NateKat

Watercolors

May 12, 2013 in Family, San Diego | 1 comment

Most family events involve large hectic dinners so it’s nice to get some one on one time and do something we both enjoy. During a weekend visit in March to San Diego, Katharine, my mom, and I booked an afternoon watercolor class, which I knew my mom would love.

My parents are both artists and when given the chance to shine they blow people away! This class was an intro to watercolors and the idea was to learn new techniques while painting greeting cards. The teacher started by going on and on about her credentials and galleries then the teacher asked about people previous experience in which my mom humbly said “some a long time ago.” Ha, I thought to my self be prepared to be surprised. It’s like the excitement in a movie when the unassuming character takes on the loud mouth braggart and you already know the ending.

My mom picked this complicated magazine photo that included an ornate china coffee cup and rose. The teacher hesitate and almost talked my mom out of it. Then the teacher with some more doubt suggested she spend sometime sketching it out after a minute of sketching my mom said “eh lets just give it a try.” After 5 minutes she painted the ornate design and everyone in the class noticed how good it was looking already.

After many oohs and awes from the other students, teacher, and another artist working on oil paintings nearby, the greeting card developed into a nice piece of afternoon art.

The card itself went to good use a couple months later when she presented to her mom for Mother’s Day this weekend.

I know every parent wants their kids to exceed and be better than themselves, but as a child it’s fun to be impressed by your parents. Even though my mom is formally trained in the arts, she rarely paints these days, but you can tell she has raw talent when she does.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Another card she painted that afternoon

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Potato Chip Rock

May 11, 2013 in California, Family, Hiking, San Diego | No comments

Potato Chip Rock has been on our hiking list for over a year (since seeing it on California Through my Lens) and we finally had the chance to tackle the 8 mile round trip hike to the unique sliver of a rock. The rock is located on Mt. Woodson near Lake Poway in San Diego, which made it a perfect hike to do with Nathan’s parents.

The trail is completely exposed with only boulders scattered through out the chaparral, but luckily the day started out foggy which kept us out of the sun during the strenuous climb to the top.

During the hike to the top Nathan’s Dad Victor, who is a guide for Cabrillo National Monument, gave us a informative walk pointing out various flowers, plants and their uses by earlier civilizations.

We reached the top and found the rock to be overrun with people, which apparently is actually unusual. It was over a 30 minute wait before we had our turn on the ‘diving board’.

Crossing the small gap onto the rock and scrambing down between the boulders can be interesting and chaotic as you can see in below.

The rock is 5 to 6 feet wide, but becomes less than a inch thick at the end of the chip. When you’re standing on the rock and someone else jumps you can feel the rock vibrate!

Although our jumping photo gives some people anxiety, others were even more bold when we were there. We watched a couple groups hang off the edge and one person even attempt a handstand, which got a mixed reaction from the crowd.

This was a fun hike with a well deserved noteworthy summit, but it can be crowded and you definitely have to be prepared for the lack of shade. A couple weeks later Nathan happened to be at Lake Poway Park and saw the fire department airlift a girl off the mountain and land in a nearby baseball field, luckily it looked like she was ok, likely sprained her ankle or something.

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Jim’s Birthday

May 4, 2013 in Biking, California, Friends, Hiking, Local Trails, Los Angeles | 1 comment

Our friend and coworker, Jim celebrated his 60th birthday with a day full of outdoor sports. Since he’s Irish, it was only fitting the celebration was on St. Patrick’s Day. The day was perfectly planned and scheduled chock full of various outdoor activities, one right after another. Jim outdid everyone, completing each event with energy to spare while the rest of us played tag team trying to keep up with him.

The morning started with open ocean swimming, surfing, and paddle boarding in Malibu.

Followed by kayaking with friends.

Although some gave it their best shot, no one capsized

Slightly more dramatic than in real life

It’s good to have friends that enjoy the same hobbies you do

We then drove ahead of the group and hiked a little ways down a nice trail and played on a rope swing waiting for the rest to bike by.

It’s amazing how just a simple rope swing can keep you entertained for hours…it’s fun to be a kid again

The final activity was a 4 mile hike in Temescal Canyon ending at Jim’s house for drinks, food, and storytelling.

Coming down the final switchbacks of Temescal Canyon

We thought it was a great way to celebrate a birthday, we only hope we will be as fit and energetic when we turn 60! Happy Birthday to Jim!

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Iowa Pheasant Hunting

April 12, 2013 in Family, Friends, Hunting, Iowa, Photography | 2 comments

It’s officially an annual tradition! Second year in a row that my dad and I have left sunny southern California for a wintry Iowa to do some pheasant hunting.

Last year we tried to visit some old hunting grounds that we used to cover while I was a kid, but recently there has been a sudden decline in the pheasant population so we ended up at a pheasant reserve. This year we decided to stack the deck in our favor and just head for the reserve for two half day hunts. This allowed us to go in early March, which is a nice time after all the holidays, but if you know Iowa the weather doesn’t always cooperate. Some how we got lucky picking a weekend with 40 degree temperatures, a few inches of snow on the ground and blue skies!

We arrived late Friday night/ Saturday morning got a few hours of sleep before we picked up Ken and headed to the reserve! Ken is an old friend, local Iowan, and avid big game hunter, but is always up for the challenge of knocking down a pheasant.

Ken taking his best shot at a passing rooster

The reserve guarantees birds in the field, but Paul Wehr our professional guide and his dogs guarantees birds within range. Although it wasn’t guaranteed we got our limit both days and gave the meat to a couple local friends.

Paul Wehr and his German short-haired pointers

Can you spot the hen in the brushes?

Last year I tried to juggle a shotgun and a 5 pound camera and ended up missing a lot of good photos. So this year I made the tough decision, on the first sweep of the field to leave the gun in the truck and head out into the field with only my camera. The photos that I got this year were well worth the sacrifice.

Dogs on Point

My Dad Knocking Down a Rooster (full sequence in the gallery below)

Retrieving A Chukar

The second time out in the field I traded my Canon for a Beretta and had no problem knocking down my limit of birds. The first day was perfect; good weather, lots of roosters and good company. We spent every hour out of the field traveling house to house seeing old friends and catching up on the local news.

The second day my Dad and I spent the day shooting birds over Paul’s dogs. I’m guessing we were the most dedicated photographers Paul has ever guided in the field, but luckily he’s also a photographer and was patient with us as we traded the shotgun for the camera back and forth getting some great action shots, we could have only wished for more roosters. Although it’s legal to shoot hens on a reserve the feeling and photos just aren’t the same.

Hen Busting Through the Weeds

Hen Jumping Out in Front

You have to click on this picture to see the hen flying up behind me!

Leaving No Tree Line Untouched

We kept the tradition of hiking mile after mile leaving no bush or tree line untouched and after returning to the lodge we were teased by the elusive rooster that always knows when the hunt is over. I think next year if there are more roosters in the field I might have a chance at a Pheasants Forever photo submission!

Even though we traveled thousands of miles and spent lots of money to recreate a weekend past time the memory for this year is the hours spent in the airports. Of course the plane delays and layovers were miserable, but if anyone knows my parents they are goofy and when goofy is mixed with hours of waiting and an audience, hilarity will ensue.

This time it was my dad and I playing on the moving walkways in the Denver airport. We theorized, could two long-lost friends see each other on opposing moving walkways and some how maintain a conversation? We soon found ourselves walking in-place on opposing treadmills trying to keep a conversation while weaving between confused stationary travelers. I’m sure we got a few looks, but it was hard to tell trying to look to the side while dodging people.

Per usual my dad wanted to see if he could get a reaction out of any of the serious travelers so he briskly walked against the flow of traffic on the moving walkway with serious, but worried look on his face mumbling ”I’m not going to make my flight” as he kept looking at his watch. He got a couple puzzled glances, but in today’s society most people are trained not to show any expression. All was not lost as we boarded our plane and while standing in the plane’s aisle a lady pointed at us and said “you two are hilarious and made my day!” We smiled and thanked her as we loaded ourselves in the last row of the sardine can.

Some of the photos in the gallery are a series of shots and are best viewed in order, enjoy!

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Sequoia Nat’l Park in the Snow

March 31, 2013 in California, Hiking, National Parks | 1 comment

For Presidents’ day weekend we decided to take a trip somewhere snowy that we could do snowshoeing or cross country skiing. We decided on Sequoia National Park since it is not too far of a drive, has plowed and accessible roads, and has some great trails through the Sequoias.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t any fresh snow in the past couple weeks so skiing wasn’t really possible and snowshoes were not entirely required since we had our Microspikes.

But there was definitely enough snow to make the trip worth it and transform the park compared to our earlier visits in the summer. On our first day we visited some of the popular sights including the General Sherman tree, the largest tree (by volume) in the world. Generally in the summer this area is mobbed with people and you have to wait a long time to get your turn with the tree. But in the winter, you can actually get a shot without anyone!

This year we opted out of camping on the snow and got a hotel room just outside the park. The drive in and out of the park is long and windy, but the view at sunset was worth the drive.

On our second day we did a short hike to Tokopah Falls (3.8 miles) that we realized along the way we had actually done once before. It was a different experience in the snow though, and the falls were more impressive this time around. We also enjoyed the icicles and stream views along the hike.

Tokopah Falls

In the afternoon we decided to do a short hike to Sunset Rock to, as you’d expect, watch the sunset. It’s a easy 2-mile round-trip hike through the forest and then it empties out on to a giant flat rock overlooking the canyons and of course is a perfect place to watch the sunset.

We hiked back to the car using our headlamps and then drove down the road to Round Meadow to wait for the stars to come out. Earlier in the day we had picked out a sequoia tree that was singled out enough to make a good silhouette star photo.

(Click on the photo for full screen view, the stars are more visible)

The next day we spent a few hours hiking the Congress Trail, which passes through some impressive sequoia groves properly named The House and Senate.

After this trip we’ve exhausted the main park attractions and probably won’t return to this area of the park for a while. But we do plan on doing some more exploring in the backcountry of Sequoia National Park this summer… we got permits for the classic Rae Lakes Loop for 4th of July.

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Vasquez Rocks

March 16, 2013 in California, Hiking, Local Trails | No comments

Back in February we took an afternoon to hike the famous Vasquez Rocks seen in Star Trek, Friends, Power Rangers, Outer Limits and many other tv shows and movies. The unique rock formations were caused by the San Andreas Fault and erosion of the San Gabriel mountains.

We started the hike late in the day and covered 3 miles in 90 minutes to return to our car before the gate closed. The rocks are very accessible from the parking lot and don’t require a lot of hiking, but we wanted to hike along some of the higher ridges to get a better view. We climbed on a few of the rocks, but didn’t have time to scale the large peak.

The people on the left give a sense of scale of these giant rock formations

Along the path there are also a few clearly marked pictographs.

Although it was a quick hike, it was a good warm up for the many hikes and backpacking trips we have planned for the year.

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Wildlife Learning Center

March 9, 2013 in California, Family, Wildlife | 1 comment

Late January my parents visited for my brother’s birthday so we used the opportunity to also visit the Wildlife Learning Center in Sylmar. The learning center is a small wildlife way-station that has taken in many animals due to injuries or illegal pets. We took the deluxe tour with a personal guide allowing us to touch and interact with some of the animals.

My brother feeding a N. American Porcupine

There were 5 porcupines in the enclosure and they seemed very curious and friendly, but they made us nervous as they crawled around our feet. We got to feed them and they were very cute standing on two feet and grabbing the food with their hands. I could see how people might think they would make good pets until a loud noise startled one and he pulled back the soft quills exposing the razor sharp ones…not cool.

We also got to hold an owl, which was pretty cool. I wish we could have let him fly, but i don’t think he was able to because of an injury.

We also got to touch a sloth, desert fox, flying squirrel, and various reptiles!

The deluxe tour made the visit worth it. The facility is pretty small in comparison to some of the large zoos in the area, but the hands on interactive approach was worth every penny.

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Pismo Beach New Years

February 21, 2013 in California, Photography, Wildlife | No comments

Last year we checked out the elephant seals and monarch butterflies around Pismo Beach. It was a fun trip and pretty amazing seeing the unusual seals and butterflies, but we were a little late for the prime viewing. This year we thought we would go a little earlier to catch the thousands of migrating butterflies and the seals giving birth.

Although there were tens of thousands of butterflies they were so dense they only cover a few branches, which didn’t look that impressive. At first its hard to see the butterflies because they are so close together and their wings are folded with the lighter underside exposed.

Also the branches they chose to rest on were 30 feet in the air, which is probably wise with all the curious people around. As the sun rose and began to shine through the trees small sections of the brach began to warm up and flex their wings. After an hour there was a couple hundred butterflies fluttering around.

We then headed up the coast to check out the seals near Piedras Blancas.

We quickly noticed there weren’t as many seals as last year, but there were more spectators. We stuck around and watched the cute new borns huddle next to their moms, but we didn’t witness any births.

It may have been the difference between seeing the seals in the evening rather than the morning, but the bulls were not actively guarding their harems.

As we drove back along the coast on the two lane highway we noticed many hawks perched on the fence poles. It was too good to pass up so we stopped and I got to use my new 70-300mm L lens to capture these birds of prey in the sunset glow.

It’s interesting what you capture at 8 frames per second when you’re not sure what the animal is going to do next…

It eventually did take off and I got a couple OK shots, but I would have liked my shutter speed to be a little faster to catch the tips of its wings.

Although its flight path wasn’t ideal and the next frames had the barbed wire fence across the bird it still provided some good practice for future birds in flight (BIF) photography.

All in all it was a nice and relaxing trip for us and a great way to start off the new year with some wildlife photography.

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Christmas 2012 Fishing

February 5, 2013 in Family, Fishing, Landenberg, Photography | No comments

I tried out my new Canon 70-300L lens while the guys spent their Christmas afternoon fishing.

Fish on the Line

Robins Taking a Bath

70-300L @140mm, ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/250, 7D Body

I took this photo handheld, standing 10 yards away, knee high in a running creek… gotta love image stabilization.

Cropped from the photo above.

The sharp lens combined with the 7D sensor allows me to crop without losing too much quality. The fact that you can see the scales on this fish is amazing. I can’t wait to take some wildlife photos this year!

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Long Beach Aquarium

January 13, 2013 in California | No comments

A couple months while returning from San Diego we stopped at the Long Beach Aquarium (Aquarium of the Pacific). They have a pretty wide variety of aquariums and marine animals.

Finding Nemo Tank

They also have some terrariums.

Leafy Sea Dragon

They have some massive tanks that have all types of creatures big and small.

They also have a few interactive tanks where you can touch the animals.

Petting a sting ray!

This 2-story tall wall of water is pretty awesome and puts the size of some of these fish in perspective.

Fish are definitely the main attraction and have the best exhibits, but there are some others. The otters are fun to watch play but tricky to photograph. The penguin and seal/sea lion exhibits are pretty weak. But if you like looking at colorful fish and coral, we highly recommend visiting it if you’re in Long Beach. It made us want to get a fish tank!

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