hikers on a hillside

barkin' up the trees

The bark that covers these trees in Yosemite is cool, maybe even as cool as the red bark covering the manzanita trees. It is all layered and flaky and about three inches deep.

manzanita

I love these trees, too--although some people prefer to call them 'bushes' over 'small trees.' I always thought that this reddish-brown stuff covering them was some sort of tree sap or resin, but it is actually their bark. You learn something new every day!

el capitan

Yosemite is very beautiful. I think it is very odd that this is one of its biggest attractions, El Capitan:

august to autumn

The leaves are starting to change colors in Illinois.

fire it up

The night before my friend's wedding, we did a bonfire on the beach in Carmel. I got one made-up word for you: S'MORES.

Cooling Off

My friend Juan met me at the airport in Madrid. We rented a car and immediately left the city in an electric-blue Citroen. It was hot and the country reminded me a lot of Northern California--tall trees, roads cut through hills and valleys. We stopped a creek called Boca de Asno to cool off.