Birds of a Feather

I'm sure our recent grand adventure at the San Diego zoo was a large inspiration to my latest photographic fascination: the wonderfully varied textures and colors of animal life.

After staying in the San Diego area for about three weeks, we decided to head back north. Wilderness Lakes RV Resort was our destination, for the second time this trip, and was gladly anticipated for all the wildlife it has to offer. It's pretty amazing how even a small amount of water in such a dry area attracts droves of animals. During our stay, our camp site was favored by a Canada goose couple as well as a small band of mallard ducks. The geese were a bit apprehensive at first, but with the promise of food, warmed up to us quickly. They actually came right up to us and ate out of our hands, pleasantly honking in gratitude the whole time.

I took this up-close opportunity to continue my photographic study of animal colors and textures. 

I never realized how beautiful female birds can be. Usually males are the attention-drawers, with their bright colors, patterns, and displays. But when looking at this female mallard, not as a duck, but as a collection of patterns, colors, and textures, I was blown away by her. I love how photography can change our perceptions of this world, by re-training us how to see. Instead of looking at a duck as a duck, if we see her as a work of art, our (or my, at least) appreciation of her beauty grows immensely. She's not just a duck, she's a complex sculpture created by Mother Nature.

When speaking of birds, feathers are most often the subject of appreciation, but I was equally intrigued by these birds' feet. They strongly opposed the soft and elegant texture of their feathers, with a tough, coarse, and duty-filled existence. 

After eating their fill from our palms, the goose couple settled into the grass for an afternoon nap. Of course, after such a large meal, it's always a good idea to get stretch out. You know, to aid in digestion and whatnot. Behold, goose yoga:

Next to the RV park is a large, open field where rabbits and birds and many other creatures live. Spring has definitely sprung here in southern California, and it was so nice to enjoy the blooming flowers in the sunshine.

The main reason for venturing into this field was the chance to photograph a great egret. I have seen many blue herons and sandhill cranes in Montana, but an all white heron-like bird was new to me, and I HAD to photograph it. He was not as friendly as our other bird friends, and would certainly not eat out of our hands, let alone let me get within a 100 yards of him. With my big telephoto lens, I was able to reach a little closer, but still not as close as I would like.

If you look closely in the second photograph of the egret, you can see his motivation for being in this field. Lizards! I was able to see him pluck a small lizard out of that pile of logs he was standing on. Yum!

Perhaps when we return to Wilderness Lakes, I will bring some lizards with me and make friends with this guy. Then I could get in for a closer shot!

Pandas, Orangutans, Elephants, oh my! The world-famous San Diego Zoo

This week, you'll be seeing a lot less text and a lot more photographs! I spent all my time sorting through and editing the almost 900 images I took at the San Diego Zoo. John and I picked a fantastic day to go on this adventure, in the middle of the week, and we were fortunate to have to compete with only minimal crowds. It took us 7 1/2 hours to do it, but we were able to see the entire zoo in one day. It was epic.

With a reputation like the San Diego Zoo has, I suppose I expected a lot going into it. I am happy to say after the experience, it exceeded those expectations. This zoo homes many exotic plants and animals that you don't see elsewhere. They are also part of many special breeding programs to help endangered species get back on their feet. I was most impressed by the amount of foliage throughout the park. It was nice sun protection for us, but also hopefully made the animals feel more at home.

It's hard to put an day like this into words, because so much of what was experienced was emotional: excitement, appreciation of beauty, connection with the animals, etc. Hopefully my photographs will be able to show you our adventure, rather than me tell you. Besides, they say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are 24,000 words that show what the San Diego Zoo is really all about:

Photo Credit: John Roth

Photo Credit: John Roth

Sparkling Gems to Sparkling Lights

From the deserts of Palm Springs and Joshua Tree National Park, we headed west, back towards the Pacific. Menifee, CA was our destination, at the Wilderness Lakes RV Resort. Being in southern California, somewhat near the coast, this RV park really wasn't in the "wilderness" as we are used to, but it was on a nice little plot of land away from the main hustle and bustle of city life. It featured a man made canal that ran through the entire park, to which hundreds of water-loving birds of all kinds flocked. When we first arrived, our progress of finding a site was halted by a group of Canada geese ever so slowly waddling across the road. One even stopped, turned directly to look at us, and let out a couple friendly honks before continuing on.

Our stay in Menifee was only a week long, but definitely an exciting one. It was here that an adventure we had been planning since we lived in Juneau was to take place. Up in the Pala mountains, about an hour away from our RV park, is one of the few muti-gem mines in the United States. They offer a fee-dig there, and you can go sift through their mine tailings to find treasures like aquamarine, morganite, kunzite, quartz crystals, and all kinds of different colored tourmalines. With prizes like these, we wanted to make the most of the experience. So on the day of our dig, we had a big lunch packed, extra buckets on board (to bring home our would-be bonanza), sunscreen lathered thick, rubber boots on for dry feet, and sun hats to keep our heads cool. The day was a four-hour whirlwind of hauling buckets of rock and soil (and hopefully gems!) to our sifters and water buckets. By the end of the day, our eyes were keen for anything colored or shiny. Since this was a timed event and we were newbie gem hunters, our strategy was to keep anything that looked remotely interesting, and to ask questions after our four hours were up. The strategy was sound, and we wound up with a bucket of lower-quality pieces of lepidolite, and a few handfuls of higher-quality aquamarines, tourmalines, and quartz crystals. When we arrived back at the RV park, it was almost as exciting going through our bounty a second time, looking for the nicest pieces, and scrubbing off what dirt remained to reveal their true beauty. What a fruitful day it was.

After a short week, we turned our sights from gem-filled, water fowl-loving Menifee to the "City of Lights": Las Vegas, Nevada. Our day of traveling began with surprising, but eagerly welcomed empty roads, and pretty much remained that way until we reached Las Vegas.

Not many people are making the trek from Southern California across the vast and empty Mojave Desert to Las Vegas on a Sunday. Instead, they are all returning to Southern California! So we surely picked a good day to travel. Vegas welcomed us with her massive, wildly themed hotels and casinos, barrage of advertisements, and many, many lights. In a city of infinite adventures, John and I chose the destination to our first outing carefully: Costco. The busiest Costco we've been to yet. I say busiEST because if we've learned anything in our travels, it's that all Costco's everywhere are always busy. Every. Single. One.

Anyways, one flight delay later, my parents finally arrived to meet us, and we began to experience what Vegas is really all about. Catchy music, flashing and dancing lights, acres of slot machines and card game tables, restaurants on every corner, miles of walkways through designer stores, zip lining, sports car rentals, shows and entertainers galore--anything you could ever want to do right at your fingertips. My favorites among the many experiences we collected were watching the elegant water fountain show at the Bellagio hotel, standing only inches away from what was at one time the largest gold nugget ever found (what every rock-hound dreams of finding!), and my first-ever roller coaster ride around the New York New York hotel. I will spare the internet the photographic evidence of us en-ride screaming our terrified heads off.

Fun aside, our main reason for being in Las Vegas was to attend the 2015 Shot Show convention. Companies specializing in sporting good products come together in this colossal event. Retail business owners come to see, test, and purchase the latest-and-greatest as well as tried-and-true products. All the big names from UnderArmor to Leatherman to Winchester were present, as well as hundreds of smaller companies. When we entered the convention center for the first time, John and I had to pick our jaws up off the ground. With more than 60,000 people in attendance and thousands of booths to choose from, it truly was a spectacle to see.

With a few days of dizzying amounts of people, lights, and sounds under our belts, we decided it was time for a different type of adventure. The four of us piled into the Jeep (my parents were with us) and headed for the Valley of Fire state park. Fire is a key word here, for the entire park is dominated by boldly red rock formations.

I've wondered why on Earth a city of luxury like Las Vegas would thrive so well in the middle of a vast desert with seemingly little to offer. But besides the gorgeous views that the Valley of Fire has, its many petroglyphs taught us that people had been living in this area for over 1,500 years. A stop at Atlatl Rock offered us a glimpse through time to an ancient civilization. It is a surreal feeling to stand in the exact same place that another human occupied and created art so many years ago. This someone lived in a completely different culture and most likely frame of mind, yet we have shared the same physical space. Amazing.

Besides all the petroglyphs, the Valley of Fire has more to offer in an infinite amount of awe-inspiring rock formations. All have been slowly chiseled into gnarled sculptures through time by wind and sand. Any artist could take notes and learn from this landscape's beautiful sweeping lines, bold colors, and varied textures.

If you are headed to Vegas for a long weekend of fun, make sure to put the Valley of Fire state park on your radar. The city will entertain and dazzle, but the park will certainly not disappoint.