progress

the weekend after whit's birthday shindig, she and i went hiking again. this time to fern valley.

but the day before, i finally broke down and got a decent pair of shoes. they are the first real pair of tennis shoes that i've owned (technically, they're trailrunners, but that's neither here nor there). they are amazing. i tell you, after never having owned a good pair of shoes in my life, it's quite amazing to put on a decent pair.

they are bright green. and they are awesome.

anyway. as we made our way up the trail to the valley of ferns, i was doing my typical picture taking thing, but we started talking about her trip to alaska. see, she was talking about the pictures that she took while there and while she was okay with them, she just kept saying she wished i was there to do the picture taking for her. in her case, i truly believe that her lack of amazing pictures is her camera and i keep telling her that every time she says that she wishes my "eye" was with her when she saw something cool.

so to prove it to her, i just handed her my camera and said "here...you be the photographer this trip". she was a bit hesitant at first and i think she kept thinking about what i would take pictures of instead of just shooting what she wanted, but after a minor accident involving a prickly thingy and a little time, she got into it.

here are a few of the pics i took before handing the reigns over...

this is the view at the trail head.


from a cool building near the trail head.


view of the mountains


selective focus makes me smile.


inappropriate bugs. (c:


going up.


angry rock...doesn't it look like it'd bite your hand right off?


there were water droplets collected on a lot of these plants...note to self: if lost in the woods, look for this plant. (c:


cactus. cacti. prickly pear.


after giving the camera to whitney, she had taken no more than 2 pictures before she knelt down to frame a shot and knelt in a patch of these prickly pod like things...the spikes were kind of barbed and she had a hard time getting the one out of her finger. ouch.




we had to get a shot of my new shoes. here's me enjoying the lovely view. (c:


and here are some of my favorites from the shots that whitney took. (c:







all in all, it was a really fun hike. we, unfortunately didn't make it all the way to the valley of ferns because i had to be back in town at a certain time and we just weren't able to do it in the time allotted. i'm sure we'll go again sometime tho.

i will say that it was a bit strange not having a camera while hiking. i felt completely naked at the beginning, but once i got used to not stopping every 2 minutes to take a picture i started enjoying myself and i took hundreds of mental pictures.

and those are the best kind, no? (c: