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San Francisco to Yosemite

by Kaylah Stroup July 20, 2015

After the tide pools Jeff and I made our way up to San Francisco. We hadn’t scheduled much time in our agenda for the city, it was basically just meant to be a stopping point for our journey along the coast. I wanted to see two things in San Francisco – Camera Obscura and the Golden Gate Bridge. So, first stop – Camera Obscura! It sadly wasn’t open but I was happy to see it nonetheless. This has been on my to-find list for so long. I’ve been seeing photos of it pop up from time to time for years but never really knew anything about it, let alone where in the world it was. I realized right before the trip it was in San Francisco so I super giddy about finally seeing it.

From the Camera Obscura you can see the Sutro Bath ruins. It had popped up on Roadside America when I was browsing the area but it didn’t seem that interesting considering we only had a few hours at most in the city. Being right beside it, and in the fog was another story though. We had to go check it out.

The Sutro Baths opened in 1896 and at the time it was the largest indoor swimming facility. There were slides, springboards and even a high dive. There were six saltwater pools and one fresh water pool. It eventually closed due to not being profitable. Shortly that in 1966, a fire destroyed the building while it was in the process of being demolished. (Arson for insurance money!) Now the land surrounding it is part of the Golden Gate Recreational Area which is way cool because you’re able to explore the ruins. This website sums it up perfectly “It’s allowed to be harrowing and wild in a time and place where shampoos carry warnings and most interesting things are cordoned off for your protection. Here’s the playground for those who love crumbling stone clubhouses, jutting pipe monkeybars, stairways that lead you off cliffs and shifting sandboxes that get swallowed by surf.” It’s really surprising to me that you’re allowed to explore the ruins but you best believe, I’m all about it. I wish there were more places like this.

Beside the ruins is a cliff-side tunnel which I thought was terrifying. I’m sure some local is reading this and laughing but that water was rough, it was dark, and I thought the ground felt smushy. I was afraid somehow I was going to end up in the water. I don’t know, it was just really strange experience. I’m pretty fearless when it comes to most things but that tunnel freaked me out. It’s fun to be afraid sometimes, if that makes sense. I was happy to get out of the tunnel but I enjoyed the rush of being in there.

Next we headed to the Golden Gate Bridge which I didn’t actually get to see because of the fog. Whomp whomp whomp. We drove over it, I shot this picture, and we called it day. I have never in my life seen fog SO thick. We had assumed the sun set but after getting outside of the city we got to watch it actually set. It was really strange to watch it get dark, then an hour or so later watch it get dark all over again.

We drove into the night toward our next stop, Yosemite National Park. We got there in the middle of the night. I had a really bad stomach ache. Jeff said he had some tums or something in his suitcase so we pulled over on the top of a mountain to get it. I’m all bundled up in my seat when Jeff calls from outside “You have to come see this!” The stars, you guys, THE STARS. It was just the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my entire life. I’m literally teary eyed right now thinking about it. We got out our cameras and hung out on the side of the road trying to capture the view. I didn’t get anything close to representing how amazing it was but Jeff shot this gorgeous photo. I could have stayed there and watched the stars forever. That actually might be one of my favorite memories of the trip. Just being barefoot on the side of a mountain looking up at the stars with Jeff. They were something else!

We finally headed back down the mountain to find a spot to sleep for a few hours before making our way into the park. It was another rough night of not being able to find somewhere suitable to sleep. I remember groggily searching “how to sleep in your car” for tips because we just couldn’t find somewhere that felt safe enough to snooze at. Rough night or not all was well because the next morning I sat on the rock wall below and put on my make-up, and got gussied up for the day ahead. Talk about a great view!

Yosemite was gorgeous but a bit crowded for my tastes. I was also crabby I didn’t have my bike because everyone there was on a bike. But I ate a killer sandwich, got some pressed pennies, and took photos that I love with the man I love.
xoxo

You can find more posts from our road trip under the “travel” tag.

on the deck

by Kaylah Stroup July 16, 2015

One of my favorite things about my apartment is the deck. It’s not massive, by any means. It’s the width of my house and maybe five and a half feet deep but it’s the perfect size for a small table with chairs, and of course, lots of plants. The last time I had a deck I was flower crazy. …Okay, I’m still flower crazy but for some reason I just never got around to getting too many of them this year. I think the whole not having a hose and having to carry pitchers full of water from the opposite side of the house kind of put a damper on my plant dreams. That sounds pretty lazy but I’m just being real here, I couldn’t see myself doing that everyday for a ton of plants. For that reason my deck was pretty empty until my office started getting a little too full of plants. I began moving some bigger things that weren’t really doing so well outside. I thought they’d die since none of them looked so hot but in my mind it was better alternative than just giving up on them completely.

A month or two later and all the plants I put outside to die are doing AMAZING. They’ve all grown leaps and bounds. It’s kind of funny all the plants I put out there because I wasn’t in love with them anymore are now my favorites. They’re so vibrant, and healthy. It’s kind of blowing my mind. I always thought that my office got such great light but clearly it’s not enough to help my plants thrive.

Last week we got a ton of rain which only made everything look even more beautiful. I snuck out between storms to photograph my babies. Here’s a peek at some of the things I’m growing on my deck…

Both of the two photos above show plants that had been broken and are now growing new things. The photo directly above is one that was damaged in the great plant disaster of 2015. I was so disappointed. That was one of my favorite pots I had put together and it was just annihilated. I put it outside, once again basically just to die, and it’s growing three new babies! It hasn’t really been that long either so I think this growth is pretty incredible.

The photo above that one is my absolute favorite of the bunch, actually probably of all my plants. That was the first pot I put outside. I loved the cactus that are in there simply because they were my largest but when I moved they took a beating, so much broke off. I was really disappointed. It looked so ugly but it wasn’t dead so I refused to get rid of it. After being outside the cactus still isn’t the prettiest but it’s become a mother to so many lil babies that I’ve been able to remove and replant. I wasn’t too confident since it was my first time propagating a cactus. Instead of just laying it on top of the soil like I do with leaves I planted it. Few weeks later I had roots! It’s really satisfying to be growing things that I didn’t buy at the store. That are actually mine, I grew them.

They’re all so gorgeous, aren’t they?!
xoxo

Asilomar State Beach – tide pools

by Kaylah Stroup July 14, 2015

The one thing I was REALLY excited about along the coast was visiting tide pools. I feel like I know quite a bit about mammals, I can identify the vast majority of things that live on land but the ocean is another story. It’s a mystery to me, and for that reason I am beyond intrigued by it. I’m not landlocked in Ohio. I’m less than a mile from Lake Erie, but like I’ve mentioned more than a few times we don’t have cool things living in the lake. We have some fish, I guess, but in all the time I spend wandering the beaches I really just find trash. So tide pools were my priority on this trip!

I did a bit of research on tides and the best places to go along the coast; one name I kept seeing listed was Asilomar State Beach. As luck would have it the timing worked out so that we’d be pretty close to there around low tide.

I couldn’t get out of the car, and down to the water to rip my shoes off fast enough. We were in what I thought was the perfect spot to find things. It was rocky, and the tide was low but it was actually too low. Everything that I was finding wasn’t covered by water and really just looked kind of gross. It was exciting but a little bit of a let down since I had hyped tide pooling up so much in my mind. I thought it would be this activity I would just go crazy for and instead I was just like “Oh, that’s cool but it looks disgusting…” I poked around trying to find these vibrant, lively looking anemones that I thought the area would be full of but eventually gave up deciding maybe tide pooling isn’t as easy as photos make it look and it wouldn’t be something I’d get to experience on this trip.

We eventually got back in the car, and moved on down the road a bit hoping for better luck. Jeff could tell I was bumming and was insisting we keep on looking despite the fact I was just ready to get to our next destination. I was disappointed (read – crabby) that everything I was finding was either dead, wouldn’t let me near it, or like at the last spot, gross looking because it wasn’t under water. I was shooting the little dude above when Jeff shouted “Kaylah! Get over here!” I was all “Don’t yell me! Gosh!” I walked over to where he was to spot this insanely beautiful starfish. I let out my squeal of approval to which Jeff gloated “Is it okay I yelled at you about that?!”

This was my very fist time seeing a starfish in the wild, not in an aquarium, and excuse me if I sound dramatic but it was magical. It’s so crazy that that’s a real living thing. Nature is wild, y’all! From there things picked up. The starfish was definitely the highlight but I also finally found some anemones who were actually under water and they were every bit as beautiful as I had imagined.

The tide came in a lot quicker than I had hoped and it was time for us to move on so I didn’t get to spend as much time as I wanted checking out the tide pools. Moral of the story here I guess is that tide pooling is all about timing but when you get it right the reward is so great!

This really, truly sparked a love! I’m already researching hot spots to check out along the Washington and Oregon coast (hopefully we’ll get there sometime in the next year or so). I am dying to get back and immerse myself in this world of critters I know so very little about. I feel like I just got this tiny taste of what’s like and I want to learn so much more.
xoxo

You can find more posts from our road trip under the “travel” tag.

Pacific Coast Highway : Part 2

by Kaylah Stroup July 9, 2015

Remember how I said at first I wasn’t super impressed by the coast? That’s because the whole time I was waiting on stuff like this. This what I pictured the Pacific Coast Highway to be. Cliffs, bridges, tight winding roads and fog that just wouldn’t quit. I guess I’d only really seen photos of this stuff but I can understand why. It’s nearly impossible to take a bad photo of something so beautiful.

I’m not even sure what to say about these photos or this point in our trip other than I know for a fact we did not spend enough time here. I mean we definitely spent our fair share of time soaking in the sights, both completely in awe. We didn’t do much poking around or driving off the main highway, which I definitely regret now. I’ve been hearing all sorts of recommendations and seeing photos from places we were so close to but didn’t see. It hurtssss!

Before the trip I decided to not do much research on the Pacific Coast Highway. To be honest, it was insanely overwhelming. The majority of the time the things other people consider a priority aren’t the same as mine, and I figured it’d be a lot like the desert where we could just drive and find things. Clearly we found a fair share of spots to stop and take photos but I know we missed so many amazing little beaches, and hidden gems. In retrospect it would have been better for us to have planned more time to spend on the coast, and to have done more research on must see spots. Regardless, I still had an amazing time. It’s so crazy to think that just a day’s drive away is Death Valley where I experienced the hottest temperatures of my life (more on this another day!) The PCH feels like another world. The fog only added to the mysteriousness of this place. I’ve never been anywhere so beautiful.

After traveling it I can see why the Pacific Coast Highway is such a popular road trip for people to take. I definitely want to do it again someday, there’s still so much left to discover!
xoxo

You can find more posts from our road trip under the “travel” tag.

Independence Day 2015

by Kaylah Stroup July 8, 2015

Every year for the fourth of July my parents throw a big party. It always easily one of the best weekends of the summer. Food, family, fireworks! We played in the pond, rode four wheelers, had a massive fire, and caught toads but the highlight for me is usually always fireworks. Okay, and eclair cake. My mom makes the best eclair cake.

Around dusk we all carry chairs over to the hill and play with sparklers. It’s basically become tradition by now that that is how we wait for it to get dark enough for the the real fireworks. My dad is always too excited to wait for it to become completely dark before blowing off at least a few big ones. We all yell “not yetttt!”, and the kids whine “what’s grandpa doing?”

Sparklers are one of my favorite parts of the day though. I bribe the kids that I can be their personal sparkler lighter, no waiting on the other kids to have their turn, if they’ll let me take their picture. No one really falls for it. They’re all at the age that there really isn’t anything worse than getting their picture taken. While they’re entranced, I sneak a few anyway.

That night Jeff and I slept in our hammocks. I had been dreading it all evening because I had a chill. I felt damp after sitting in the grass to watch the show. After fireworks I was just ready to call it a night. When I put Klaus in my parents house for the night I wanted so badly to just curl up on their couch. I decided to give my hammock a shot just because Jeff was so excited about finally sleeping in his. I got in my sleeping bag, maneuvered my way into my hammock, and was asleep in no time at all. I don’t think I have ever been SO cozy. I’ve always liked making little nests to sleep in, and my hammock and sleeping bag were the perfect little cocoon. I’m so excited to sleep in it again! I kind of wish there was somewhere in my apartment I could set this thing up.

(We each own one of these hammocks. They’re under $20, come in a bunch of different colors, and are insanely cozy!)

the aftermath

I ate til my stomach hurt, got lots of pictures I was pleased with, slept cozier than ever, and come home with lots of left overs! I’d call it a successful weekend.
xoxo

Pressed Plant Pouch Update!

by Kaylah Stroup July 7, 2015

Today is the day! The third round of limited edition pouches are available.

I decided to go with a full set of made from photos I took of pressed plants in my personal collection. The very first set of limited edition pouches I made were basically a test to see how my photos would look printed on fabric. I had two pouches with pressed plants and they were just gorgeous. I had to make more. Not to mention it’s so satisfying to finally do something with even a tiny portion of the plants I’m always gathering.

There are six different prints total, and two different sizes. Three of the prints are on my standard size pouches (6×3.5 inches) and the other three prints are a new, much larger size -10 inches wide and 5.5 inches deep so you fit a whole lot of stuff inside. That was a request I heard over and over with the last two sets so hopefully that’s exactly the size everyone was dreaming of.

The pouches are available for purchase here! Just like the past collections, these are limited edition. There is a very small number of the larger pouches since they use up so much fabric. I wouldn’t hesitate if you’re interested in grabbing one. Once
these ones are gone, they won’t be restocked and the fabric won’t be
reprinted.

As
always, if you have any suggestions for what you’d like to see in a
future collection just let me know!
xoxo

Pacific Coast Highway : Part 1

by Kaylah Stroup July 6, 2015

After Morro Bay we continued up the Pacific Coast Highway. The further we got, the more I fell in love. Is it okay to admit that I wasn’t impressed with the coast until this point? Because I wasn’t. Maybe we just weren’t hitting the right spots, or maybe it just differed so much from my expectations that I wasn’t into it. This stop though, at William Randolph Hearst Memorial Beach, won my heart. The temperature was cool, it was foggy out, and the water was the most beautiful color. I could have stayed here for days.

A short drive up the road from there is Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Rookery. We saw signs for it, and it was on Roadside America but I was not prepared. I assumed there was a chance we might see some elephant seals there. I didn’t realize the beach would just be covered in them. I have never seen in elephant seal in person so needless to say I was captivated. These puppies are maaaaassive. Males can grow 14-16 feet in length and be 3000-5000 pounds. They’re also very loud, and very smelly. Totally worth the stank to see these beasts cuddled up on the beach together. I loved watching them. I ooooh-ed and awww-ed as they played and just about lost my mind over how cute they were when they used their silly little flippers to flip sand on themselves. (You can spot one doing that in the second photo down. Right in front of the flowers.)

The elephant seals were really awesome but the squirrels at this stop stole my heart. I noticed them as soon as we got out of the car. I was excited to get a nice close shot of one of them with my 100mm lens. Then all of a sudden one of these little cuties runs right up to me. There were signs not to feed the wildlife but I figured picking something off the ground that someone else had already tried giving them as a way to lure them in was a nice little loophole I could use and not feel guilty.

As I’m squatting there, trying to photograph and love on squirrels, an older couple comes up to me inquiring where the elephant seals were. In the middle of their sentence a squirrel just jumps into my lap. I immediately started looking at the squirrel, looking at them, looking at the squirrel, looking at them – trying to get these people to notice. They either noticed and didn’t think it was interesting or they somehow did not see this incredible thing happen. As soon as they walked away I managed to get Jeff’s attention and he snapped a really cute shot of this squirrel sitting on my lap. I got one too, you can see it here! As soon as the squirrel hopped down I burst into tears. Yes, literally. I’m an emotional person, whatever. It made my day. Shoot, it made my month. I’m still over the moon. My sister-in-law was asking me about the trip and what my favorite part was. Without even thinking I blurted out “SQUIRRELS!” Haha. California, I love your squirrels. Even if I didn’t fall stupid in love with the state I would come back just for the squirrels.

We made a stop just down the road from the elephant seal rookery to shoot the fog on the road. I feel like the above photo of our rental car might be a little out of place in the post of cute animals, and the ocean but you gotta admit, it’s a pretty sweet shot. I’m not sure why but I was so fond of that little car.
xoxo

You can find more posts from our road trip under the “travel” tag.

adventures in propagation

by Kaylah Stroup July 2, 2015

For the past few months I’ve been working on propagating some succulents from the leaves of a plant I owned that got a little bit too leggy. (See the previous two posts on them here + here.) When I went on vacation for a week I just closed my blinds so that nothing got too much sunlight and hoped for the best. I came home and my babies had shot up! Perhaps shutting the blinds was a bad idea since some of them look a bit leggy now but I’m not fretting if worse come to worst I just propagate again (and become a grandma! Awwww!) That aside – they’re doing so well! I’m still having a hard time believing I grew these!

A few days after coming home from vacation my “my cats never bother my plants” speech came back to bite me. I’m positive it was an accident, although I didn’t witness it. It happened over night. Jeff spotted it first and said “Someone made a mess!” My first though was “Oh, someone puked. Couldn’t they do that when Jeff isn’t around?” But the closer I got I realized Jeff’s face wasn’t an I found cat puke face, something was worse. My next though was “Aw man, someone pooped on the floor. They’ve literally never had an accident. Why now?!” Then I saw it. My plants – nearly all of them knocked over. All the succulents I was propagating and had meticulously arranged were scattered. Planters upside down. Broken succulents. Dirt covering the floor. It was a war zone. At least it looked like it to me. My reaction was embarrassing, to say the least. I let out a whole string of cuss words, and plopped down on the floor to cry.

I spent a good portion of the morning cleaning up the mess. I came to the conclusion that Professor had to have been chasing a bug (the mayflies are crazy here since I live so close to the lake!), got a little too carried away and knocked over my smaller pan of succulents that was on the edge of my vanity. That falling most likely scared him into the rest of the plants, where he just Scooby Doo-ed his way out of my little forest of plants. The little guy was probably just as upset as I was. It had to be loud, I have no idea how it didn’t wake us up.

I’m over it now. The mess broke a ton of plants which just gave me that much more to try propagating and helped me clean out my collection of plants which admittedly was getting a bit crazy. You best believe my office door is now closed every time I leave the room though!

As well as all the things from the great plant disaster of 2015, I’ve been collecting pieces from all my other plants to see how well they’d do. So far, so good! I snagged some lil cactus babies from another one of my plants just because I felt it looked like it was growing funny, plopped them in here, and a few weeks later they’re got some nice little roots growing.

Below you can see the stems from the original plant. The three stems are growing six new, super healthy plants. I mean, those are some dang good looking babies, right?! They’re actually living outside on my deck right now. They’re in a big planter along with two large cactuses and a few other assorted plants none of which were looking so hot. I figured I’d put them outside to see how they’d do and whatever happened happened – no big deal. Well they’re LOVING all the sun, and rain. Everything in that planter is thriving, stems of my old plants included.

Propagating plants is seriously just so much fun. Growing things is incredibly satisfying. I never really thought I’d get this into it. It’s neat to think that I grew these things from nothing, from something that in the past I would have just thrown away. Now I save every little thing that is wiggly or falls off a plant in hopes I can grow from it.
xoxo

Morro Bay

by Kaylah Stroup June 30, 2015

After Salvation Mountain, day two of our road trip wasn’t shaping up to be too great with both Jeff and I super tired. He’s a bear when he’s tired, and I’m the actual worst when I’m hungry. Basically we were a dream team on day two. Not! A hotel wasn’t in the plans for a few more days but we needed it. We sat down at Starbucks after scarfing down In-N-Out (because duh!) and decided to head to Morro Bay for the night. It was only a few hours away, and we figured it would be a great place to rest up.

Aaaand we were totally correct! Our hotel was right by the beach, I could even see Morro rock from the window. We ordered a pizza and relaxed while waiting for the sun to get a little bit lower in the sky. While we ate I browsed instagram photos tagged “morro bay”, “morro rock”, and anything else I could think of that would show me photos of nearby things. I found a few photos featuring jellyfish (which I later learned are velella). I was super excited. I was hoping to find one on the beach. We really don’t have anything interesting living in Lake Erie, unless you believe in Bessie, so even dead finding something like a jellyfish is so neat to me.

We walked to the beach a little bit later and there they were. Hundreds (thousands?!) of velella! Jeff’s comment was “Well, here you go!” The first thing out of my mouth was “Grosssss!” But I’m not going to lie, it was pretty cool and I was darn excited. They were impossible not to step on. I tried avoiding them the longest time but eventually gave up after seeing barefoot surfers, and joggers just walking on them like it was no big deal.

Even more exciting than tons of velella? Sand dollars! I have never actually found one myself. I own a few but I have no idea where they came from. I was walking the beach when I spotted one. It was whole but broken on the underside. I was pumped though! A few more feet and I found another. This one was perfect. Then it was just one after another, they were everywhere. I even found a live one complete with a barnacle buddy.

We watched the sun set for what felt like days. Sunsets here, I swear, only last a few minutes. The sky is beautiful but only for a very short amount of time. I feel like we watched the sunset on this beach for so much longer than I’ve ever experienced in my life – and it just kept getting prettier. Then it got foggy. Are you kidding me!? Y’all know how much I love fog.

So quick recap here – velella, sand dollars, prettiest sunset I’ve ever seen, surfers, mountains, and fog. Basically, it was heaven. Have you ever seen one of those silly commercials for California with Arnold Schwarzenegger saying how fun the state is? This should be in one.

Morro Bay, you are pure magic. One night was not enough. I definitely would love to go back and explore the area again someday. If it were possible, I would seriously fly out there RIGHT NOW.
xoxo

You can find more posts from our road trip under the “travel” tag.

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