaaaaaad!” But when my brother came to town on a business trip and decided to stay a couple of extra days to visit me, the very first thing I thought of was: Rent a dune buggy and hit the sand! He was most definitely on-board for that, and I think a bit surprised that I came up with something so perfect for him to...

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