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explore everywhere

Sometimes I go places, this is where you can read about my adventures. Road trips, cemeteries, abandoned places – they’re all here.

five reasons to start geocaching

by Kaylah Stroup September 20, 2017

cool geocache, log cache, geocaching, cache container

A little over a year and half ago I started geocaching. Over 350 found caches later, it’s safe to say I’m hooked. I took a tiny hiatus at the end of last year but the past two months Jeff and I have been going hard. I feel like I’m mentioning it just about every single blog post, and with good reason, it’s a blast!

For those of you not familiar, geocaching is a worldwide treasure hunt of sorts. Participants use GPS to navigate to containers that other users have hidden. A traditional geocache will be a waterproof container with a log book and sometimes trade items inside. Treasures inside aren’t usually worth much but are still fun to find. According to the official website there are over 2.8 million active geocaches, and 3 million active geocachers worldwide! The app is free to download but you’ll need a subscription to find all of the caches available. It’s $30 for the whole year which is a very small price to pay for a rad hobby.

It’s become something I’m so passionate about I thought it was high time to share some reasons why I think you should geocache as well…

The cache was easy to find but which one of the containers inside holds the log?

Fun for the whole family.

That’s probably the cheesiest way I could write that, right? It’s true though. I’ve mentioned it before and I’ll probably say it again but geocaching together is one of my favorite ways to bond with my brothers. I love piling into the car with them and then rushing out to try to be the one who finds the cache. It brings the whole family together.

I feel like it’s a great way for Jeff and I to connect as well. It’s fun to go on silly little adventures with your partner.

reasons to geocache, geocaching

My brother, my nephew + my boyfriend all looking for a cache.

Discover new places.

I’m an advocate for exploring everywhere. This doesn’t just mean somewhere across the world, it means EVERYWHERE. This perfectly describes the ethos of this hobby. Geocaching is an excellent way to be drawn to some really neat places that you may otherwise look over.

I’ve spent a lot of time around the Cleveland area beaches. I thought I was super familiar but it wasn’t until I started geocaching that I was led to this one with that amazing view of the skyline. Geocaching also led me to one of the coolest cemeteries I’ve ever visited. Chances are geocaching will lead you to places that you never even knew existed.

Exercise!

Another cheesy but true reason. I love that geocaching gets me outside. I love exercising, and I know that it makes me feel happier but that doesn’t mean I don’t need a little push to get outside. So often I’m distracted by the hunt that I don’t even realize how much walking I’m doing. Just a few weekends ago, Jeff and I hiked forty five minutes (one way!) out on a break wall in the lake to search. It was a tough little adventure that I know for certain I would have called it quits on mid-way through had I not had a purpose to get out there.

Sense of community.

One of my favorite things about geocaching is how it’s like a secret club. I mean, if you ask me about it, I’ll gladly give you the whole spiel and try to convince you to start too… It’s just really fun to find something that a thousand other people have walked past, something you may have even walked past at one point. It’s a feeling of community without really having to interact with anyone else if you don’t want to. There’s this connection with these people you’ve never even met because you both have ventured off the beaten path just to find a container with a piece of paper inside so you could write your name.

unique cache, geocache, reasons to geocache, geocaching, geocache ohio

It can be challenging.

There are lots of caches that fall under the category of “park and grab” which is exactly what it sounds like. Somewhere you can park your car and find the cache in mere moments. Those are fine… but I LOVE a challege. I like when I have to stop and think about the hints provided or what around me could possibly be hiding the log. The critical thinking aspect of geocaching is really fun.

Some fun finds I’ve encountered – Faux hardware, like the bolt above. It was screwed into a guardrail. Once you cross off all obvious places a cache could be that when the wheels in your brain really have to start spinning. We’ve found a multi-cache where the coordinates led you to a container with a key inside but then you had to figure out what around you to unlock to be able to sign the log. Another favorite? Actual logs containing logs. In the photo below, that little stump is the cache. Once flipped over you’ll find what you’re looking for tucked inside a drilled out hole. Geocaching has me looking at places and objects in a whole different way.

One of my all time favorites, The Apache Death Cave.

Do you geocache? If not, you’re going to start now, RIGHT? I avoided it for a long time for a myriad of dumb reasons (lazy, didn’t see the appeal, intimidated by a hobby others seemed to know so much about, etc) but can’t imagine life without it now. In my list of favorite hobbies it ranks closely with photography and bicycling. The great thing is that I can usually find a way to do all three at once. (This path is lined with caches. What’s cooler than that!?)
xoxo

State of Ohio Asylum for the Insane Cemetery

by Kaylah Stroup September 12, 2017

tico cemetery, cemetery, spooky, weird headstone, creepy, specimen

Like any completely normal adult, I have a cemetery bucket list. Bucket list seems very appropriate in this context. Ya know, just a bunch of cemeteries I want to see before I too kick the bucket. At the very top of this list was a single headstone that is actually in Ohio. One word…

Specimens.

What in the world are ‘specimens’?! I mean, obviously, I know what the word means but having it on a tombstone seems… I don’t even know. It’s weird. It’s concerning. Just like skulls on a headstone, I think the appeal to me is that is just seems like it has to be fake. It seems more like a Halloween decoration. But it’s not. This headstone resides in Columbus at the State of Ohio Asylum for the Insane Cemetery. Specimens in this case are most likely parts that had been removed during standard procedures and kept to study at the hospital. (Tumors, gallbladders, kidneys, etc) After a number of years it’s easy to imagine they’d probably have a pretty large collection of spare parts that they didn’t know what to do with. I guess it’s also in the realm of possibilities that it’s something a lot more sinister…

I don’t remember how long it’s been on my radar but it’s safe to say it’s been a loooong time. From the minuscule amount of information I could find about this place I was under the impression that it was private property. Despite what my previously blogged about adventures would have you believe, there are certain places I’m just sketched out about trespassing. Patrolled state property is definitely one of those places I don’t want to be lurking around on my own.

State of Ohio Asylum for the Insane Cemetery, graveyard, cemetery, state hospital

sunken in headstone, numbered headstone, graveyard, columbus

On the way down to Louisville the weekend before last Jeff asked if I wanted to stop at the cemetery. I’ve honestly been begging him to go down there with me since we met but my lack of information on the place made the drive seem like it might not really be worth it. Since I was driving he mapped it out and got me directions. I was nervous we wouldn’t be able to visit but excited that he was finally willing to go with me.

There are a handful of cemeteries that the mental health hospital used and luck was in my favor because two of them have geocaches. I know that just because there is a geocache somewhere doesn’t make it a legal place to be buuuut you have to agree that “Oh, I’m sorry, we were just looking for a geocache.” sounds a lot better to most people than “I like to photograph cemeteries.”

My main priority was finding the ‘specimen’ headstone so that’s where we headed first. Jeff went straight for the geocache while I proceeded to photograph headstones. I’m not going to lie, finally seeing it was sort of anticlimactic. I had a very vivid vision in my head of what visiting would be like and this was nothing like that at all. We parked in a parking lot and walked into a fairly well manicured cemetery. No sneaking, no feeling like I shouldn’t be there, just a regular old cemetery. Still, I was pleased to be there.

About 25% of the cemetery is filled with headstones similar in shape to the specimen one except they have names and dates. At first I assumed the rest of the cemetery was empty or at least had a bunch of unmarked graves but I quickly realized how wrong I was. Small headstones the size of bricks cover the cemetery. Each one marked with a number and “M”for male or “F” for female. Despite the fact the cemetery wasn’t overgrown or abandoned by any means, its easy to see how in another ten years or so any traces of the smaller headstones could be gone. This was only my second experience with headstones that didn’t have names, only identifying numbers so it’s still a bit perturbing to me. (See Wayne County Home Cemetery) These ones especially so since marking with male or female makes it seem even more anonymous.

After the first cemetery, we headed to a second. I was a bit more hesitant about visiting this one but again, geocaching seemed like a good enough excuse to be there. We parked on a little dirt pull off on the side of a fairly busy road and followed a muddy trail back to the cemetery. The approach to this cemetery was a bit closer to what I imagined the other one being like. Despite following a very clear path there, I felt like we had discovered a little piece of forgotten history.

One of my favorite things about the second cemetery was the arrangement of the headstones. There was a grave marker in the middle that was almost illegible except for “C. O. L. Asylum”. Surrounding that were small, rectangular headstones. There were lots of interesting ones including a few unknowns, a handful with names and only death dates but my favorite of the group had to be “(?) GLICK” Was that their nickname and their real name was unknown? Perhaps Glick was their last name and their first was unknown? Either way, I think it’s really interesting to put a question mark on a headstone. headstone, question mark, State of Ohio Asylum for the Insane Cemetery

I am so happy to finally crossed “specimens” off my list of things to see, and even happier to have also visited a second cemetery with equally as interesting headstones. There is so much history packed into these places!

headstone, gravemarker, State of Ohio Asylum for the Insane Cemetery, institutional cemetery, columbus

Check out even more interesting graveyards under the “cemeteries” tag!

Jerry’s Junk 2017

by Kaylah Stroup September 6, 2017

Jerry's Junk

Over the weekend I took a spur of the moment trip to Louisville, Kentucky. The trip itself wasn’t spur of the moment. It’d been in the plans for a couple months. It was supposed to be a huge road trip but with my dad’s surgery being rescheduled for the week we’d planned to be away it seemed only right to cancel. Jeff had already taken the week off work though so we had to get away, even if it was just a short trip.

We tossed around a handful of ideas but after finding a really neat hotel in Louisville decided it was exactly where we wanted to go. We left early Sunday morning and slowly worked our way down through Ohio. The trip itself was fairly uneventful, a few cemeteries, some geocaching, and eating. Holy smokes, Steel City Pops is amazing. Just a nice, relaxing little getaway – exactly what I needed.

While figuring out what to do with the rest of our day at breakfast on Monday I decided to hop on Roadside America and see if we were near anything worth checking out. As luck would have it, we had apparently chosen a breakfast joint less than 300 ft away from Jerry’s Junk!
Jerry's Junk Jerry's Junk, Louisville, Roadtrip, Roadside Attractions

Back in 2014 I took one of my first road trips as an adult and ended up discovering Jerry’s Junk. It’s one of my absolute favorite memories. We had randomly found it on Roadside America and decided to take a little detour on the way down to Nashville. While standing around and taking photos, we were greeted by Jerry, the collector himself! He showed us around his property and I even ended up purchasing one of my absolute favorite possessions off of him, my medical man. I hold that memory very close to my heart. Upon a little bit further reading it seems as though being greeted, and shown around by Jerry isn’t all that rare but I still take the chance to brag about it anytime I can, like when his episode of American Pickers is on!

It wasn’t a huge deal for me to visit again on this trip which is why it wasn’t already on my radar but when I realized I was literally steps away, I had to visit. It was really fun to see it all again. There’s just so much to take in. Everything was essentially the same as I remembered. Although upon comparing photos from my first visit and this one there are a lot of differences. It’s interesting to think about where the things that were missing went. I’d like to think that those pieces have been purchased by other small time collectors, like myself. Like somehow my medical man makes me part of a secret club…

While peeking through the bars of his fence I spotted three little kittens. I can’t think of a more fun place to be a kitty. So many things to climb around on, and places to hide under. I was trying to get a better shot of one of the kitties when I spotted a water dish and food bowl for the little guys tucked behind some of the random objects. I already loved this place but seeing that Jerry is so clearly a cat lover as well, I like it here even more!

Check out my post from 2014’s visit to Jerry’s Junk here.
You can read more about Jerry’s Junk & find his address here.

Wayne County Home Cemetery

by Kaylah Stroup August 22, 2017

ohio, wooster, cemetery, graveyard, headstone with numbers

Wayne County Home Cemetery.

I’ve been itching to get back out and look for interesting new cemeteries to explore. Every time I think I’ve checked out everything interesting in the area I manage to dig up something new I hadn’t seen before. I don’t know how but I ended up searching on the FindAGrave app in the Wooster, OH area. It’s only a little over an hours drive away so not a bad drive if I were to find something cool.

As luck would have it, the area is cemetery central. SO many of them! I was mainly browsing for larger ones but using the list feature I managed to spot “Wayne County Home Cemetery” With only 324 burials, it wasn’t the numbers that excited me – it was the name. “Home” generally meaning the county home or infirmary. Most of the time the people who died in these places didn’t have family to claim their body or the means to provide for their own burial so the home would take care of that for them. The headstones in places like this are usually the bare minimum, no names just numbers. …And that was if you were lucky enough to get one. Unmarked graves certainly weren’t uncommon.

Despite doing fairly extensive research on cemeteries like this I still had yet to visit one. The majority of the nearby ones are actually looked after fairly well… at least by security so I was a bit nervous about making the drive to this one thinking that I might not be able to explore. As luck would have it, it’s actually in the middle of nowhere. I felt like I went down a million little roads lined with cornfields before I finally got there. It was worth the drive.

Wayne County Home Cemetery, headstone with just numbers ohio, cemetery, rows of headstones

I thought I had a pretty decent idea of the history of this cemetery. A really interesting story that I was excited to share because it added so much punch to the whole place. I do minimal research of the places I want to visit before hand just to save myself the let down of getting super excited and then not being able to check them out. I dig in after I get home. When I went to confirm and fact check my story for this place though… I came up completely empty handed.

I am so incredibly confused. I swear up and down I read on multiple sites the history of this cemetery. My searches come up with nothing now. I even went through my browser history… still nothing. My only guess is that I simply read about so many other cemeteries I confused one of their stories with this place.

So, I don’t have any back story for you on this cemetery, just that it was established in 1852, but I still think the photos alone are very powerful. There were only a two or three plots that had newer headstones with a name. (One of which was a child that died on my birthday. Spooky!) The rest were simple stones marked simply with a number. Only one of those was decorated.

Wayne County Home Cemetery, headstone, numbered headstones

Check out even more interesting graveyards under the “cemeteries” tag!

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Cherry Hill Cemetery

by Kaylah Stroup August 9, 2017

ferns, headstone, tombstone tourist

After camping last month, Jeff and I both were basically dragging our feet home. We camped about three and half hours away so the drive home felt a little like a mini road trip. Just enough of that open road feeling to tease you, and make you want so much more. I love every little detail about trips in the car. Watching out the window for hours, gas station snacks, and being in new small towns. We haven’t really been anywhere since our fourth annual road trip out west and the urge to just explore something new is strong.

All that to say, we were both not so subtly trying to extend the drive home. We visited a state hospital and it’s cemetery (where I got a creepy photo!), looked for geocaches, and stopped for snacks. There were so many interesting looking little cemeteries along the route but if we’d stopped at them all we might not have ever made it home. One finally caught my eye that I could resist. The sign said “Cherry Hill Cemetery. Rest in Peace” I shouted about how cool it was but denied the need to stop when Jeff asked. I rambled on about it for another minute or so before Jeff asked again “are you sure?” To which I replied “Yeah, maybe you should turn around”

headstone, cherry hill cemetery, pa, graveyard cemetery blog, taphophile

‘Rest in Peace’ is one of those things, similar to skulls, that despite being thought of frequently in correlation with cemeteries isn’t actually seen very often – at least not in this part of the United States. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of a single time I’ve seen it in English in a real cemetery. So Cherry Hill Cemetery looked decent from the road but it was the sign that really drew me in. The sun was out in full force and with all the trees the lighting was pretty spotty so I didn’t plan on really taking any photos other than of the sign.

As it would turn out, I hated the photo I got of the sign but ended up getting drawn in to a shady corner where lots of smaller headstones were and the lighting was perfect! Small, old headstones are my favorite, especially when surrounded by slightly overgrown greenery. Even more than that, we had been camping somewhere that had a lot of ferns. On a hike through the ferns the day prior I got to talking about how awesome a cemetery covered in them would be. While this place wasn’t covered, it was kind of funny to find a little area abundant with them after just mentioning that.

While I darted around the cemetery taking photos, Jeff found a geocache so it all worked out wonderfully. I got to photograph a neat little cemetery with ferns, we got to log another cache, and we made it feel a little bit more like we were actually on a trip by checking out somewhere new.
xoxo

Fellow taphophiles, get your fill here.

2017 doolan family camping trip

by Kaylah Stroup August 8, 2017

The weekend before last my family and I went on our annual camping trip. Well, our kind of annual camping trip. We try to go every year but you know how it goes… Anyway everyone took off work on Friday and we all headed up to the Allegheny National Forest. Instead of booking a cabin or even a spot at a campground we opted to rough it. My brother had a really neat map of places you’re allowed to just set up camp and set out early to find us a rad spot in the woods.

We ate, we hiked, and we just hung out around the fire. It was a blast. I took so many photos over the course of the weekend. I edited a little bit differently than normal and I feel like they really capture the camping vibe. I wish I could crawl into these photos and stay for a little while just to soak up some more time there.

My five favorite things from the 2017 Doolan family camping trip.

My hammock. Gosh, I seriously adore that thing. I love lounging in it every chance I get, and getting to sleep in it is the coziest. Jeff and I are slowly but surely turning my whole family on to hammocks too. It was a blast to have a little community of hammocks with Jeff, and my nephew. Honestly, money well spent. I paid thirteen but apparently the one I have is only five bucks now. Also – hanging string lights above your hammock makes sleeping in it even more magical. Highly recommended! I will never camp without them again!
Geocaching with my brothers. There’s a huge age gap between them and I. Geocaching together is the one time when I feel like it totally disappears.
Mushrooms… upon mushrooms… upon mushrooms! I can’t tell you how many mushrooms I photographed over that weekend. I may not blog about them as regularly as I used to but that doesn’t mean I’m not still super excited about them!
Food cooked over the campfire. I’m a burger snob. I live for fancy burgers but DAAANG, a burger cooked over a camp fire hits the spot especially with lots of relish. I could totally go for one right now.
Family time, duh. Hikes. Sitting around the fire. Trying to master the art of saying things backwards.* We don’t do enough of it!

eastern spotted newt, eft

camping in hammocks

I’m already looking forward to next year’s camping trip!
xoxo

*You guys, download the app ‘Voice Changer Lite’ . Record yourself saying a short phrase slowly. Listen to it in reverse enough times until you feel like you’ve got it memorized then record that and listen to it in reverse again. It is SO funny. Jeff and I regularly play with friends but I got my brothers in on it too on this trip. It’s great family fun.

La Jolla

by Kaylah Stroup July 12, 2017

It feels strange to still be posting about May’s road trip but I still have things I need to share. Our stop in La Jolla is one of those things. Before heading down into Southern California, we had made a handful of stops at the ocean. There were a few things I was really looking forward to seeing including sea lions, seals, and tide pools. The last time we drove a portion of the Pacific Coast Highway I fell in love with tidepooling. I’ve been impatient waiting for the day I’d get to do more of it.

Well, we just kept striking out. Let me take that back. We weren’t striking out. I was still very much enjoying the ocean but the stops we made weren’t the kind of place you could play around in tidepools. And the seals and sea lions? They just kept eluding me. In Monterey I could hear them but couldn’t seem to get close enough to see them. (I did eat my first fish taco on that pier though, aaaand that may have trumped sea lions.) With only a day left in our trip I had basically come to terms with the fact that I wasn’t going to get to explore tidepools or squeal over how cute seals and sea lions were.

san diego, california, seal, children's pool san diego, la jolla, children's pool

…Then we went to La Jolla. To say I loved La Jolla would be a massive understatement. Everytime I thought “holy cow, how could get this better?!” It would get better!

The thing that originally caught my attention was Children’s Pool Beach. I found it while searching online for locations that would basically guarentee me the opportunity to see seals and sea lions. We managed to find a parking spot super close by and almost immediately after shutting my door I could tell I was going to get my wish. I saw a crowd gathered and speed walked my way over to them.

SEALS! They were so cute! They’re just like lazy water dogs. I loved watching them wiggle around, and arch their backs tobrace for the waves. I didn’t realize how smelly seals would be but they were every bit as cute as I had thought they’d be.

I was super pleased after getting to watch all the seals. We still had a bit of time to waste before we were able to check in the hotel so we decided to keep wandering around. After a few minutes we stumbled upon an area where I could see that down below people were on a beach. It was a gorgeous day and I’m always down to dip my toes in the water so we headed down the stairs thinking it was just regular ole’ beach. I got to the bottom and realized that the only other people down there were staring at the rocky ground an awful lot. I casually wandered over their way and realized I’d get to explore tide pools after all!

I’m not super versed in tide pools. I’ve explored a few on both the west coast and the east coast but always have the worst luck. I’m really really great at finding dead things (which I’m not going to lie, is still interesting) This was easily my most successful attempt. I have never seen so many live crabs in my life. I was kicking myself for not bringing along my macro lens – not that that would have helped me since every time I spotted one I let out a little squeal of excitement which prompted them to scurry away.

la jolla, sea lion

When the tide started to come back in I figured it was time to move on. We continued walking along the path a little more and eventually found the motherlode! Sea lions galore! They were out on some cliffs that weren’t surrounded by fencing meaning you could literally go a close as you’d like. The 70-200mm lens really came in handy at this stop. I was able to keep a safe, respectable distance and still get awesome shots. It was SO awesome, and so incredibly smelly. It was really exciting to be able to see so many of them in their natural habitat.

I loved visiting San Diego so much that I’m sure eventually we’ll make our way back there and visit La Jolla again. I can’t wait!
xoxo

Check out more of my road trip adventures under the ‘travel‘ tag.

Goldfield Pioneer Cemetery

by Kaylah Stroup June 27, 2017

headstone, goldfield nevada, cemetery

After visiting Tonopah Cemetery I guess my excitement got the best of me because I fell asleep as soon as we got back into the car. I woke up a short time later to Jeff asking “wanna stop at this cemetery?” I’m not sure I’ve ever said no to that question. We pulled in and I realized it was actually a place I already had mapped out before leaving Ohio and was planning on getting us directions to.

The day had already had its fair share of awesomeness. I was super tired from being on the road all day but there was one headstone I had to hunt down here or else I wouldn’t be satisfied. This property is really unique because there are actually multiple cemeteries here, each sectioned off and with it’s own sign. I was in search of the oldest one – Goldfield Pioneer Cemetery.

According to the plaque, this cemetery was originally located within the city of Goldfield until 1908 when the Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad Co. ran its main line alongside the graves in order to be as close to the business district as possible. The railroad company didn’t want the passengers stepping off the train onto the graves, and the city didn’t want graves near its largest hotel. Under the cover of darkness, a group of men known as “official ghouls” moved the remains to their current location.

goldfield cemetery, headstone, nevada, graveyard headstone, goldfield pioneer cemetery

The headstone I was specifically looking for? “Unknown man died eating library paste” Find me a better headstone than that, I dare you. The moment I saw a photo of it online I knew I had to go there and see it for myself. Luckily the cemetery is located in what I’d consider a hot spot of other interesting road side attractions so its not even like we had to go out of the way to stop here. (…but even if we did – worth it!)

The story is that a homeless man was wondering the streets, looking for something to eat. In the library’s trash he found some book paste which at the time was a mixture of flour, water, and alum. Large quantities of alum are toxic when consumed, especially on an empty stomach.

I think its so interesting when a headstone states the cause of death. Tonopah Cemetery was really the only other place I’ve seen it so abundantly. Its definitely not something that’s common anymore.

headstone, unique headstone, goldfield pioneer cemetery, nevada

Goldfield Pioneer Cemetery easily ranks among one of the most interesting cemeteries I’ve ever been to, even without the library paste headstone! In retrospect, I wish I had had the energy to explore the other graveyards in the area. I’m sure there were lots of other hidden gems!
xoxo

Pismo Beach

by Kaylah Stroup June 20, 2017

I’m throwing it back to last month’s road trip again today. After driving the extraterrestrial highway, visiting Tonopah Cemetery, making friends with a jackrabbit, and getting our fill of the desert (that’s not really a thing. I could never get my fill of the desert!) we headed to the coast. Two years back we drove a portion of the Pacific Coast Highway and I LOVED IT. This year we wanted to see even more of it. Luck was not in our favor though. Huge chunks were closed meaning we had to start a lot further down the coast than orginally planned.

It wasn’t long after leaving our hotel room in Paso Robles that I spotted the pier at Pismo Beach. The day previous I had been so excited to see the ocean but felt a little letdown with what we had seen. I was desperate to find somewhere nice to dip my toes in the water. Pismo Beach was one of those names that sounded familiar so I suggested we stop, just to check it out real quick.

This “real quick” pit stop turned into an hour and a half – if not longer – of me frolicking in the ocean, taking photos of birds, and searching for sand dollars. It was the best. To say I loved Pismo Beach would be an understatement. It was exactly what I needed right then.

beachcombing, sand dollar

One of the biggest highlights for me at Pismo Beach, other than finding sand dollars galore, was photographing birds. I had recently fallen head over heels in love with Jeff’s 70-200mm lens. (Huge bonus to falling in love with someone who shoots the same brand of camera as you – you can share all your equipment!) I hadn’t really played with it too much before this trip but the shots of the jackrabbit convinced me this lens was something I should really experiment with more often. It’s massive, and kind of a pain in the butt to lug around but so worth it. Being able to shoot animals close up like this without disturbing them is so much fun. I took SO many shots, it was hard to choose which ones to include in this post. I’m particularly excited about the one above because I’m a sucker for reflections. The first photo in this post ranks among my favorites as well. I like that upon first glance its hard to tell how many birds are really in the shot because of the reflection.

The man in the photo above had kind of been hanging around me while I was photographing birds. Eventually Jeff came over my way and when I turned around he was talking to the guy. After they were done I mosied over to Jeff to see what they were talking about. He handed me a film canister and inside were two super tiny sand dollars. I looked over to the stranger to see him smiling back at us. Its so wonderful that there are people out there who do things solely to make others smile. I didn’t even realize that you could find sand dollars that small. They’re one of the very few things I brought home with me from the trip. Thank you, kind stranger!

tiny sand dollars, pismo beach