It's possible that I may have a two week visit to Des Moines in September - I will have to remember this (as I am sure I will be dying for things to do!).
I can definitely recommend some things to do. If you go to Hickory Park, you have to have the Saucy Southerner. Sadly, you'll miss the Iowa State Fair.
Morrigoon
07-07-2010 07:57 PM
Wow, I LOVE that photography! Although the original beach image is still my fave (but ya gotta love the fencing artist)
JWBear
07-07-2010 08:23 PM
Johnny Reb's therapy complete.
JWBear
07-08-2010 08:36 PM
Saw a church in Bellflower called The Journey Worship Center, and thought "they were a good band, but not that good..."
Alex
07-11-2010 07:53 AM
Reposted from LJ so some may see this twice.
I'm trying to make good on my intent to get out and about more often, followed up last weeks road trip with a day-trip. So we pointed at a random spot on the map we haven't been to before and so went down to Pinnacles National Monument.
Of course, it was a bad idea to decide to make a first trip in July, but we're stupid rebels.
The drive itself was fun, CA-25 is a pleasant drive through rolling valleys and then cutting over from Pinnacles to Monterey offers some good winding travel.
At Pinnacles, since it was over 100 degrees and most trails are completely exposed we just did the short Bear Gulch Reservoir trail, which is about a mile out and then another back with only a few hundred feet of elevation change. Anyway, some pictures from that.
Spoiler:
Getting up to Bear Gulch required not only climbing along the rocks
but also through the rocks
and even under the rocks.
But once at the top, after all the heat and dry, the reservoir itself is a welcome sight.
However, it may not be a good place if you have a couple specific phobias. The edge of the reservoir was home to literally thousands of dragonflies,
though we learned that the smaller ones were actually damselflies (the main difference being kind of like butterflies versus moths, in whether they hold their wings open or closed when at rest).
The marshy edge of the reservoir was also pretty active with snakes.
They were all common garter snakes but I don't suppose that matters to someone who doesn't like snakes. Even if, at the first sign of trouble they headed into the water.
alphabassettgrrl
07-11-2010 08:39 AM
Wow- I'm amazed you were able to catch pictures of the snakes. Nice shots of the rocks and reservoir, too!
BarTopDancer
07-11-2010 09:55 AM
Gah! Snakes? :(
Kevy Baby
07-11-2010 09:59 AM
Great shots Alex - thanks for sharing
Kevy Baby
07-11-2010 10:01 AM
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I'm not sure if this is going to survive being reduced down to avatar size, so I will post the full size image:
