California Living

Got a new dog!

2012-10-26T19:59:00.001-07:00

I got a new dog yesterday. I thought I would post some pictures up very quick. His name is Tucker and is a Visla/Lab mix. He is so hyper and he almost never stops running around the house.

Mono Lake Part 2

2012-10-09T12:17:00.001-07:00

Class trip to Mono Lake! Part 1

2012-10-07T21:08:00.000-07:00

Pilot Hill

2012-10-07T20:35:00.002-07:00

Sorry about the LONG delay between my posts. : \ Been busy with moving, school, and work. So I moved up to Pilot Hill which is about an hour away from where I was living before. It is such a long drive to get to work and school but it is so incredibly beautiful up here. My new house is about 5 minutes away from the American River.

I haven't had the time to go out and explore the town around Pilot Hill yet. I hope to do so soon however and maybe go meet some new people.

Sunset on my first night in Pilot hill.

Stars at 4am this morning. The pictures don't even do it justice.

California State Fair

2012-08-28T23:36:00.000-07:00

Every year at Cal Exp in Sacramento the California State Fair is held. It usually lasts about two weeks and has rides, beautiful animals, great food, cultural exhibits, shopping, and music. The fair is a fantastic way to get out and enjoy the summer with friends. I really loved all of the exotic birds at the fair. They were all so beautiful.

One of my favorite birds that I saw. It was awesome to be able to hold the bird; it was trying to bite my fingers and then climb my arm and bite my ear.

This year four rides from Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch were brought to the fair. This was one of those rides.

Chocolate dipped banana. So delicous!

Turkey legs! I have never had a whole turkey leg like this and it was amazing! I had two in one day because I could not get enough. While this was really good some of the other food sounded much less...appealing. They have things such as deep-fried grilled cheese or deep-fried poptarts

San Francisco Cherry Blossom Festival/桜祭り

2012-08-28T15:17:00.000-07:00

Only have a couple of pictures here. I went to the Cherry Blossom Festival in San Francisco with some of my friends. There were Taiko drumming and karate demonstrations. There were even Nihon Buyo demonstrations! It was all so fascinating to see and it was so beautiful. The festival takes place in April of every year and I am so excited for the next one! There were street vendors and demonstrations everywhere.

One really cool thing was Pika Pika. There are a bunch of photo booths that you can go into and take pictures and then edit. The strips above are a few of the pictures we got. The booth we were in was awesome! It had a bar across the top that I hung upside down from.

San Francisco-Chinatown and Zoo Visit

2012-08-07T22:00:00.001-07:00

I had Saturday off this week(something that almost never happens) and I thought I should do something fun. So I decided to take a drive down to San Francisco with the hopes of going to Chinatown, the Zoo, Japantown, and a beautiful Japanese Tea Garden. Well it didn't all work out as planned, I spent a little bit too much time in Chinatown and the Zoo so I couldn't go by Japantown or the Tea Garden which was my main reason for going to San Francisco. Next time! Anyways after trying to find parking for about 30 minutes I worked my way into Chinatown. I haven't ever seen all of Chinatown so I spent time going in most of the stores which was very fun.

All of the little baked goods in this shop looked so good!I wish I could have eaten some but I doubt any were gluten free so I decided not to chance it.

A beautiful little store with a bunch of very nice things inside.

A local kung fu dojo was out in a parade like thing that was really cool! There were several people walking around in dragons and there was drumming and fireworks. The whole thing happened so fast and everyone ran over to see it.

From Chinatown I headed over to the San Francisco Zoo which was about a 30 minute drive. The area around the zoo was very different, it was much more suburban than the rest of San Francisco. Parking was free for the zoo, something I was really happy about and it only cost $15 to get in. The first thing I noticed is that the zoo was HUGE! At least it is much bigger than the one in Sacramento.

There were so many cool animals in the zoo, my favorite were probably the Aye-Ayes. Aye-Ayes are a nocturnal lemur that lives only in Madagascar. San Francisco is one of only four zoo's in the US that has these lemurs. To see them I had to go into an almost pitch black building where they were.

After your eyes got used to the darkness you could see four little Aye-Ayes darting around in their room. It was incredible to see them because it is such a uncommon and somewhat bizarre animal.

Rafiki from the Lion King!

Spider monkeys. I sat infront of them for about five minutes and this little guy never stopped sprinting everywhere.

Old San Francisco Pictures

2012-08-06T23:15:00.001-07:00

Just going to share a few old pictures of a venture I took to San Francisco a few months ago. It was a kind of random day where I just walked the Piers, went to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Arts and went to the beach.

Alcatraz from Pier 39. I was hoping to go on a tour but they are usually sold out for about two weeks in advanced. I am hoping to go before school starts.

The famous San Francisco Sea Lions. It is an awesome thing to see and even hear.

The Golden Gate Bridge.

The Palace of Fine arts by the Exploratorium. The older style architecture is incredible. There is a beautiful lagoon in front of it.

San Francisco from across the bay in Sausalito.

My Dogs-Lucky, Buddy, and Kuma!

2012-08-06T22:33:00.000-07:00

I was looking through all of my pictures and I thought I would share some pictures of my dogs! My dogs are my best friends and I love spending time with them. I wish I could have more dogs but with the three things are already crazy but also so fun. Their names are Lucky, Buddy, and Kuma.

Lucky is a chihuahua/jack russel mix we think and he is around 7. We really aren't sure though because we rescued him and have no way to check. When we found him he was starving, had mange, and was really sick. The vet told us he probably wouldn't make it.:( But he obviously did( and put a few pounds on in the process). He sleeps with me every night and follows me everywhere I go. Not to play favorite but he is totally my favorite.:)

Next there is Kuma. He is an olddddddd Akita that is about 14. He used to be a therapy dog before he was adopted. He is very mild-tempered and extremly calm. Around dinner time he can get pretty pushy when he wants food.

Last there is Buddy! He is crazy and has so much energy. He is about a year and a half old and hardly ever sleeps. He loves to wrestle and play with other dogs. He can be a little destructive though(most toys don't even last him five minutes before he destroys them).

Buddy playing in his pool.

Lucky sleeping in my room.

Kuma!!

Mare Island

2012-08-03T17:13:00.001-07:00

For a project in my photography class I had to do an homage to a photographer that interested me. The artist I got for my project did a series of work where he focused on graffiti in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. I thought long and hard what I might be able to do and came up with going to Mare Island, an old abandoned naval base near Vallejo. I had heard about the naval base being a great place to go to take pictures. It was so great! It looked like parts of it hadn't been touched in years. All of the buildings were boarded up and I had to crawl through a small hole to get inside the buildings.

From the top of an old hotel like building looking down.

I have heard this is a great building to photograph. However I couldn't find a way inside so no pictures:(.

Feather Falls July 31st

2012-08-02T21:25:00.001-07:00

Feather Falls!!

Tuesday I finally got to go on my long awaited return to Feather Falls in Oroville! Several of my friends and I at work had been talking about making a trip up there and it finally came together! It is about a two hour drive from Sacramento. On top of the two hour drive it is about a 9 mile hike to the waterfall. Most people hike to the overlook to see the waterfall which is great! We also decided to hike to the top of the waterfall so we could sit on the edge and look down. Also on the top there are pools you can swim in but the water is so cold!

The entrance to the Feather Falls trail.

One of the many small waterfalls you encounter while hiking to the falls.

The Feather River taken from the top of the waterfall.

Swimming holes at the top of the falls.:)

Standing over the edge looking down. Pretty freaky to look down over 400 feet.

Zach standing about the waterfall looking down.

Feather falls from the lookout.

This picture is from my first trip to feather falls back in 2009. I was really sad when I went this time because the ladybugs weren't there this time. They completely cover the bridge at times and it is such an amazing sight! The bridge that they are normally on was smashed because a tree fell on it.:( Maybe next time!?

Black Chasm Cavern/Sutter Gold Mine

2012-08-01T20:34:00.001-07:00

Another old trip here!
This was a great day trip to Amador County. It is a beautiful 45 mile drive from Sacramento. Amador County is famous for its numberous vineyards. Along with the vineyards there are beautiful rolling hills and breathe taking caves and mines.

Rolling hills in Amador.

Entrance into the Black Chasm Cavern in Amador.

Down below about 75 feet are brilliant blue pools of water.

Stalactite forming in the cavern.

Apparently this cavern is known for it's helictite crystals.

Disneyland 2009!

2012-08-01T17:07:00.000-07:00

Old post here!
After I graduated high school I went to visit Disneyland as my senior trip since I had not been there in a long time! It was really fun I wish I had taken better pictures however.

Walking into the park this is one of the first things you see. It is a train station that travels the park.

Mickey Mouse pretzel=Awesome!