Here’s a shot that I took of a bumblebee taking in a flower along a hiking trail at Point Reyes California. Point Reyes National Seashore is a wonderful place and if you’ve never been you should make a trip. It’s about 30 miles north of San Francisco along the fantastic Highway 1. Interestingly, if not a bit unnervingly, Point Reyes rides along the eastern edge of the Pacific tectonic plate and moves about 2 inches per year in a northwesterly direction.

Here’s a shot I took in Costa Rica while looking down into the crater of Poas volcano. Believe it or not this crater is almost in the middle of a forest. The volcano is still somewhat active and in 1989 caused the park to close for a period of time. This photo sort of reminds me of a big eye looking back at you… watching… waiting.

I’m currently working on another post for the Leopard garbage collection series (see Collecting Leopard’s Garbage and Patterns for garbage collection) but until then here’s a shot from a recent trip to Yosemite. The shot was taken from Sentinel Dome and looks out towards Half Dome which you see on the right hand side. At 8,122 feet Sentinel Dome is the second highest point in the park (Half Dome is the first). It’s over an hours drive from the valley floor in front of Half Dome up to the start of the trail to Sentinel Dome and then a pretty easy 2.5 mile hike to the top from there. Or you could hike a near vertical trail straight up 3000 feet from the valley floor. Either way it’s well worth it.

Taken on a recent trip to Monterey, California. Sea Nettle, Chrysaora Fuscescens, is a type of jellyfish found in coastal waters from Alaska to California. If you haven’t been to the Monterey Bay Aquarium then you should plan a trip. Set right on the ocean and fed with real sea water it is one of the best.

We recently took a trip out to Lockhart Texas for some of the incredible BBQ at Kreuz’s and while we were in town we took a tour of the Caldwell County Jail. The jail is an interesting historic site that was in operation up until a few decades ago. It turns out that it was also a mecca for photos. The place was dilapidated with rust and pealing paint everywhere. This shot is a reflection off of the door glass in the isolation cell on the top floor.