Adventure Time

During a break in the rain last weekend, Eric and I layered up and took Oreo for a long walk in Nisene Marks state park. Nisene is a forest reserve about ten minutes away that houses one of my favorite trees-the redwoods! We are lucky enough to live near lushly forested mountains and more than one state park, but this particular patch is special for another reason. This forest grows on land that had been completely clear-cut during the California logging boom that ended in the early Twentieth century; looking around, it's hard to imagine that this forest is a baby and only just beginning. After the recent storms, everything was bright green and a bit wild with happiness. Except for the banana slug, those are yellow with joy ;)

Oreo was such a trooper! I got tired before she did. She just kept going, not minding her wet, mud-splattered belly at all. She went crazy at the creek, jumping and spinning around and getting totally caught in her leash. Once I got her untangled, we ate our sandwiches while Oreo barked at the water. We all took turns traipsing out on a fallen log, we're such brave adventurers... 

I remembered to experiment with longer exposure times while we were close to the water and I think some of the results turned out very pretty. I just set the camera on my knee and not on a tripod, so it's not perfect, but they came out much better than I'd expected.