 |
| Anacapa Island: Going diving.... |
 |
| Getting ready |
 |
| "it's going to be cold.." |
 |
| Once in the water, it's pure magic! |
 |
| Giant kelp |
 |
| It was like swiming through a forest. |
Here's a little video. It's not top quality but I had to concentrate on not getting lost or entangled in kelp at the same time : )
 |
| Now I didn't see any sea lions underwater when diving but this guy was waiting at the harbour for me when I came back with the boat. We must have misunderstood each other... |
 |
| I will get myself one like this next time. |
 |
| I stayed at an alpaca farm for a couple of days on my way to a national park. I think the alpaca and me are equally nervous about being this close together. |
 |
| I really love their expression : ) |
 |
| Seqouia National Park. I made a detour in the contry to see these giant trees. |
 |
| This is the biggest one, 2000 years old. Impressive. |
 |
| Big trees, big pine cones. |
 |
| It was kind of hard to make them fit in my photos. |
 |
| A meadow, filled with flowers and mosquitos it turned out... |
 |
| Forest Meditation |
 |
| I didn't see any big animals in the forest but as I was about to leave, this deer showed up. It didn't care much about me driving and taking photos. |
 |
| On the way back to the coast. |
 |
| A big truck for a small dog... |
 |
| From alpaca farm to tipi. I had had enough of hostels, so gave the more alternative things a chance. |
 |
| The beach at Monterey. Monterey is fairly north in california and the water was really cold but I had to go snorkeling to see what was there: |
 |
| If you just stick your head into the kelpbeds, there's lot's of fish hidding. |
 |
| I went kayaking to see the sea lions and sea otters. People told me there were lots of sea lions on the rocks in the harbour. I found the rocks but no sea lions. I was quite dissapointed until I discovered they had just move to more comfortable places : ) |
 |
| and while I was busy looking at sea lions, this little friend popped up. Much to my surprise, he swam directly to my kayak and climbed on board! |
 |
| Now sea otters are quite big and I had no idea if they bite or not, so I was very nervous and thrilled at the same time : ) |
 |
It turned out he just wanted to take a nap.
Here's a little video. I'm so nervous and overwhelmed that I can't even get the words right. |
Here we have them all together : )
 |
Big Sur. I took the road along the coast to get back down south to return my car. I really whish I had had more time, there were so many cool views and places.
|
 |
| Elephant seals!! A nice surprise along the road. I love when they move. It's a delicate study in overlap : ) |
 |
| San Francisco |
 |
| Where I stayed, very cosy inside. |
 |
| One of the more colorfull parts of town. |
 |
| Where the sea lions SHOULD have been!!! Everybody told me there for sure was sea lions at San Francisco but they are apprently not always there. Hmpf! |
 |
| The 4th of July the streets turned into a circus. People everywhere, selling, eating, performing. |
 |
| From what I could see then the americans celebrate the 4th of July by gathering in the parks to drink, eat, drink some more and paitently wait for the grand final: |
 |
| Fireworks! To get the full impression, imagine very cheesy american classic songs being played along with the fireworks : ) |
