Melody and I have had a pretty crazy transition between our three years together. It started off with an internship at Air Products in Los Angeles, which turned into a two year long distance relationship. I was fortunate enough to be accepted to the University of Southern California to close that gap between us. I think the whole journey has help strengthen our bond and really appreciate each other. Our three year anniversary was this magnificent trip to the Anacapa Island at the Channel Islands National Park. I had been to Santa Cruz, but I didn’t know how vastly different each island was. As we get ready to set sail, Melody poses with Bruce prior to our departure.

The goods for our trip, everything we had was going on our backs. Water was needed also, since the island had no fresh water streams available.

As our boat approached the island, the iconic views of Anacapa Island. Next time we will have to rent kayaks to explore the waters around the islands, as well as the biodiversity of the protected waters.

Although the island looks barren, flowers do bloom in the Spring time. We were visiting in an off season so the camp grounds were ours for the taking. Here is a view of our camp site.

We soon took an island tour to learn the history of the island, as well as visit the many different views off the sharp cliffs. Here you can see the Kelp forest during a low tide, and if you look really closely seals resting in the cave in the bottom left.

Our trip next time, kayaking the island.

These non-native species of plants have been affecting the ecosystem in the island. Crystalline iceplant holds salts in the form of crystals that create an imbalance in the soil, reducing the nutrients as well as species of plants that can thrive there.

This is another subspecies of iceplant, sans crystalline. But both plants keep the same surname.

Later that day, we discovered the old lighthouse head that was in operations prior to the current lighthouse.

The lenses that covered the bulbs were really interesting in shape.

Melody and I hiked the whole island plenty of times, it was roughly a mile and a half across so we decided to make it a little relaxing getaway. Here is Melody as we wait for sunset at the lighthouse.

And during sunset, I attempted to get a photo of the chain of islands at the edge, connecting Anacapa and Santa Cruz islands. But I got this cool silhouette of the other campers that night.

I also woke up the next morning to catch the sunrise, the soft light allowed for more detail. We were also able to get wonderful soft colors for the background.

The sun peaking over with the lighthouse in the distance.

Another sunrise shot of the lighthouse on the cliff.

And the rays catching the island chain.

Also, a view of the lighthouse up close.

So long Anacapa, hope to see you next time.

I’ve been dying to visit more places around California, especially the National Parks. The diversity of land around the state is fascinating, with deserts, mountains, and the ocean. I was completely amazed Mono Lake, and the images that people have taken while visiting there so I decided to plan a last minute trip down to Mono Lake during the Labor Day weekend. Well, that was a good and bad idea. The weather was perfect for photographs, but little did I know there would be hundres of people there, literally. But we will talk about that later, here is a little info about Mono Lake, the lake that almost dried up.

Located in California’s spectacular Eastern Sierra, Mono Lake is an oasis in the dry Great Basin and a vital habitat for millions of migratory and nesting birds. For 30 years the Mono Lake Committee has been working to protect Mono Lake from destruction, to heal the damage done in the Mono Basin, and to educate the public about the natural environment and water use.

When Melody and I arrived at Mono Lake, it was around eleven o’clock. We were actually trying to backpack to the Dusy Basin; unfortunately the permits were all passed out by the time we arrived at 9am. Well, good thing I am always equip with a backup plan. So we arrived early, and wanted to discover what was around. I decided to drive to a few places, as well as attempt to walk down to the lake far from the usual south Tufas. We found this weird tufa cave on our hike down.

I thought this area would be arid and dead, but it was surprisingly in bloom. There were white wild flowers as well as bunches of yellow flowers blooming.

The lake bed has receded in the past due to over usage for major cities like Los Angeles, so the bed is frail and boardwalks are put in place to limit the disturbance.

It was weird to see a lot of seagulls in this area bathing, there was little to no other animals around other than these birds.

More wild flowers.

After our hike down to the lake bed, I wanted to scout out the location for my shoots later in the day as well as sunrise. It was gorgeous when we arrived at the south Tufas area, with a burst of wild flowers blooming. Here is Melody with the yellow wild flowers.

After my scouting trip was done, I wanted to get an overview of the lake from the top of Panum Crater. I was going to take sunrise photos from up here if I got good shots during sunset, but there were just too many people that I wasn’t satisfied.

Right before sunrise I took Melody out for some BBQ at a local restaurant to get out of the sun and rest. Also we needed to wait for perfect light. But afterwards we rushed over to catch a wonderful sunset. There were people in the Tufas to the left, inside the water. There were not only disturbing the water by moving around every few seconds but also I had this site set for photos, when they didn’t even realize and walked straight in. Well, I guess I need to find other places with less people. Maybe somewhere people can’t drive to next time.

The next morning I caught a great sunrise as well. The sky was full of clouds so I was ready for a dramatic view. Melody and I weren’t disappointed, and we had an hour head start – in front of the sun.

Melody trying to act awake, she really was cold and sleepy haha.

Some places I looked at the day before, I was trying to rush to fully utilize the light.

Same view from the sunset before, but notice how the rocks on the right were silhouetted instead. I really love the sunset photo, but settled for this one because there were less people. This is why I usually like sunrises over sunsets. People usually aren’t up for getting up that early.

Example of the people in the water, which was really frustrating.

I also walked around as the sun was just hitting the Sierras and got this wonderful photo.

The golden hour.

Hope you enjoyed!

Last August I planned a trip with Melody and Sarah to backpack to the top of the San Gorgonio Mountain – the highest peak in Southern California at 11,503 feet. We didn’t really want to rush the roughly 23 mile hike in one day, so we decided to set up camp at Dry Lake prior to summiting during day one. Here is the GPS mapping that I tracked during our trip, which I might try to do if I go on more trails, or just stop being busy.

Our first check point was roughly 2 miles in, at a horse ranch which supported a quaint cabin you can see in this background of happy Melody and Sarah before exhaustion set in later in the day.

The beginning of the hike was a mix between shady trees and these low covering bushes. Always wear sunscreen if you are hiking in Southern California.

I saw some colorful wildflowers off the side of the trail, I had to get a few photos.

After about 5 miles, you reach the edge of the San Gorgonio Wilderness area, this is where you need a permit to hike. There are rangers that patrol the trails that may ask to see your permit, which usually show up at the camp sites.

Avalanche area, where you can see the onslaught of trees toppled over.

Break number two.

There are a few stream crossings, which may be deeper during summer months. They only posed a threat to ankle high boots or the balance impaired.

Melody fording the stream.

After roughly 6 miles, we made it to our campsite at Dry Lake. I forgot to get a few photos of our setup.

After a short break for water, food, and to set up our shelter, we set off toward the summit of San Gorgonio Mountain.

View of the valley area on the bottom of the mountain.

The trail then splits toward the summit, which you are also allowed to camp at. The elevation may not be very friendly up top since there were still symptoms of altitude sickness for some even at our campsite.

Sarah and Melody looking at the map to determine if we could summit. We underestimated the altitude and lack of oxygen.

The landscape changes drastically to more of a rocky surface. There are very sparse sections of trees which prevent you from being hit by the sun’s rays.

up and up we go, towards our next checkpoint where we spotted the memorial of a tragic airplane crash.

On December 1, 1953, a Douglas C-47 Dakota, serial number 45-1124, crashed at the 11,000 feet (3,400 m) level on the eastern face of the mountain. The C-47 was en route from Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska to March Air Force Base near Riverside, California when it struck the mountain at night in the middle of a storm. “The aircraft was last heard from at 9:51 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, Monday.” Thirteen people died.[5]
Nearly one month after the C-47 accident a Marine Corps helicopter crashed on the mountain in coordination of the efforts of recovering the victims. The three crewmen of the helicopter survived the impact.[6] Most of the wreckage of the two aircraft remain on the mountain and are accessible via the Fish Creek Trailhead or the South Fork Trailhead.
In more recent years, the mountain has claimed the lives of Frank Sinatra’s mother and Dean Martin’s son, in unrelated plane crashes

View down the side of the mountain, only a few more miles to the top.

Now, you can see that the trees are gone, and some spots of snow that still have not melted away.

Melody on the ice patch, which proves to be both tricky and exhilarating.

This next shot reminds me of half dome.

Unfortunately, only a few hundred feet from the top we decided to turn around. It was nearly 4 pm and we knew that we had to head back so we wouldn’t be trapped in the dark. But the light was changing to a golden glow, which accented the trees perfectly on the way down.

Tired from altitude and the mileage.

But we had to keep on trudging along.

The light was just beautiful on the trees, creating a wonderful scene.

The next morning, I decided to get up around sunrise to get a picture of an extremely calm Dry Lake. I love the mirror effect of these peaceful bodies of water.

Sarah, still hiding from the brisk mountain air.

Picture time! On our way back, we crossed the water again, this to reference on how deep the streams were.

During the summer I had a lot of hikes planned in order to get ready for a potential Whitney backpacking trip that never happened. But the hikes prior to that were still amazing and probably higher on my list of places to go. This time around we went to the bridge to nowhere suggested by my friend Jennifer. It was a similar hike to what we would be doing in Zion with water trekking. Here are some shots I took during the hike. Maria going down a steep ledge because she led us the wrong way. Also a view of her during one of the river crossings.

Melody on the same way down as well as a river crossing, one in which she fell and broke her film camera.

Lunch time for Melo and our view of the bungee jumpers.

Lastly, Subaru perched on a rock with his lunch enjoying another angle of the bridge.

A group of friends decided to go hike up Mt. Baldy back in June to train either for Mt Whitney or a Macchu Picchu backpacking adventure. It’s great to see that Southern California has strenuous hikes to help train for these crazy adventures, also there is in fact large altitude changes for all these mountains. Just remember to get an adventure pass for the Angeles National Forest treks or you may be dinged with a ticket. Here are some photos from our adventure. First is our trek up, one closer to the top while the second a view of a rest stop nearly half way up.

These next two sequences are on our way back down. The rocky terrain and elevation change were killer, but here is melody dominating the top!

Law at our first rest stop, Dave at our almost last stop.

Mel and Jen

The summit.

Another day trip prior to Mitchell’s wedding was to visit Afui in her hometown of Hsin Chu. We didn’t know what to expect there, especially since it wasn’t a place I planned on visiting, but all of the cities in Taiwan were unique and fun. We first went to a little night market to get some food to eat with Afui.

I also ventured around the night market to get some cool little shots around the market.

Hsin Chu’s famous Oyster Pancakes.

Night Market entrance.

Chicken Market.

The Meat Market

The Zong Zi Market.

After the night market, we decided to visit the wedding venue to crease out some wrinkles. I also wanted to see what the lighting would be like when I was taking a few photos.

I wanted to venture around the city. I had to get to the city walls, which remained standing since the city was built.

Mel and Marisa.

We noticed a huge crowd, and was wondering what was going on over there.

Surely, it was a dance crew competition. How random.

I’ve been wanting to visit Yehliu, with its unique rock structures, since my last visit to Taiwan. I feel like I still have so much to discover on this little tropical island. There is too much beauty and history, which I also believe to be true in the United States. Nature is always there, keeping us on our toes. On our way over to Yehliu, we grabbed another train – which is our transportation of choice. Melody and Marisa were tired from an early morning.

We had to take a pretty long taxi ride to get to the geopark, which isn’t off many public transportation stops. It was a lot easier than navigating the bus system, especially with Mitchell’s record.

We walked around, enjoying the beauty of the park and I asked Melody to pose next to a rock formation.

Sand dollars and other sea creatures were also fossilized in the hard packed sand.

One of the most visited formations was the teapot structure.

The tourist loved the queen’s head, which had a boardwalk made to reduce the foot traffic on top of a wearing surface.

I didn’t want to wait at the queen’s head yet, so we ventured off toward the water. I didn’t see many people here trying to discover other parts of the park.

A naturally formed cave.

Finally, the Queen’s head. They only allowed posed shots, but didn’t let anyone take a photo of the head by itself.

After we were done with Yehliu, we headed over to the Keelung night market for some dinner.

The night market was strange, or all of them are, since they are located adjacent to religious temples.

Getting some Oyster Pancakes.

I really wanted to purchase some of this vendor’s stinky tofu, but he said he wasn’t allowed to sell in these parts. A permit was required, no push carts allowed.

Before our train ride back, we walked around and found this cool Keelung neon sign.

One of our day trips in Taiwan was to visit Tainaan, which is where Melody’s grandmother lives. I was pretty excited see different stuff, since its harder to explore with your own family. The first thing we did was jump onto a High Speed rail which took what felt like an hour from Taipei to Tainaan. Here is Melody and Marisa listening to some tunes on the ride over.

Melody’s mom and Mitchell walking off the train and onto our new destination.

On our little tour of Tainaan, we first visited Tainaan’s first school. It’s a little hard to describe the building’s but here is a glimpse of the campus.

I liked the wall art, which embossed out a dragon.

As well as a Lion, which was easily tamed by Marisa.

Since it was the year of the Rabbit, it seemed appropriate to write a wish to Confucious.

Marisa’s Rabbit note.

And the lady that was volunteering, which helped explain more of the features of the school. She also helped give the stamp of approval for our wishes.

Next we visited a little Danish building with Taiwanese influence.

The Tsai Family portrait.

On top of the buildings displays the intricacies of these buildings, quite amazing if you ask me.

Next stop, the Tainaan tree house. It was smothered with tree overgrowth, which housed millions of mosquitos. I braved the dilapidated building.

Another Danish fort, this one was situated right next to the ocean as a post. But the scene has changed nowadays, and the water has receded.

And our Dinner in Tainaan, with many delicious Tainaan famous treats.

Right after my PhD screening exam, I had a trip planned to visit Taiwan for Melody’s brother’s wedding. I was definitely ready to take my week break from work and stress, but wasn’t excited about the 15 hour difference between Taiwan and Los Angeles. I arrived in Taoyuan International Airport around 9pm Taiwan time and was ready to get to bed, it was a rough 24 hours of stuffy, uncomfortable, economy seating. My first stop was the Seven Eleven in Taipei next to Melody’s father’s place to get some tea leaf eggs as well as light refreshments.

The next day Melody decided to pose for the camera on Yong Kang street, just before heading out to Tainaan (which I will cover on a later post).

Taipei Main station.

A cool compass rose on the floor of Taipei Main station.

We were in a rush to get to Tainaan, getting ready to catch the next train on the High Speed Rail.

Here is Xiao Ding Dong, or a little breakfast place that the Tsai family loves for Taiwan breakfast.

To relive the Tsai family tradition, we all went to Seven Eleven for some slurpees after breakfast.

Random car, parked too close to the building.

Tsai family women looking through old picture albums.

The next day I convinced the Tsai trio to hang out with Wei-Wei, we decided to go to the Taipei Story house. This is just the front yard, which was beautiful.

The Story House.

The sign up front.

Taipei International Flora Exposition.

Later in the day, we went to the Taipei National Palace Museum. Unfortunately Marisa thought the exhibits were boring, and we were not able to take any pictures except for the actual building.

The National Palace Museum.

After the museum, I really wanted to go fishing for shrimp. It was one of the most fun experience and I had to have more.

Wei Wei with the first shrimp.

The bait.

Patient Mel with her rod in hand.

Yay a shrimp!

Wait, where did the shrimp go?

Mitchell and Marisa attempting to get the shrimp off the hook, FAIL!

Shrimp Skewering.

And broiling.

Would you like some?

Our feast after all the hard work.

Another Taiwan breakfast shop, this time some soy based breakfast soup.

And lastly, our last meal before heading to Hsin Chu for Mitchell’s wedding.

We were getting sick of the cold, and being disgusting from not showering for two days so it was a good time to head to Portland. I felt right at home as we arrived in the city, even though we probably fumigated our first destination with our must. But all was well, we fit into the Portland scene. We weren’t able to check into our hotel yet so I decided to take Melody to a little brunch place I stumbled upon last time I was in town, Mother’s Bistro and Bar.

She was delighted by the menu, it was a good change from our Mountain House menu for the past few days.

I also liked both the ambiance and the menus, it kind of reminded me of the south.

This cup was also a good reminder, “call your mother.” It was a good time to check in with our parents, an afterthought for many during busy trips.

After breakfast, we decided to go explore more of the city. Melody definitely wanted to get to Powell’s, a local and independently owned bookstore, where I told her to check out “Into Thin Air.” Here is a shot of Melody perusing the vast selection of books, it gets kind of confusing when you are searching for specific books. They have a section solely for mountaineering.

I loved the colorful baskets that were decorating the entrance of the store, I also had to get a shot with Blad, which can be seen in my previous post of our road trip in medium format.

And the actual book store, which covered the whole city block. Impressive.

We were trying to discover more stores or sights but instead found Jake’s Crawfish. A restaurant that was being infested by a giant crab.

I wanted to head to the Portland Theatre to get a few quick shots, and found this little guy. We were here for the St. Patricks day weekend, but weren’t really in the mood for their festivities.

And the Portland Theatre, which is pretty close to the retail district of Portland.

On the way to find some froyo for Melody, we found some interesting characters, such as this clown with a monkey. Very quirky but not weird here.

I also decided to people watch for a few minutes and get this quick snapshot next to the courthouse. While I was doing this, another guy was people watching and got a photo of me. I guess it was because I was trying to juggle both my D700 and Blad in my hands while taking this photo.

So Melody Yelped a place to go for some froyo, which passed the “food truck” area of Portland. This seemed like the food of choice for many.

And the froyo truck, but they are really just trailers.

After we finished exploring downtown, we went back for a quick shower before heading back out to see the more artsy side of town. This is where we found Fremont, where there were many independently owned stores. I was kind of expecting one of these signs there…

But not this….

Later we went to look around Hawthorne, which wasn’t what I was expecting. There were just a row of restaurants but Melody already had a place in mind for dinner.

Montage… and with Portland flair.