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Originally uploaded by -seek-

Tiff and I took a short trip to Yosemite a few weeks ago and OMG was it gorgeous. Just look at that picture! We stayed in a rented cabin inside the park, where we were greeted by deer roaming outside our front door.

And it snowed!!

Two of the most memorable points in the trip were the beautiful waterfall (less than a mile from our cabin) and the Ahwahnee Hotel where we had an -awesome- lunch in a large dining hall where we could watch the blizzard outside.

I can’t wait to go back, it was an awe inspiring experience. However, there’s too many places we need to go, so we’ll probably make our next trip to Sequoia NP.

Oh, and we’re junior rangers… did you know?

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Originally uploaded by -seek-

I have no idea how this ended up being a photoblog, but here we are! Check out the sign. Eeep.

Was it worth the drive? Well, Las Vegas is on the other side of them there mountains. Course, at the time we didn’t know there’s a much safer route (not to mention quicker) that we had totally missed. (well, we thought we were going the quick way, but we neglected to take the signs seriously…

Oops.

It was worth it and awesome though. We saw absolutely gorgeous scenes, including Lake Isabella and the Kern River Valley.

We also nearly died.

Nothing like a near death experience to put some life back in ya!

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Originally uploaded by -seek-

Like something out of a movie. I noticed the dead oak in the center of the pond in passing. We were more interested in the feral hogs in the meadow behind us. To think I almost missed this shot.

I experimented with bringing the tree into sharp focus, but it drowned out the detail of the surrounding vegetation. Since the dead oak (get it? the opposite of live oak!) had few details that needed to be preserved, I brought the focus to the foreground. This also limited the lens flare from the sun shining through the branches.

The shots of the feral hogs didn’t come out, since they were ~ 400 yards away, and I didn’t have a long enough lens to do them justice. Maybe next time.

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Originally uploaded by -seek-

I love this picture! That’s my sister, Sarah, standing under the tree with the bike. She’s actually horrified at that moment, but you can’t tell. She’s just spied some feral hogs in the meadow to the left. Four hundred pound pigs would scary anyone.

The lighting was not ideal for a photo, but I think the morning sun exploding through the trees from the right gave the photo interesting character. The tree looks massive in this shot.

The nonchalant demeanor of Sarah captures the majesty of this scene, and how often we ignore the most amazing sights.

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Originally uploaded by -seek-

This is a kewl picture my brother took during the Castillo Reunion afew weeks back. I’m amazed it came out so good. On the far left is my cuz, Lala, and on the far right is my sister…. freaking out for some reason. That’s me in the middle, just chillin. That’s how I do.

My cousin there recently enlisted in the Army, and we’re all very proud of her. I forget what she’s doing, but I think she’s specializing in chemicals or something. Remember, civil service guarantees citizenship!